Point of View

The author of the Laxdaela Saga is unknown. However, his major influences are clearly those of the culture of Chivalry on the European continent. This is a time of romance, of knights defending maidens and fighting the infidel on behalf of the church. In every way the Laxdaela Saga is a work of romance. The Saga looks wistfully upon the glory days of the Icelandic Settlement, seeing its founders as great heroes. Interestingly, the conversion of Iceland to Christianity in the sage is a mere blip and largely functions as part of a plot device. The author seems wholly uninterested in the great religious change in Icelandic life, even characterizing it as changing little. He looks upon pagan and Christian Icelanders of that period with the same sense of admiration. The author also takes a grand perspective on family histories, focusing on broad family lines. For...