Gisli Sursson's Saga

While there were many themes in this saga, I found the most interesting to be that of the portrayal of women. The three main women in this saga were Aud, Asgerd, and Thordis. It seemed to me, by the way they were described, that Asgerd was rather more devious than Aud, who was depicted as an honest, loyal wife. Asgerd was not only willing to lie to her husband about her affair, denying it flat out, but when he became upset with her, she threatened to divorce him and take back her dowry. She seriously had the upperhand in this situation and was not afraid to use it to her advantage. Aud, on the other hand, uses her leverage to protect her husband while he is in hiding. Instead of divulging Gisli's whereabouts and keeping the silver for herself, she not only refuses to aid the mercinaries in anyway, but blatantly humiliates Eyjolf in front of all his men. I thought this, above all, showed her amazing bravery and inner strength. Finally, there was Thordis who, while she was the one to incriminate her brother to begin with, had the courage (or perhaps foolhardiness) to attempt to avenge his death by attacking Eyjolf. These examples simply show the chutzpah that these women in this saga had, which I, personally, found rather impressive and inspiring.