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Prompt: Women have no power in Burial Rites. The patriarchal society determines their lives. Discuss.Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites is a story of protagonist Agnes Magnúsdóttir’s struggle against the unyielding nineteenth century Icelandic society, which restricts her as well as other women. Moreover, social class discrimination and personality pigeonholing further compound Agnes’ misfortune, whilst enabling the elevation of certain women into positions of relative power. Ultimately, Kent’s depiction of an unjust patriarchal society acts as an allegory for contemporary power imbalances.
Gender inequality in Burial Rites is rampant. Tools of empowerment such as education, sexual liberation and positions of authority are restricted for women. While basic literacy appears commonplace, as shown by the parish testings, Agnes’ intelligence as a female is frowned upon. From a young age, her natural curiosity is scorned, as her foster father Björn tells her that books are “not for your kind”. He “did not like that [she] knew the sagas better than him”. Then, as an older woman, her capacity is used as evidence of her guilt. Björn Blöndal exemplifies society’s fear of smart women when he tells Tóti: “like many older servant women she is practised in deception”. Society also seeks to suppress women’s power through sexual vilification. While a man like Natan Ketilsson, who has had several partners, is described as merely “indiscreet”, women are labelled as “loose with their morals”, “loose skirts”, and “whore”. Married farmers and servant men alike suffer no repercussions from engaging in sexual activity, while women are often physically and socially vulnerable, and therefore have no power to reject unwanted advances. Furthermore, men control the government and religion at every level: from the Danish King to the reverends - thus the suppression of women’s power is systematically ingrained.
However, even restricted as they are, women are not equal in their power. Some, like Margrét and Poet Rósa, have been able to elevate their position in society. Margrét is the wife of a District Officer. While the family is poverty-stricken, they are still able to employ servants, thus giving Margrét a respected and authoritative position in the household. Meanwhile, Poet Rósa seems to escape the prejudice against promiscuous women through her celebrity status. She is victimised by Icelandic society despite being an adulterer. As Agnes argued, Natan “wasn't hers to love”. Class division is also apparent from the disgust District Commissioner Björn Blöndal shows the Kornsá household. Kent’s juxtaposition of Blöndal’s “more spacious dwelling...at Hvammur” with the “[cramped turf] hovels of peasants and farmers” emphasises the difference social standing can make to standard of living. Additionally, Agnes’ supposed father Magnús may have been maligned due to his low social standing as a servant, which afforded his reputation little protection, demonstrating that imbalances of power amongst men also exist because of classism.
Similarly, conformity to society’s ideals may grant or diminish the power of a woman. Sigga is constantly victimised as people think her “too young and sweet to die”. She has power in her likeability, as exemplified by her successful appeal. Even Reverend Pétur Bjarnason, a religious man who should be unaffected by such charms, judges his parishioners by a stereotypical standard. He says of Lauga: “The younger daughter is quite a beauty...runs circles around her sister.” Thus, Kent shows that adherence to two-dimensional stereotypes for women - the mother, the daughter, the virgin, the victim - enables women to have power through their appeal to men. Meanwhile, Agnes who is not “dumb and pretty and young”, Agnes who defies categorisation, Agnes who “never stood a chance in the beginning” is shunned by society, leaving her with little power with which to defend her reputation and the narration of her story when it has already been defined for her.
In essence, while all women are limited by the patriarchal society, some are able to wield a greater power through social status and likeability determined by defined gender roles. Thus, it is a combination of Agnes’ gender, pauperdom, servant status and personal characteristics that leads to society’s desire to diminish any power she may hold. Burial Rites bears a strong undercurrent of feminism, as Hannah Kent encourages readers to sympathise with the hardships Agnes faced as a woman. Ultimately, Kent promotes reflection upon the disproportionate power of the sexes in today’s society, and its determination of women’s lives.
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