Kristin Lavransdatter Essay

Sigrid Undset's greatest contribution to literature is her trilogy, Kristin Lavransdatter. As the trilogy title suggests, Undset's novels center around the life of Kristin Lavransdatter, a beautiful maiden and the daughter of a well-respected and affluent farmer, Lavrans Borgulfson. Kristin experiences emotional and spiritual crisis with herself and her family after she begins an intimate relationship with Erlend Nikalausson, the rebel knight. After fifteen tumultuous years of marriage together, and seven sons, Erlend's political escapades cause him to be arrested for high treason against Magnus, the king of Norway. In the midst of Kristin and Erlend's dramatic life, there stands Simon Andresson. Simon Andresson's display of honor in Kristin Lavransdatter sheds light on the human struggle for goodness and righteousness in life by exposing the personal anguish and shame of one soul trying to attain his own version of happiness in the world. The
Enchanted by Halfrid's beauty, gentleness, and loveliness, Simon is pleased to have such a high-class wife. The narrator, however, tells how Simon eventually felt about his marriage: "Simon could never [imagine] that he would not be happy with such a wife as he had now won… in the dark gloom of the night his aversion to her stripped him of all youth and vigor. She was sickly, her breath was tainted, and her caresses plagued him (KL VII 208)." This unhappiness leads to him laying with one of Halfrid's maids causing the birth of his illegitimate daughter, Arngjerd. He eventually grew to love the unwanted Arnejerd, and was left a widower when Halfrid died one day after their baby boy was born. Simon returned home to Dyfrin where he stayed until his father passed away. After the Darre inheritances were settled, Simon moved to Formo with his "seduced sister and a paramour's child (KL VII