Women

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Women

Introduction

The Viking culture has begun in the 8th century and flourished till three hundred years, the culture is shaped by the masculine imperatives but the women also had better roles to play to build up the society. The Viking society used to give women equal importance as men until she possessed the aggressive traits and the strength a man possessed. Women were not understood as very different from man, and they had the same rights and protections under the law. Viking culture shows great importance to women as they have voting rights, they could inherit property, they can choose where to and how to live if they are not married. They had the power to own their own businesses and could have farms, shops and taverns. The religious interpreters were women. In the Vikings time, neither man nor women could choose their mates. Both man and women had to wear similar pieces of jewelry of the same social class. Women were responsible for taking care of the children but both man and woman were responsible for preparing meals for the household (Bystydzienski and Jill M).

Later with the introduction of Christianity, society became more patriotic. Women and Men were given different roles. The new religion changes the setup of the society in different ways. They kept God at the top and gave more authority to the Church. The authority of husband and wife over the family became less and the state was given more authority (Bystydzienski and Jill M).

Discussion

The text portrayed Freydis as a great worrier and women to wisdom and strength. She fought against men calling then them the worthless creature who cannot protect their women. And her husband could not handle her aggression and claimed that he will give her a divorce. She fought against a group of men and almost defeated them. She was praised by her tribe by courage ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"M3N4ae1S","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Fitzhugh)","plainCitation":"(Fitzhugh)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":195,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/LY9XXHSK/items/JSHK9RCE"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/LY9XXHSK/items/JSHK9RCE"],"itemData":{"id":195,"type":"article-journal","title":"Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga","container-title":"AnthroNotes","author":[{"family":"Fitzhugh","given":"William W."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2000"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Fitzhugh).

Well, the first human being a dam was formed from the dust of the lands and he was given the breath of life by the Lord and he was alone until God gifted him, Eve. It has been said that God made Eve from the ribs of Adam while he was as sleep. So Adam said that this is now the flesh of my flesh and the bone of my bone so she will be called a woman (GEN 2: 4-23). The text also refers to the serpent who provoked the newly made creature of eating up the fruit in the garden so that their eyes will be opened and they will be as good as the god to understand the evil. The women went to the tree which God said not to eat, she saw her and realized that it is full of good fruits so she gave it to her husband as well to eat. Both ate the fruit and it opened their eyes. They find out that both of them were naked and they suddenly felt the need for something to wear and made apron form the leaves of the tree. Then they heart God among the trees and then they came to know that God saw them eating the fruit. Therefore, God sends them to earth.

The two women in the text were portrayed differently, one was presented as a worrier and the other was shown as a weak woman who could not keep the promise to God and made his husband part of the sin she committed. The story of Eve reveals that Eve represents the true image of someone weak and someone who cannot be trusted. Her actions generated a belief against the woman that they are by nature disobedient and more prone to temptations.

While Freydis in the Vikings is portrayed as a woman with strength as much as a man. She was shown as women who challenge men and killed them brutally. She was represented as a hero and got praise and appreciations for her actions. She was a woman who blamed her husband not to support her and in return got the signals of divorce. She fights fearlessly for herself and she showed that women are not weak and women can be good leaders.

So Freydis and Eve were the two sides of women, one is shown as a weak and disobedient while the other is a strong worrier and someone people look forward as a leader.

They are portrayed differently from each other in ways of their decision making power, appearance and leadership qualities. The other took her husband with her and betrayed him too while the other separated her path from her husband when she finds out that her husband cannot protect her. She stood on her own against the world and defeated every one against her. The similarities in both the stories are that both of the women need their husband along with them, one was able to make her husband stand with her and the other was not. But it showed that even the strongest women may want his man to be there for her.

If the historical origin of the women would be analyzed then Freydis belong to a society which made her a worrier, she was as a strong as a man because of the hardships she faced in her life she learnt to fight and to stand for herself in the war against patriarchy. While Eve was the first and only women who got all the attention of Adam and she was curious to explore what was around her and got betrayed by her thoughts. Adam trusted her because she was her partner and evolved himself in her sin. So both the stories had different versions of women based on their historical existence.

Conclusion

The story of Eve from the Genesis shows the negative image of women, which lead interpreter to imagine that women should always be submissive as Eve was inferior to Adam but Adam did agree with her in easting the fruit and received a penalty. Eve strayed Adam so the interpreters say that women should not be included in lawmaking and should not be given leadership positions. But some interpreter says that Eve was the helper and she helped to create human nature but got less credit (Pamela Milne).

While Freydis from Vikings was the story of re-evolution of women leadership and people started believing in the healing power of a woman. The image of women as a weak creature was completely denied by the story of Freydis from Vikings. In that society, women were free to choose their occupation so they were involved in all sorts of trade along with their men. They had got power and authority over most of the things in their lives. So Freydis was a woman who chose to use her ability as a fighter to protect her grace. This story can be interpreted in many ways like it is the society which either makes a woman strong or it is implementing the rules of patriarchy on her to prove her weak and worthless.

Both of the stories show that a woman can build or destroy society. It depends on the way the circumstances that make a woman weak or strong. So it was the moment of time that portrayed these women differently.

Works Cited

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Fitzhugh, William W. “Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga.” AnthroNotes, 2000.

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Bystydzienski, and Jill M. Women in Electoral Politics: Lessons from Norway. Greenwood Publishing Group. 1995.

Pamela Milne. GENESIS FROM EVE’S POINT OF VIEW. 26 Mar. 1989.