The Representation Of God In Snorri's Poetic Edda

Snorri’s treatment of Odin can arguable be represented to the contemporary Christian audience as God, or seen as symbolizing a monotheistic deity similar to the Christian God, Loki is portrayed as demonic, as Satan, or even as the Antichrist. This divergence between Odin and Loki was fundamentally impacted by later Christian influences and attitudes which affected the myths transition from oral poetry to written word. By critically comparing the roles which Loki fulfilled in Snorri’s Edda and Poetic Edda, against the actions of the other members of the Aesir, to understand the path Loki’s character undertook and how he became a demonized figure in the imaginations of the 13th Century audience, similar to that of the devil. Loki has been represented …show more content…
This theory does have some credence when complimented by gender studies, through this added lens Loki’s gender fluidity and magical ability portray him as a ragr male with a lower status, a figure of ridicule for the other gods. Although Loki is portrayed as having sexual relationships with females, as he had a wife Sigyn, and a alleged affair with Sif, on numerous occasions he takes on a female form and had relations with men. For Loki, changing sex and not adhering to masculine stereotypes, is viewed as deviant behavior according to the Norse societal norms. Odin likewise undergoes similar ridicule for effeminate behavior, seid and magic which were female pursuits. For example, linking Odin’s dominion over female principles, Loki criticizes Odin during the Lokasenna: “But you, they say, practiced seid on Samsey, and you beat the same drum as the seeresses do, in the likeness of a wizard you journeyed over mankind, and that I thought the hallmark of a pervert.” (Poetic Edda …show more content…
The resurrection and redemption of the gods in the eyes of the Christian audience would have been key. For this reason, casting Loki as Baldr’s murderer in Snorri’s Edda rather than his exclusion in the earlier text, the Poetic Edda, indicates that Snorri was deliberately drawing on Old Testament images of the devil to create a demonic figure that would help bring about the resurrection of judgement day more in line with Biblical teaching. Where the Poetic Edda features the blind god, Hodr, accidentally murdering Baldr, Snorri’s Edda, written in Christianized Scandinavia, conforms to stereotypes of figures of evil and righteousness, light and dark, Satan versus God, throughout the