The Goodness and Burden of Guilt Demonstrated by Protagonists in the Virgin Spring

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Introduction

The Virgin Spring is a 1960 film by Ingmar Bergman that tells a tale of revenge, rape, superstition, and religious faith in the 14th century in Sweden at a time when people vacillated between paganism and Christianity. The story also has other characters including the Boy, the Mute, and the Thin man who are goatherds that come up with a plan to rape and kill Karin. This text is an analysis of the goodness and the burden of guilt demonstrated by the five main protagonists in the Virgin Spring namely Tore, Mareta, Karin, Ingeri, and the Boy.

The five protagonists in the film display goodness and guilt in equal measure. To begin with, both Karin’s parents, Tore and Mareta exhibit goodness in that they are described as prosperous Christians by the author. At a time when there was a religious conflict between pagans and Christians, the two individuals refrain from practicing paganisms which is associated with magic. Additionally, Tore and Mareta exhibit goodness because they take Ingeri into their home as their foster daughter despite having her being a pagan worshipper and falling pregnant out of wedlock. Karin demonstrates goodness because she is an obedient daughter who does everything she is told by her parents. As the Feast of Candlemas approaches she agrees to be sent to take the candles to be blessed by Father Erik. She agrees as the candles can only be accrued by a virgin. The goodness of Ingeri is clear in that she agrees to accompany her on the journey although she later abandons her mid-way. The goodness of the boy is clear because he is not responsible for raping and murdering Karin (Neary, 2018). Only the two older men raped her. All five characters are haunted by feelings of guilt at one point. Ingeri’s guilt shows she starts praying to Odin for watching and doing nothing to prevent the two men from raping and murdering Karin. Mareta feels guilty because she has not always liked her husband Tore and for seeing herself as Karin’s favorite parent. Tore feels guilty because he killed the boy who did not participate in the killing of his daughter. The boy feels expresses guilt when he is left with Karin’s lifeless body by trying to sprinkle it with dirt and burring it.

The Virgin Spring talks about Tore who lives with his wife Mareta and daughter Karin, and their foster daughter Ingeri. All protagonists in the film demonstrated both goodness and guilt. While Karin’s parents are good parents and faithful Christian, they are faced with an issue that leads them to kill and avenge their daughter’s daughter.

References

Neary, D. (2018). The Virgin Spring.