Burial Rites: Chapter 5 Summary & Analysis

Chapter Five opens with a poem that Rósa writes to Agnes in June of 1828, in which Rósa tells Agnes not to be surprised by her pain, accuses Agnes of stealing Natan away from her, and says that Agnes gave her soul to the Devil. This poem is followed by Agnes’s reply to Rósa, also in verse. In her poem, Agnes warns Rósa not to cause her even more pain and tells Rósa that she is seeking God’s grace. Agnes reminds Rósa that they both belong to Jesus.

The chapter then changes to third person narrative as it describes Margrét and her friend and neighbor Ingibjörg Pétursdóttir, stacking wood and talking about what it’s like to have Agnes living in Margrét’s house. They laugh at Róslín’s gossip about Agnes and her theatrical concern for Margrét. Ingibjörg asks what Agnes is like and Margrét tells Ingibjörg that Agnes is quiet, but she talks to Tóti when he visits. Margrét mentions that Agnes’s mother was Ingveldur, who was known for being a “loose” woman.

Ingibjörg then asks about Lauga and Steina. Margrét tells Ingibjörg that Steina thinks she has met Agnes before, and she worries that Steina has started smiling at Agnes and acting friendly toward her. Margrét thinks that Agnes might have the same bad influence on Steina that she allegedly had on Sigga. Lauga, on the other hand, hates Agnes. Jón and Margrét try to keep the girls separate from Agnes, but it is impossible.

The story switches back to Agnes’s first person narration as she describes dreaming about crawling through the snow to her own execution. The dream frightens Agnes awake. She gets up to go to the bathroom, trying not to wake anyone. Agnes’s terror lingers and she thinks of how Natan, although he did not have much respect for Christianity, believed strongly in the power of dreams.

Agnes had begun to think of herself as a servant in the Kornsá household, but the dream reminds her that she is actually a prisoner. Soon, winter and her execution will arrive. Agnes worries about whether Tóti can help her and thinks how hard it has been to make him understand her. Tóti does not know what to do with the information about her family, and Agnes has not yet even told him about her siblings. She wonders what she will say, since Helga is dead and Jóas is so irresponsible.

Agnes remembers moving with Ingveldur from farm to farm in her early childhood. One of these farms was owned by Illugi the Black, a married man who fathered Jóas. Illugi died of disease soon after. Jóas was born at the next farm where they lived before being thrown out. The family then returned to Kornsá, and Agnes’s mother gave her the talking-stone and abandoned her, taking only Jóas. Agnes only learned later that her mother had another daughter, Helga. By that time, Agnes was living with her foster family, Inga and Björn, at Kornsá.

The narrative switches back to the third person as Steina, now awake, finds Agnes outside emptying the chamber pot. Steina stays to keep Agnes company, but Agnes worries that Jón and Margrét will be mad at her. Steina asks Agnes what Tóti comes to talk about and Agnes snaps that it is her own business. Steina tells Agnes that Jón has told her to leave Agnes alone, but that, unlike the others, she does not believe that Agnes killed Natan and Pétur.

Steina wants to make a petition or an appeal to help Agnes, and tells her that Blöndal made an appeal to commute Sigga’s sentence. Agnes, shocked and upset, walks away from Steina toward the river and drops to the ground. Suddenly, it starts to downpour. Steina apologizes and begs Agnes to come inside. Eventually she gives up and goes back to the house while Agnes stays out in the rain.

When Steina enters the house, Margrét asks where she has been, thinking, at first, that Agnes has hurt her. Then Steina tells Margrét that Agnes is by the river and needs help. Steina finds Jón in the badstofa and tells him to go down to the river and help Agnes. Jón leaves to go find her. When Lauga comes in and says something snarky about Steina trying to be friends with Agnes, Steina yells at her. Lauga tells Steina that if she’s not careful, she will end up as wicked as Agnes. Steina starts to cry.

The perspective changes to Agnes’s first-person narrative. She is sitting on the bed waiting while Margrét, Jón, Lauga, and Steina talk in the other room. Agnes is nervous and keeps thinking about Sigga’s appeal. She believes that, while Sigga will get off, she herself will never be freed.

The narration changes back to the third-person and jumps to Tóti, who is at his house and who has just received a letter from Jón asking him to come see Agnes. Tóti leaves for Kornsá over Reverend Jón’s objections. By the time Tóti gets close, he is drenched with the rain. Tóti runs into Gudmundur on his way, who tells him that Agnes had a fit, screaming and scratching at him and Jón when they approached her. Tóti is surprised.

The two men ride together the rest of the way to Kornsá, where Tóti finds Agnes handcuffed and in bed. He asks Agnes what happened and Agnes tells him about Sigga’s appeal, saying that everyone pities Sigga because she is pretty and dumb, but no one pities her because they think she is too smart. Agnes tells Tóti that people think smart women cannot be trusted because they can’t be innocent. Agnes also points out that, if God commanded people not to kill, then Blöndal is going against God’s law.

Margrét, Lauga, Steina, and Kristín enter the badstofa to talk amongst themselves while Tóti and Agnes converse. Margrét removes Agnes’s handcuffs at Tóti’s request. Once the other women are distracted, Tóti quietly tells Agnes not to give the family any more reason to hate her. Agnes then tells Tóti about her dream the night before. Tóti prays for Agnes. Afterward, Agnes asks if Tóti thinks it is her fate to be executed. Tóti says that is beyond knowing.

Tóti asks Agnes if there is anyone from her past that he can bring to talk with her. Agnes tells him about her siblings: Helga, who died, and Jóas, whose whereabouts are unknown to her. Agnes also tells him that Rósa visited her before to give her a poem, in which she berated her for killing Natan. Agnes, growing agitated, says that, because Rósa was a married woman, Natan was not hers to love.

Tóti notices that the other women have stopped knitting to listen. He changes the subject to Agnes’s siblings so Agnes will calm down. Agnes says she only saw Helga a few times and she was separated from Jóas when he was one year old. Agnes quietly asks Tóti to talk to Blöndal about creating a petition for her, as Steina suggested. Tóti hesitantly agrees and asks Agnes again about her childhood. She begins to tell him about her foster family, Inga and Björn, who raised her until Inga died in childbirth. Tóti asks Agnes if she remembers Inga’s death, and she says she does, and vividly. Tóti asks Agnes to tell him what happened.