Burial Rites: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

Chapter Three opens with a document from the Supreme Court trials of Agnes’s case in 1829. The document states the allegation that Fridrik, Agnes, and Sigga entered Natan’s house with the intention of robbing him. According to the District Commissioner, they acted together to kill Natan and Pétur with a knife and hammer before burning the farm and the bodies.

The narrative then resumes Agnes’s first person perspective as she describes how at Kornsá, she has dreamed for the first time since her imprisonment. In Agnes’s dream, she and Natan were brewing herbs together. Agnes, feeling deeply in love with him, reached out to embrace him, causing him to drop the beaker, which then smashed on the floor. When Agnes awakes the next day, she remembers with grief that Natan is dead.

Agnes thinks of happy memories of her mother to try to counteract her sadness, but the memories feel hollow. Agnes opens her eyes and sees Margrét lying awake. Margrét turns and sees Agnes watching her. Margrét tells Agnes to get up and the two women go outside. Margrét makes it clear that she does not want Agnes living with them, but says she is obligated to keep her. Margrét tells Agnes that her husband will return that morning, and warns her not to act up.

Margrét then asks Agnes about her work experience as a servant and whether she can do household tasks and wield a scythe. Margrét is pleased with Agnes’s affirmative answers, and tells Agnes she has no use for a “criminal,” but she can use a servant. Agnes mentally objects to the word “criminal,” thinking it does not fit her, but does not say anything. Margrét tells Agnes she will not tolerate any misbehavior. As Margrét brings Agnes outside to show her the livestock, they see Margrét’s neighbors Snaebjörn, Páll, and Róslín approaching the house.

Margrét quickly tells Agnes to go into the house. When Snaebjörn gets closer, he greets Margrét. Snaebjörn tells Margrét that they had heard about Margrét’s situation and wanted to make sure she was all right. As Róslín, who is pregnant, comes within earshot, she greets Margrét and gives her a loaf of homemade rye bread.

Snaebjörn asks where Jón is, and when he hears that he is out, Snaebjörn excuses himself and Páll to do some work, leaving Róslín to chat with Margrét. Margrét falls into a spell of coughing. Róslín says she worries about her and that she has heard strange rumors. She says she thought she saw someone else in the doorway with Margrét as she approached and, feigning innocence, asks Margrét if it was a new servant.

Margrét tells Róslín that Agnes has been placed in their care. Róslín says that she actually came by because she heard a rumor that Blöndal had moved Agnes to Kornsá. She says it is because the family Agnes was with before was too important to be put in such dangerous proximity to a murderess. As Róslín says this, she realizes how offensive it is, and tries to take it back, but Margrét simply says that the rumors of Agnes staying with them are true, and she does not know the reasons behind the decision.

Róslín tells Margrét that she feels sorry for her, and warns her that the murderers of “good” Pétur and Natan are extremely wicked. Margrét reminds Róslín that Pétur was a thief and Natan a womanizer. Róslín asks if Margrét thinks that they deserved to die, and Margrét says of course not. Róslín then says Agnes is rumored to be the worst of the murderers, and the mastermind.

As Róslín describes the graphic rumors about the murders, Margrét wishes that she would leave. Róslín continues to talk dramatically about Agnes and to ask Margrét probing questions, clearly hoping to get a glimpse of her, as Margrét grows more and more annoyed. Finally, Margrét pointedly says goodbye to Róslín and Róslín leaves.

The narrative switches back to Agnes’s first person perspective as she, having been sent back to the badstofa by Margrét, sees that the sleeping officer, Lauga, and Steina are now gone. She realizes with exhilaration she is unguarded for the first time in months. Her thoughts jump to escape. She thinks, though, of the harsh Icelandic landscape, knowing that the wilderness would mean certain death.

Agnes stumbles to her bed and looks around the room, which needs repair. She wonders if the family sings hymns or recites sagas in the winter, noting that she has a great love for and excellent knowledge of the sagas. As a child, Agnes’s foster mother Inga encouraged reading, but her foster father Björn did not, saying books other than the Bible were “not for [her] kind.”

