Njal´s Saga 4

Does a cycle of vengeance ever end? There are some cases where people live the rest of their lives with the desperation to get equal with anyone who has caused harm to them. This is practically as bad as actually redeeming yourself through actions. If someone hits you, you hit him, if someone steals from you, you steel from him. In the end, you each loose so much that the satisfaction isn’t even worth it. The one who wins the argument isn’t the person that has caused more harm, but the one that can live the fact that some losses can never be retrieved through violence.

This was a case presented in the Njal’s Saga, when Bergthora and Hallgerd begin to get out of hand with revenge. It all started with Begthora, who sends one of her servants out to the forest for a week to cut wood. Hallgerd, thinking of this as a threat, sends one of her servants to kill him. Bergthora responds in the same way. Then the cycle comes into play, with these two women killing each others servants, and only ends with the death of several innocent men.

The only two that I would say reacted correctly would have been Gunnar and Njal who never showed by hatred during the entire scheme. While their wives were in a constant fight, Gunnat and Njal simply made amends with each other. This way, they never lost their friendship.