This thesis establishes how Theater Rotterdam's Hamlet de Familievøørstelling (2018) successfully adapts the genre of the British Christmas Pantomime and simultaneously adapts Shakespeare's Hamlet....Show moreThis thesis establishes how Theater Rotterdam's Hamlet de Familievøørstelling (2018) successfully adapts the genre of the British Christmas Pantomime and simultaneously adapts Shakespeare's Hamlet. It shows furthermore how a Shakespeare adaptation can tap into new audiences through adaptation of the pantomime genre, displaying how valuable adaptations can be to reach new audiences.Show less
The focus of this thesis is the change in Pamela due to her entrapment in Mr B.’s household, and the elements of violence that are present in the relationship between Mr B. and Pamela. This is...Show moreThe focus of this thesis is the change in Pamela due to her entrapment in Mr B.’s household, and the elements of violence that are present in the relationship between Mr B. and Pamela. This is examined by close-reading Pamela, and by investigating elements of Oroonoko and Beauty and the Beast to show how romanticized violence, Stockholm syndrome, and complex PTSD can be applied to literary characters.Show less
This thesis analysis the roles of women in William Shakespeare’s Henry VI plays, and shows that they are allowed to step out of the position their sex would confine them to, but are at the same...Show moreThis thesis analysis the roles of women in William Shakespeare’s Henry VI plays, and shows that they are allowed to step out of the position their sex would confine them to, but are at the same time still restricted by the limitations their gender brings with it and punished for their attempts to leave these behind.Show less
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that many research papers, books and articles have been written about Jane Austen. Ever since Mary Lascelles put Austen studies firmly on the map with her...Show moreIt is a truth universally acknowledged, that many research papers, books and articles have been written about Jane Austen. Ever since Mary Lascelles put Austen studies firmly on the map with her 1937 publication Jane Austen and Her Art, there have been ongoing debates about Austen, led by academics like Janet Todd, Deirdre Le Faye, and David Selwyn. One of these debates is about whether or not she should be called a (proto)feminist writer, and authors such as Miriam Ascarelli, Margaret Kirkham, and Claudia L. Johnson have contributed a lot to this subject. This thesis aims to show that Austen was a radical author for her time, who displays some very proto-feministic views in her novels. To prove that Austen was a proto-feminist author, this thesis will analyse Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey, and relate these novels to the views and opinions of one of the first proto-feminists, Mary Wollstonecraft, written down in Vindication of the Rights of Woman.Show less
This thesis compares two modern adaptations of Shakespeare's The Tempest to the original play and argues that Indigo and Hag-Seed problematise and expand on The Tempest by providing different...Show moreThis thesis compares two modern adaptations of Shakespeare's The Tempest to the original play and argues that Indigo and Hag-Seed problematise and expand on The Tempest by providing different perspectives and filling in gaps that are not explored in the classic play.Show less
In this thesis, two film adaptations of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Kenneth Branagh (1993) and Joss Whedon (2013), are analysed, each film representing a particular cinematic...Show moreIn this thesis, two film adaptations of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Kenneth Branagh (1993) and Joss Whedon (2013), are analysed, each film representing a particular cinematic tradition within the history of cinema. I argue that the main force at work in both adaptations is a complex nostalgia, one intrinsic to the very notion of 'heritage film' and likewise implicit in Whedon's indebtedness to American screwball comedy.Show less
The turbulent past of the women’s suffrage movement is a well known part of the late nineteenth and twentieth century. As Gail Cunningham points out, women had barely any rights before the reign of...Show moreThe turbulent past of the women’s suffrage movement is a well known part of the late nineteenth and twentieth century. As Gail Cunningham points out, women had barely any rights before the reign of Queen Victoria, but the women’s suffrage movement made big steps forward during her reign (1-5). It is therefore interesting to look at literature published in the beginning of the Victorian period, and to compare the way women are portrayed in those novels to their representation in literature published later on in the Victorian period. According to recent research, comparing novels from the beginning of the Victorian period and the end shows that women gradually become represented in a more emancipated way (Williams 43). Indeed, this might at first seem like it is true. However, as Nancy Schumann argues, when analysing the different female characters in these novels, it might also come to show that society’s views on women have not changed as much as we might like to believe (109). To test this theory, this dissertation will discuss the representation of women in Gothic fiction published during and after the Victorian period, as this was a widely read genre at the time (Calder 16). Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, published in 1847, early on in the Victorian period, will be compared to Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), published later on in the Victorian period, and to Shirley Jackson’s modern Gothic novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962). There is a gap of over a hundred years between the publication of Jane Eyre and the publication of We have always Lived in the Castle, so the latter should show a considerable change in the representation of its female characters. Yet, contrary to what is suggested in current research (Williams 43), Gothic fiction does not mirror this change.Show less
