Female Ideals and Their Roles in Icelandic Society Essay -- Iceland Wo

egg-producing(prenominal) Ideals and Their Roles in Icelandic SocietyFemale ideals in medieval Icelandic society revolved around a womans behaviorand actions in her marriage, work, and family domains. The historicalal background ofIcelandic women, womens global function in society, and the roles of female charactersin the Icelandic sagas provide hints towards the normal attitude towards women of thetime, that is, how women were expected to act, what they were expected to do, andessentially, what the ideal woman was.To examine what an ideal Icelandic woman would have been like, it is firstnecessary to look at some background information on the life of women in the period. plot women were nowhere near the status of men in terms of the arrive of position theyhad, they did enjoy a lot more rights than other women in medieval Europe (Simpson129). A woman could confess her own home (Simpson 128). Being able to manage herown property and refuse a second marriage, widows enjoyed the most independence(Simpson 129). At the same time, there were galore(postnominal) things a woman could not do. Forexample, a woman could not right to vote at the Thing, be a judge, or conduct her own lawsuit.The sycophancy of a father, husband, or other male guardian was needed for a woman tobuy or sell anything above a broken value (Simpson 128). While a woman did not havepower over other people, especially men, she did have power in her own domestic sphereto make decisions in the household (Dommasnes 71). In her strain Women, Kinship,and the Basis of Power 54 Helga Dommasnes states, As managers of all kinds of farmproducts, such(prenominal) as food, textiles, and hides, it was in the hands of the wife to see to it thatthe often preferably big household of many generations, serva... ...sible to get avery fall out picture of women in Icelandic society through the sagas alone, the coupling ofhistoric background with the sagas provides a clearer image of the ideal woman - str ong,confident, married or widowed, loyal to her family, concerned with her familys honor,and an extremely hard worker.12Works CitedDammasnes, Liv Helga. Women, Kinship, and the Basis of Power. Social Approachesto Viking Studies. Ed. Ross Samson. Glasgow Cruithne Press, 1991.Jochens, Jenny. Women in Old Norse Society. Ithaca Cornell University Press, 1995.Simpson, Jacqueline. The Viking World. wise York St. Martins Press. 1980.The Sagas of Icelanders. Ed. Thorsson, Ornolfur. New York Penguin Group, 2000.Sawyer, Birgit and Peter. Medieval Scandinavia From Conversion to Reformation, circa800-1500. Minneapolis University of Minnesota Press, 1993.