Morrissaga: Sigurd the Volsung
1977; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 44; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/2872672
ISSN1080-6547
Autores Tópico(s)Medieval Literature and History
ResumoDuring the forty years of his c~reer, William Morris sought-at first confidently but later with desperation-a religion which might replace the inadequate Christianity of his youth.He embraced the grandeur of the lost cause in his early poems about Camelot and Troy; he moved on to the archetype of the quest in The Earthly Paradise; and he placed his central faith in "the greatest story of the world," 1 the epic religion of Scandinavia.For ten years, during his prime of life, Morris struggled with the Norse sagas in a vain attempt to recreate their passionate nobility in a form accessible to the enervated Victorian.Finally, he achieved the work which encompassed all prior attempts, the work which still stands as his greatest achievement in poetry: Sigurd the Volsung.Sigurd, like all the new-minted myths of the nineteenth century, fails of its end; 2 but in its failure it registers the failure of progressive idealism itself, and thus marks the crisis not only of one man's faith but also of England's imperial drama.The story which is made to bear this burden of prophecy is far less complex than that "Tale of Troy" 3 to which Morris compared the Volsunga Saga (his primary source) during his first redactions of the Norse epics in 1869.It opens with the marriage of Signy, greatgreat-granddaughter of Odin Himself, to the ambitious Siggeir, and the latter's ambush and murder of her father, Volsung, and her nine brothers.Sigmund, the youngest brother, miraculously survives, however; he sets out to •avenge his father's death.Signy, a true Norseman, sets the ties of blood above those of wedlock and helps Sigmund by disguising herself, bearing his child, and rearing the incestuous son as a vengeful Volsung.This lad, Sinfjotli, joins with Sigmund to burn down Siggeir's palace; Signy, to hide her all-too-Victorian shame, remains in the castle with her mate.Years later, with Sinfjotli dead, Sigmund remarries in order to carry on the Volsung line; Odin intervenes in battle to take his life before the child is born.The son, named Sigurd, thus inherits all the strength of his father.Reforging Sigmund's shattered sword, he kills the dragon Fafnir and wins the serpent's treasure; unfortunately, he also inherits a curse which had been laid upon the gold when Odin
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