Kallem, and manifests its disapproval with an emphasis which takes
no account of ameliorating circumstances. The sanguinary ingenuity in
the constant slights and stabs to which she is exposed makes her life a
martyrdom and finally kills her. "Contempt will pierce the armor of a
tortoise," says an oriental proverb; and poor Ragni had no chelonian
armor. When her most harmless remarks are misinterpreted and her most
generous acts become weapons wherewith to slay her, she loses all heart
for resistance, and merely lies down to die. Very subtile and beautiful
is the manner in which Bjoernson indicates the interaction of psychical
and physical conditions. The "soul-frost" which chills the very marrow
of her bones is so vividly conveyed that you shiver sympathetically. The
self-righteous and brutally censorious attitude of the community lowers
the temperature and makes the atmosphere deadly. And the fact that it
is Ragni's unsuspicious innocence, and even her love of her husband,
which expose her to this condemnation is made plain with much delicate
art.
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