Home > Kalevala Summary & Study Guide > Character Analysis > Kullervo
Kalevala | Kullervo
Kullervo, son of Kalervo and nephew of Untamo, is a tragic figure whose story unfolds in Poems 31-36. Mentally unbalanced after having been badly raised as an orphan on his uncle's farm, Kullervo is a bother and inconvenience for everybody to deal with. He is lazy, stupid, bitterly defiant, and unfit to do a young man's work; he makes a mess of Untamo's farm, ruins the threshing, and kills a small child he was assigned to babysit. Finally, Untamo rids himself of the troublesome youth by selling him to Dmarinen as a serf.
For some reason, Ihnarinen's wife mistreats Kullervo, baking...
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