The Monstrosity of Heroism: Grettir Ásmundarson as an Outsider

IN CHAPTER 35 of Grettis saga Asmundarsonar, hereafter Grettir's Saga, there is a much-discussed fight scene in which the hero Grettir defeats the draugur Glamr, a revenant who recites the following words over the triumphant hero: En pat ma ek segja per, at pu hefir nu fengit helming afls pess ok proska, er per var otladr, ef pu hefdir mik ekki fundit; nu fo ek pat afl eigi af per tekit, er pu hefir adr hreppt, en pvi ma ek rada, at pu verdr aldri sterkari en nu ertu, ok ertu po nogu sterkr.... Pu hefir frogr ordit her til af verku pinum, en hedan af munu falla til pin sekdir ok vigaferli, en flest oll verk pin snuask per til ogofu ok hamingjuleysis. Pu munt verda utlogr gorr ok hljota jafnan uti at bua einn samt. Pa legg ek pat a vid pik, at pessi augu se per jafnan fyrir sjonum, sem ek ber eptir, ok mun per pa erfitt pykkja einum at vera, ok pat mun per til dauda draga. (121) (I can tell you that you have attained half of the physical strength and manhood that you would have reached if you had not met me. I cannot take from you the physical vigor that you have already obtained, but I can guarantee that you will never become stronger than you now are, though you may be strong enough.... Up until now, you have been famous for your deeds, but from now on, outlawry and slayings will fall to your lot, and most of your actions will bring to you misfortune and ill luck. You will become an outlaw and be forced to live outside and alone, I also put this curse on you that you will always see these eyes of mine before you, and that will make it difficult for you to be alone, and that will drag you to your death.) With these words, Grettir's enemy, although defeated in battle, acquires power over the future of the saga hero and stunts the growth of the hero's physical prowess. In addition, after acknowledging the noble qualities and fame of the hero, Glamr predicts that the hero will now become an infamous and rejected outcast on account of the deeds his strength allows him to accomplish. Finally, Glamr curses the hero so that he will see the revenant's eyes in the dark thus making the hero afraid to be alone at night. This fear of the dark is not only degrading, but it will also bring about the hero's death, which will occur outside of the comfort of human community. (2) The extent of the harm Us curse brings becomes clear later in the essay where the narrator explains that Grettir, sagdisk nu miklu verr stilltr en adr, ok allar motgiordir verri pykkja. A pvi fann hann mikla muni, at hann var ordinn madr sva myrkfolinn, at hann pordi hvergi at fara einn saman, pegar myrkva tok; syndisk honum pa hyers kyns skripi. (122-3) (said that he was now much worse at calming himself and, above all, worse to take offence. He noticed a great difference in that he had become a man so afraid of the dark that he dared not go anywhere alone when it became dark. All kinds of phantoms appeared then to him.) Grettir now has the ability to see what no human wants to see: the supernatural creatures that haunt the dark. As the hero himself explains, this unwanted ability is a curse that seemingly exacerbates some of his worst qualities. For obvious reasons, the fight against Glamr has been of central concern to many scholars, particularly in relation to how this scene affects Grettir's place in his society. Robert Cook, for instance, argues that Grettir is "a victim of bad luck and even some malicious force rather than a victim of his character" (239). Analyzing Grettir's role as ah outlaw, Kirsten Hastrup argues that the encounter with Glamr causes Grettir to cross a threshold in which much of his humanity is compromised: "Not only does the fight with Glamr change the nature of Grettir's relationship to society, but in one sense, he has also reached the point of no return in moving across the boundary between the human and the non-human world" (157)--Kathryn Hume, who focuses on Grettir's humiliating fear of the dark, emphasizes the loss of control over his world that Grettir now suffers. …