Post A #5

The culture of the British peoples in pages 180-220 can be seen to almost advance in certain areas. Although Ethelred is as incompetent as usual, Erik the viking has been contributing heavily to the plot line. As Ethelred came to become the "lord" of London, he became more and more jealous, in a way, of his wife's beauty. He was furious when other men even looked at her, let alone spoke with her, and over the short length of the marriage to this point, he became more and more suspicious that she was cheating on him. At one point in the novel, Uhtred and a couple of his homes sneak into a cathedral in which they believe Ethelflaed is being held captive or tortured or something like that. It turns out that she is being "checked" to see if she is still a virgin. So, pretty much, her husband and about ten priests are raping her... This is obviously not a common thing in today's society, and I doubt that a situation exactly along the lines of this one has happened in a hundred years.

Also, the views of killing and murder, as well as punishment of criminals are entirely different. At this time, killing in battle was viewed as honorable and normal, though killing in battle now is seen by many as a disgusting thing, or a necessary evil. Death at this time was just too normal to view as disgusting since people lived for shorter periods of time, and diseases and warfare were more common. Murder on the other hand was viewed as much worse than some people today seem to see it. At the time, death on the battlefield was fine, as one went to Odin's hall, while now it is viewed as unfortunate. Murder, however, was seen as something only pathetic men did, that was unnecessary and dishonorable. The punishment of criminals was also different in that they were mostly put to death if the crime was anything that was worse than petty theft. Also, many people were vigilantes since there were no police, and thus even if it is petty theft, if you are caught and the owner is angry, he might easily decide to kill you.