Judging Vikings: Ethics and morality in two Icelandic family sagas, Laxdaela saga & Vatnsdaela saga

Abstract

Why seem the characters' actions of the family sagas so irrational? When one looks at the actions and moral of Arthurian literature, one can clearly follow the characters' reasoning, but when looking at the family sagas the characters' reasoning is much harder to follow. To understand why it is so hard to understand the way characters act, one must analyse the actions the characters take in the sagas. In this thesis the actions of characters of two family sagas are analysed, according to where their loyalties lie.