Burial Rites

Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites is a novel set in the 19th century in Iceland. The story is set at a time when Iceland was a patriarchal country, which can be interpreted as women were seen as being inferior to men. The society valued and honoured the lives of men over women as they were perceived as being privileges. Throughout the novel Hannah Kent made evident that the female characters have higher qualities than the male characters.   Agnes and Margarét show striking emotional strength and greater power to endure hardship whereas Blöndal and Natan both displayed their manly and self-centred personalities and failed miserably to show emotionally stronger characters. Kent contrasted the male characters by showing Reverend Toti as someone who is gentle, just and caring to emphasize that not all men are emotionally challenged. The narrative shows a clear distinction between the two genders and their respective strengths.
The women of the novel predominantly demonstrate more developed qualities and values compared to the men. Most of the females of the character had a rough past and are emotionally resilient. They are understanding and very humane. Agnes Magnúsdóttir, the main protagonist is enigmatic woman whose story drives the novel. She was abandoned by her mother, doesn’t have her real father’s name and even her foster parents left her. Agnes mentioned in the story “This is how I became a pauper. Left to the mercy of others, whether they had any or no.” Agnes is one of the characters that demonstrate a remarkable understanding of the human nature as she has experienced so much in her lifetime.   She has been lived in the real world where she had been use and abuse by random man and unluckily got betrayed when she had finally loved. She killed the man she treasured with her bare hand in the name of love. She killed Natan to stop him from suffering and she recalled this scene by telling Toti, “I couldn’t stopped if I’d wanted to” and she also said “he regarded me...