Norse Mythology: Relationship Between Savagery And Beauty

1384 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Norse mythology in the lord of the rings

Life is full of dualities: freedom and captivity, love and loss, good and evil. For this reason, all the best stories have dualities. Norse mythology is full of these two-sided concepts that give the tales a rich complexity and meaning. One of the most prevalent themes in these stories is the relationship between savagery and beauty. When thinking of the Old Norse world and legends, the word savage often comes to mind, and for good reason: the tales and the culture that bore them contain much brutality and viciousness. However, there is a subtle sense of beauty accompanying this savagery that often goes unnoticed. In the world of Norse mythology, savagery and beauty are inseparable, intertwined in a way that brings complexity and depth to the …show more content…

The sun and moon, the beautiful beings that light up the world, move across the sky so quickly because ravenous wolves pursue them incessantly.6 The source of virtues such as wisdom and intelligence lies in the world of the frost giants, creatures filled with evil.7 Valhalla, a glorious afterlife, consists of its inhabitants fighting to the death daily.8 All throughout the myths lies the evidence of the connection between savagery and beauty, a twisted concept by today's standards. It weaves itself subtly through every story, and it seems that one can never be found without the …show more content…

This occurs when Thor dresses up as Freyja to deceive an ogre and get his hammer back.14Thor's defining characteristic is his strength, which he typically uses for savage purposes; he often goes on adventures where he kills giants just for the fun of it. Freyja, on the other hand, is said to be the most beautiful goddess of them all. This makes Thor's deception of the ogre ironic and comedic, but also symbolic of the twisted relationship between these two traits and how they can be intertwined. It also shows how savagery can be disguised as beauty: "Hlorridi's heart laughed in his breast, when he, stern in courage, recognized the hammer; first he killed Thrym, lord of ogres, and battered all the race of giants." The attendants of the wedding believe he is the beautiful goddess Freyja, but he reveals his true nature through a brutal

Show More
Related

  • The Role of Women in Greek Mythology

    429 Words  | 1 Pages

    In considering the relationship between the meanings of myths and their representation of women, we learned that the major role in shaping the narratives was played by men.

    Read More

  • Darkness In Beowulf

    606 Words  | 2 Pages

    Good and evil operate and work in different environments. In the book Beowulf, light and darkness are the environments used by good and evil. Although the author shows the power of darkness, he also exhibits light’s eventual victory in Beowulf’s battle with Grendel, in Beowulf’s first skirmish with Grendel’s mom, and with the imagery created at the beginning and end of each

    Read More

  • History of Loki, The Trickster God

    1026 Words  | 3 Pages

    Loki is known as the trickster god of Norse mythology and is even said to be one of the first anti-heroes. He is also probably one of the most well-known tricksters as well. In the Norse myths, he is often portrayed as being very mischievous and is always causing trouble for the gods. In fact, “he was so outrageously mischievous that he even sneaked his way into becoming a god” (Allen, and Saunders, par. 1). However, even though he almost always seems to be getting the gods into some kind of trouble, he also helps them at times in an attempt to get them out of their predicaments…even if those predicaments are his own fault to begin with.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Common Magic, By Bronwen Wallace

    1223 Words  | 3 Pages

    With imagery she provided a detailed visual of what that looks like, how it sounds and gave readers an understanding of what magic feels like. Finally, characters told the tale with ambiguity so that each and every member of the audience could relate and draw references to the people in their own lives. The poem perfectly unified beauty with basics, showing that true beauty does not always have to be elaborate. True beauty lies within the simplistic details, the character of those involved, the love that is felt and the goodness of mankind, that alone is magic. The theme that all moments are worthy of gratitude no matter how often they occur or how simple they appear is beautifully exemplified in the poem “Common Magic”.

    Read More

  • John Foulcher For The Fire Analysis

    936 Words  | 2 Pages

    This idea is expressed prominently in John Foulcher’s For the Fire and Loch Ard Gorge. For the Fire entails a journey of someone collecting kindling as they witness a kookaburra kill a lizard, Foulcher represents his idea through the use of metaphor, “a kookaburra hacks with its axe-blade beak.” This metaphor represents the beak in weaponised form, as it is compared with a violent axe. This evokes a sense of threat and intimidation towards the kookaburra, which contrasts to societies general interpretation of the ‘laughing kookaburra,’ thereby challenging the reader's perceptions of beauty in the natural world. Also, this comparison of the kookaburra offers a second understanding for the readers to interpret of the kookaburra. Similarly, in Loch Ard Gorge, Foulcher uses strong visual imagery, “savage dark fish are tearing their prey apart, blood phrasing the water decked with light,” to communicate the violence of the ‘savage’ fish to readers in a visual, gruesome manner. Thereby evoking a feeling of disgust towards the situation, as a visual description of blood is shown and Foulcher uses provoking, gruesome adjectives to communicate the fish's brutality. Foulcher expresses these ideas to communicate the abilities of nature, and provide a necessary ‘reality check’ for the readers, to review the beauty they see nature and understand the barbarity at the heart of everything. Although ruthlessness and brutality that nature can show are unintentional and immoral, this harm is a large part of the cycle nature needs to survive and thrive, and these factors can counteract assumed beauty and

    Read More

  • Women In Gisli Sursson's Saga

    2099 Words  | 5 Pages

    The role of women is one of the most evolving aspects of society throughout the ages, and it is a topic that will continually be discussed. Incredible strides have been made in regards to women’s rights and equality. On the contrary, we often fail to explore the importance of the roles that women play in time periods that are unfamiliar to us, for example, the age of the Vikings. The majority of women in the Viking ages are representative of honor, loyalty, strength, and family bonds. Also, as in any culture or group, there are some women who stray from the representation of the greater majority.