The traditional furniture and everyday objects in the room make Agnes think of the stone that her mother Ingveldur gave her. Ingveldur said the stone would allow Agnes to talk to birds if she put it under her tongue. Agnes put the stone under her tongue for days, but nothing came of it. She remembers being abandoned by her mother at Kornsá at age six.

Agnes tries to reconcile herself with the idea that she will spend her last days in the town she knew as a child. Agnes chants the names of all the different farms she lived on throughout her life. The last one, Natan’s farm, carries strong and negative feelings for Agnes, and she thinks of the farm burning.

Agnes notices a silver brooch hidden under the bed across from her. She picks it up, and then, suddenly, Lauga appears beside her and tells her to put it down. Agnes drops the brooch and Lauga calls for Steina, who comes running in. They both yell for Margrét. When Margrét appears in the doorway, she screams at Agnes not to touch anything in the house, and then drags Agnes off to do chores.

The narrative switches back to third-person and follows Tóti as he completes chores and gets ready to head to Kornsá again. As Reverend Jón sees Tóti herding sheep and doing laundry, he tells Tóti that he doesn’t have to do that, and commands him to get to Kornsá to talk with Agnes.

The narrative moves back to Agnes’s first person perspective. Agnes and Margrét milk sheep together and then burn Agnes’s old dress, which she had sewed with Sigga. Memories of this trigger Agnes’s regret as she watches the dress smolder. The dress was the only possession Agnes had left.

Margrét and Agnes go to do work in the herb garden to escape the smoke of the burning clothes. As Agnes weeds, she remembers Natan’s workshop. Agnes enjoys the weeding, but Margrét’s lungs give her trouble and she struggles to breathe. Margrét tells Agnes to go fetch her daughters in the house. When Agnes goes to get them, Lauga immediately leaves to go help her mother, but Steina lingers behind.

Steina tells Agnes that she thinks they met once before, while they were both travelling. She remembers that Agnes plaited Lauga’s hair and gave them each an egg. Agnes begins to vaguely remember the day Steina is referring to. She remembers seeing three ravens flying in a line—a good omen— but also remembers that one hundred whales washed ashore that year—a bad omen. Agnes, however, does not confirm Steina’s memory. Margrét comes in to fetch Steina, telling her to shovel the ashes from Agnes’s dress into the garden.

The narrative, still in third person, cuts to Tóti, who, having arrived at Kornsá, is sitting with Agnes outside the house and asking if they should begin their session with prayer. Agnes says nothing, and when Tóti asks again, Agnes responds by asking him what he means when he talks about her “absolution.” Tóti explains that he received a letter from Blöndal saying Agnes had requested him to be her spiritual guide, and that they all want Agnes to “return to God.” When Agnes quips that she will be returning to God soon enough by execution, Tóti is caught off guard.

Agnes tells Tóti that they have met before, but Tóti is confused because he doesn’t remember her whatsoever. Agnes tells him that he helped her cross a river seven years ago, but Tóti still does not recall the event. Tóti asks if that is why Agnes asked for him specifically to be her counselor, and when Agnes does not respond, Tóti tells Agnes she might be better off with a more qualified clergyman. Agnes tells Tóti that she has never met any clergymen that she liked.

A few ravens land on the stone fence nearby and Margrét chases them away. Tóti takes a breath and recites a rehearsed speech about how, if Agnes does want him for a spiritual advisor, he will come visit her and guide her prayers. When he’s done, Agnes tells Tóti that perhaps it would be better if he did not come to visit her, saying she’d forgotten how young he is. Tóti, unsure how to respond, looks at her for a moment and then bids her goodbye.

The narrative switches back to the first person as Agnes describes the rest of her day doing garden work alongside Margrét. They work silently, and Agnes thinks that she made a mistake in asking Tóti, who is practically a boy, to coach her through her impending death. Agnes thinks the only person who could understand how she feels is Natan, because he knew her so incredibly well. Agnes thinks Tóti can do nothing for her, since God already had the opportunity to free her. Instead, she is condemned.