The Nibelungen Tradition: An Encyclopedia (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities) by

Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2013-09-04T16:00:00+00:00

[She spoke, “Remember Rüdiger your great loyalty, remember your constancy and also your oath that you would ever be ready to avenge all my afflictions.]

Rüdiger knows that without constancy, there can be no true fidelity, and without true loyalty, there can be no honor, and he believes that he has no choice but to fight against the Burgundians. But paradoxically he also knows that it is wrong and he stands to lose precisely those good character traits that impel him to do battle in an unjust cause.

[FGG]

SUONE (reconciliation), is the opposite of revenge (2229,3) and acquires its meaning in the context of strît (argument, battle), schulde (guilt), and vride (peace). Generally suone describes a process of reconciliation after or during an argument or dispute, in order to prevent a subsequent fight or act of revenge. In the Nibelungenlied the defeated Danes refer to their losing many warriors at the hands of the Burgundians and therefore insist on the necessity of arranging durable peace settlements (stæte suone, 311,3) before their departure. Gernot's reaction to Siegfried's challenge to do battle is equally directed at the avoidance of a fight and is therefore criticized by Ortwin as being inadequate: “disiu suone diu ist mir harte leit” (“I do not care at all for this reconciliation” 116,3). Kriemhild's doubly futile attempt at suone is of central relevance for the development of the plot. During her meeting with Hagen before the campaign (892–894) she shows her willingness to attempt a reconciliation, admits her guilt in the quarrel between the queens, and refers to her repentance in order to win Hagen as a protector of Siegfried. Hagen's remark, “ir wert versüenet wol nâch disen tagen” (“You [and Brünhild] will soon be reconciled” 895,1), can be interpreted, given Siegfried's fate, not only as a possible reconciliation of the two queens, but may also ironically mean “you'll get what is coming to you. ” Nor does Kriemhild's second reconciliation with her brothers after the murder of her husband, from which Hagen is explicitly excluded (1115), prove viable, Kriemhild loses the hoard as well. In the second part of the Nibelungenlied the aspect of atonement is prevalent in the use of the term suone. After the fighting at Etzel's court has begun, it is the Burgundians who offer first buoze unde suone (atonement and reconciliation 1991,3) and then wide unde suone (peace and reconciliation 1997,2) respectively, which are, however, rejected by Etzel saying, “vride unde suone sol iu gar versaget sîn” (You shall be denied peace and reconciliation 2090,4). Kriemhild is only willing to talk with her brothers about suone if she can have Hagen as a hostage (2104), and later Dietrich and Hildebrand demand that Gunther and Hagen be taken hostage as suone for the death of Rüdiger(2336f.,2432).

[MH]

Bibliography

Bender, Ellen. Nibelungenlied und Kudrun: Eine vergleichende Studie zur Zeitdarstellung und Geschichtsdeutung. Europäische Hochschulschriften. Reihe 1: Deutsche Sprache und Literate 994. Frankfurt a. M.: Lang, 1987, esp. pp. 168f.

SWERTDEGEN (squire)/SWERTGENÔZ (brother-in-arms). Swertdegen are squires, the young men who attend knights and who are themselves candidates for knighthood.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.