    Read More

  • Thor: A Film Analysis Of Thor And Norse Mythology

    1739 Words  | 4 Pages

    True to the namesake of the film, Thor is the protagonist. The biggest change Thor faces in this film is that he now a clean-shaven blonde instead of a bearded red-head. Aside from physical appearances, Thor’s personality as a god is similar to the Thor in Norse mythology. As exemplified in the Lay of Thrym, Thor travels to Jotunheim with Loki and several other gods, although this time he is not dressed as a woman and he carries Mjolnir with him. In the film, Loki appears to act as a voice of reason by attempting to deescalate Thor’s impending anger towards the Giants recent trespassing into Asgard. Despite there being a supposed truce between Laufey, leader of the Giants, and Odin, Thor does not condone the Giant’s actions and wishes to wage war. This parallels Loki’s sentiments at the end of Lokasenna where he states, “I will go outside for you alone, because I know that you will fight [or kill]” (Acker 180), demonstrating Thor’s impulsiveness and perceived violent

    Read More

  • Archetypes In Grendel

    729 Words  | 2 Pages

    Descriptions of gruesome events, such as the one narrated by Grendel, set some fear into the mood of the events taking place. They also make the reader feel some of the fear that the humans are suffering in the hands of Grendel. While Grendel is going around killing every soldier in proximity, he thinks to himself, before being confronted by Beowulf, “I seize up a sleeping man, tear at him hungrily, bite through his bone-locks and suck hot, slippery blood,” (Gardner 168). Gardner describes how the soldiers were murdered in a way that portrays what the Danes’ feel when they think of Grendel. The adjectives used to describe the blood, and even the mention of the blood, causes a reader to feel uneasiness and horror. Just the action of him ravaging through the mead hall sets the negative tone. Overall, imagery is used constantly throughout, and represents the theme in a subtle way, compared to the other literary

    Read More

  • Beowulf: Grendel is Pure Evil

    485 Words  | 1 Pages

    Time after time he charges into Herot Hall, slaughtering the warriors like sheep, and feasting on them. Denmark trembles in fear and grief as Grendel terrorizes their land. The people live in fear for their family and friends. Grendel is the Anglo-Saxon embodiment of what is dark, terrifying, and threatening. Grendel is an enemy of God. He can not know God’s great love. He is a powerful ogre that resides in the dark, wet marshes. He is a shadow of death that grows impatient with the Danes. He delights in their slaughter. No crime or savage assault would quench his thirst for evil. For evil can never be quenched. Grendel is a shepherd of evil and a guardian of crime. Grendel exhibits his envy towards the warriors as Cain did to his brother. Jealousy breed loneliness.

    Read More

  • Beowulf and Grendel: The Hall Heorot Is Attacked By Grendel

    1116 Words  | 3 Pages

    The first passage of this story basically describes the building of Heorot. Hrothgar, decides to build a Valhalla-type of sanctuary for his warriors that he names "Heorot", or the Hall of the Hart (deer hall). This is in the first main passage of the story of Beowulf and this is the first place we find the theme of internal versus external evil. The passage implies that internal evil will ultimately destroy the hall, rather than being attacked by monsters: "The hall stood tall, high and wide-gabled: it would wait fierce flames of vengeful fire: the time was not yet at hand for sword-hate between son-in-law and father-in-law to awaken after murderous rage. "(Norton 28) This foreshadows the internal evil that will destroy the Danes. Another theme in this story is the theme of men versus monsters. This theme comes to light when Grendel is described: "The creature of evil, grim and fierce, was quickly ready, savage and cruel, and seized from their rest thirty thanes".(Norton 28)

    Read More

  • Gender Roles in British Literature

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    Bryan E. Conversion and Canversence The Role and Function of Women In Post-Medieval Icelandic Folktales. Sandinawain Studies 83.2(2011): 165-190. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 March.2014.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Norse And Chinese Mythology

    1087 Words  | 3 Pages

    Both Norse and Chinese mythology have similarities when it comes to the creation of the universe and the titles of some of their gods. This is amazing since these two cultures were so far apart. Another thing that makes this incredible is the fact that the people of ancient China were very private people and are shrouded in secrecy.

    Read More

  • Vengeance In Old Norse Poetry

    1799 Words  | 4 Pages

    Tolkien says of Atlakviða that “despite its condition, ‘we are in the presence of great poetry that can still move us as poetry. Its style is universally and rightly praised: rapid, terse vigorous-while maintaining within its narrow limits, characterisation. ” The result is a grim, and terrifying narrative that depicts the lengths people will go to gain vengeance. In Old Norse poetry, there is a central theme of vengeance that underpins the majority of people’s actions. However, violence was not a haphazard occurrence in Old Norse society, but rather a part of an organised system of action based on individuals, feuds and the corresponding method of settlement.

    Read More

  • Gender in Little Red Riding Hood of Charles Perrault

    889 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, the development of the folktales leads to the obtaining of ideas about gender. In many ways our society supports the idea that women seem underestimated as well as physically and mentally weak in comparison with the men who is portrayed as intelligent and superior. This can be shown in many ways in the different versions of this folktale through the concepts of symbolic characters, plot and narrative perspective.

    Read More

  • The Greek Gods Vs. Norse Gods

    1774 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hundreds of years ago people did not have the technology to explain different forces of nature. They created gods, each with separate powers, to rule their domains. Some of the gods were merciful, some were wicked, and others were merely servants of more powerful gods. Looking at the gods, it is easy to tell what the civilization most valued. I am going to look at the Greek and the Norse gods to compare what was most important to their societies.

    Read More

More about Norse Mythology: Relationship Between Savagery And Beauty

Open Document