To know what a person has done, and to know who a person is, are very different

things. Burial Rites suggests that understanding an individual means much more
than hearing their past. Discuss.
In the post-modern speculative biography, Burial Rites, written by Hannah Kent,
Iceland is portrayed as a cold, unforgiving setting, reflecting many characters
personalities. These personalities come complicated or simple and their motives
and reasoning often go undiscovered. A character in the novel, Toti, says that To
know what a person has done, and to know who a person is, are very different
things. This suggests that in the novel there are many sides to a persons
disposition. When Agnes past contradicts with her present self, other characters
need to do more than just listen to her past to understand her present self. Without
hearing the full story of Michael, other people miss important details and fail to
understand him. However, with characters like Blondal, who is simple, his
personality can be extrapolated from hearing his story.
Agnes past is contradictory to her present self, leading others to not understand
her, thus to know her, characters must do more than listen to her past. Characters
in Burial Rites often fail to understand Agnes multi-faceted personality that had
been shaped by many occurrences in her life. The method of communication in
Iceland relied heavily on hearsay as letters and other formal communications were
reserved for official matters. By the hearsay, rumors about people often snowball so
much that truth becomes augmented and events become exaggerated and filled
with disingenuous assertions. Agnes becomes a victim of this when the people all
around her see her as the murderess, the madwoman showing that the people
who knew her tied her personality around a single moment in her past rather than
bother to learn about the person herself. Agnes realizes this and notes the fact that
they dont know [Agnes Magnusdottir], revealing her bitter outlook on the fact
that the truth about her is obfuscated by others ignorance and lies. The comparison
between the whore that the public knew about and the woman Laugas family got
to know shows the difference that knowledge can make. Without their willingness to
learn about Agnes behind her past, they wouldnt have been better able to
understand her.
Without hearing Michaels full past, people can often miss important details and
create misconceptions about him, thus failing to understand him. Characters in the
book believed that Michael was a kind and gentle man, but in truth, his
manipulative and violent personality is hidden behind the lack of information about
his past. What others thought of kind, sweet Michael was no secret, with everyone
but Agnes believing that he was well adjusted putting him as a model of perfection.
People had compared him to the biblical [Adam], incapable of doing wrong. This
understanding of Michael as a good person by people who dont know the full story
is juxtaposed by Agnes fuller understanding of the man. Where was once poor
Michael was now wild and feral Michael, exemplifying the difference that
knowledge of the person behind the scenes is required to make a judgment of a

persons disposition. Michaels violent tendencies on Agnes is a direct example of

the failure to understand him. Threatening Agnes, unbeknownst to the general
public, Michaels personality reveals itsself as false on its front. Without the full
understanding of Michaels past, people were rendered ignorant to the truth of his
personality and failed to really know him.
However, some characters, like Blondal, are so simple that just by hearing only a
small part of their story, their personality can be easily understood. Blondal, as a
character, undergoes no character development and stays consistent throughout
Burial Rites from beginning to end. As District Commissioner, Blondal holds a large
amount of power and the egotistical confidence to go with it. His self-centered
fortress of personality stays strong throughout the book, stopping other characters
from influencing his view of the law, even after presented with evidence that goes
against his views. Near the beginning, Blondal talks to Toti regarding the way Toti
should treat Agnes by [applying] the lords word to her like a whip to a hard
mouthed horse, dehumanizing Agnes while providing a graphic simile. Toti, as a
man of the cloth, does not go through with the cruelty and learns more about
Agnes situation. Blondal, nearing the end of Burial Rites, in regards to Agnes
execution, says that to do anything else besides execute her would be a political
and spiritual embarrassment, showing that not only has Blondal remained ignorant
and self righteous, but also that his simple character had perservered through the
events of the book. This consistency makes Blondal very easy to understand as
nothing can change his character.
Burial Rites depicts personalities complicated and simple, with some of the
characters requiring knowledge of them or their full past or simply a concise
observation to understand them.