After reading "The Story of Sigurd," make a comparison between it and either Edith Hamilton's version of the story or another of the Norse myths/characterizations from her book.

-- Anonymous, September 13, 2004

Answers

One thing I noticed, was that once the jig was up and Byrnhild knew that Gunnar was a liar and Sigurd really saved her, she made a potion of serpent's venom and wolf's flesh(ew) and gave it to Gunnar's younger brother who went mad and killed Sigurd, but in Edith Hamilton's version Gunnar covinced his younger brother to kill Sigurd.

-- Anonymous, September 13, 2004

Hamilton left out several sections of the story. For starters, there was no mention in her book of Sigurd avenging his father (in the Red Fairy Book, he leads an army against his father's murderers), nor was there any mention of his battle with the dragon Fafnir. As such, there was no mention of Andvari's gold bringing misfortune upon Sigurd - meaning Hamilton had no justification for Sigurd's suffering in her much-abridged version of the story.

-- Anonymous, September 13, 2004

I saw some certain parallels between Brynhild and Sigurd and Arwen and Aragorn. Yes, okay, Arwen is not a fighting flying Valkyrie-like chick of Doom, but the relationship between the two characters is similar. For instance, when Sigurd dies, Brynhild follows him, deciding she doesn't want to live on without him. When Aragorn dies (Appendixes), Arwen dies as well, even though she's an immortal elf and could live on without him. Both ladies choose to be with the man that they love rather than be alone, even in death.

-- Anonymous, September 13, 2004

AAAAAAH, that's not the question, is it...darn.

Ummmm...letsee.

In TRFB, the real pain that is felt by both Sigurd and Brynhild is expressed more clearly and plainly. In Edith Hamilton's version, the story is much briefer and does not delve into either of their feelings very deeply.

-- Anonymous, September 13, 2004

Angie, I love you.

Hamilton's version was more condense--it was largely just stating the characters' actions with cuts from the bard's telling spliced in. In the Fairy Book, there were far more details--the dragon and his siblings, the complex love...square..., the powers of the helmet and sword. The details made the story much more vivid and memorable. Hamilton's retelling, I think, was to get the myth out there--TRFB had more time to go through and embroider it with family lineage, riddles, and supernatural powers--to make it really a fairy tale instead of a record of the events.

-- Anonymous, September 13, 2004

While Hamilton makes an account of Gunnar's brother causing Sigurd's death, she omits the detail included in TRFB of Sigurd's revenge of slicing his murderer (Gunnar's brother) in two.

-- Anonymous, September 13, 2004

Well, for starters, in Hamilton's version any hero brave enough to brave the firey ring o hell that surrounds Brynhild can save her. In TRFB, only Sigurd could be the one to save Brynhild, hence she knows who he is after being asleep for who knows how long. Also, there is no three day without-lovemaking session in TRFB. Thus, valor, and not sex, is the reason that Sigurd is killed, which I think makes more sense in the Norse tradition.

-- Anonymous, September 13, 2004

The version that was handed out to us in class seemed to have a bit more gore. Especially the part where Sigurd has to roast the heart of Fafnir.

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2004

In TRFB, there was a long and detailed part about Otter the... Otter. While he was sleeping as an otter, a hunter killed him. Later, his carcass is stuffed with the cursed gold, and the ring of the dwarf. Speaking of which, the Mythology book says Fafnir has treasure, but not that it is really cursed or anything like that.

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2004

The two versions differ in the part when Sigurd and Gunnar go to get Brynhild from the ring of fire so that Gunnar can marry her. First of all, Gunnar does attempt to brave the flames in the RFB version (and fails), but in Edith Hamilton's addition only Sigurd is mentioned. Also, in the RFB Gunnar uses enchantment to switch the appearances of himself and Sigurd, while in the other Gunnar's witch mother does the hocus-pocus herself.

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2004

One significant difference between Edith's version and TRFB is that Edith recounts Gudrun's grieving after Sigurd is dead, which TRFB leaves out. Edith includes it to illustrate the hard character of the Norsemen. I believe TRFB's omission is in consideration of the targeted audience of the book: children. The less melancholoy and gory they could get it, the better. This would also explain why sex was removed as a key element in the story.

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2004

There has been much discussion of how the RFB has details not found in Edith Hamilton's version, yet I believe that I have found one detail that is not in the RFB version. Edith Hamilton mentions that Brynhild was a Valkyrie who disobeyed Odin and was punished by the whole sleep in the ring of fire thing. The RFB version just says that she was "under a spell and must always sleep in a castle surrounded by flaming fire."

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2004

One important thing that Hamilton left out is the entire idea of Sigurd et al being cursed by Andvari's (the dwarf's) gold, which seems to explain why they met such misfortune. She also left out Sigurd's lineage and the legend behind his sword, which I though was strikingly similar to the history behind Aragorn's sword.

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2004

Hamilton seems to remove the responcibility from Sigurd. In her version he is just an unfortunate hero who is tricked by a witch. In the other version He is actually guilty of something that deserves this misfortune, that being: he murdered his teacher and was so weak willed as to take cursed gold, which seems to be the root of his troubles.

-- Anonymous, September 15, 2004

Edith Hamilton's version leaves out much of what makes the story tragic- the fact that it was preventable. She does not mention the dragon, nor the cursed treasure, especially the ring that got passed from Sigurd to Brynhild. Hamilton's version also leaves out the effect of Fafnir's heart and the death that ensued.

-- Anonymous, September 15, 2004