Research into the representation of the main character Sara in each Western film adaptation created in the twentieth century. The thesis focuses on gender stereotypes and the representation of the...Show moreResearch into the representation of the main character Sara in each Western film adaptation created in the twentieth century. The thesis focuses on gender stereotypes and the representation of the significance of friendship, imagination and intelligence.Show less
In Elizabeth Bowen’s The Demon Lover and Other Stories (1944), Rosamond Lehmann’s The Ballad and the Source (1944), and Rose Macaulay’s The World My Wilderness (1950), the actual present strikes...Show moreIn Elizabeth Bowen’s The Demon Lover and Other Stories (1944), Rosamond Lehmann’s The Ballad and the Source (1944), and Rose Macaulay’s The World My Wilderness (1950), the actual present strikes characters as unreal, since history is overturned, partly by the proximity of war: past, present and future are mingled. These prose texts are placed in relation to T.S. Eliot’s poetic commentary on our ambivalent attitude to time, Four Quartets (1943), which can similarly be seen as a response to the writer’s experience of the Blitz. The texts this thesis engages with explore the idea of simultaneity, a multiplied presence – but they also bespeak a disbelief in an independent present, one untainted by the past and future. Indeed, in these texts, the “anaesthetized and bewildered present” (The Demon Lover and Other Stories, Bowen 221) is obscured both by compressions and expansions of time, often in combination with a collapse of identity. Brimming with both nostalgia and painful memories, but also due to the looming presence of war, the texts are all in some way ‘haunted’, both metaphorically as well as literally. Ultimately, this thesis will argue that under the pressure of the war and its aftermath, 1940s Modernist texts question the linearity of time and experience.Show less
Taking Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost (1667), Samir Calixto in his dance-theatre play of the same title offers a new interpretation of an old order. In his work, God is a vain tyrant, Satan a...Show moreTaking Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost (1667), Samir Calixto in his dance-theatre play of the same title offers a new interpretation of an old order. In his work, God is a vain tyrant, Satan a tragic hero, Adam a weak marionette, and Eve a brave leader who, with determination and hope, guides Adam out of the Paradise towards enlightenment and a new beautiful world. This thesis aims to examine the difference in portrayal of gender roles in the two works. The main research question seeks to explore performance of gender roles in the background of gender studies and literary criticism on Milton. The sub-questions investigate how literature influences dance and what is the relationship between the two art forms; how the physicality of dance and lack of dramatic text affect possible interpretations; and whether Eve can be seen as the embodiment of the masculine. The emergence of modern dance, particularly understood as a form not based on narrative, is described along with the notion of intermediality and postdramatic theatre. A conceptual base regarding gender theory and adaptation studies is set out with examples from Milton's poem before an in-depth analysis of Calixto's performance.Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
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Charles Dickens (1812-1870) is mainly known for his Victorian novels. However, Dickens pursued a lifelong relationship with the theatrical world. This thesis aims at exploring this relationship,...Show moreCharles Dickens (1812-1870) is mainly known for his Victorian novels. However, Dickens pursued a lifelong relationship with the theatrical world. This thesis aims at exploring this relationship, taking into account two theatrical adaptations of Dickens’ novel "Bleak House" in 1853: James Elphinstone and Frederic Neale’s "‘Bleak House’, a drama in two acts", performed at the City of London Theatre in June 1853, and George Dibdin Pitt’s "The Bleak House, or the Spectre of the Ghost Walk", performed at the Royal Pavilion Theatre, also in June 1853, before the final instalments of the novel had been published. The main focus of this analysis is the investigation of Gothic motifs present in Dickens’ novel, and how they were represented in these two productions. The conclusion is that these Gothic elements were enhanced on stage by means of textual selections, set arrangements and plot focused on the Dedlocks’ Ghost legend, illustrating the sensationalist character of the nineteenth-century melodramatic theatre. Furthermore, the focus on spectacle also resulted in an impoverishment of the social criticism layer present in Dickens’ novel, demonstrating the productions’ focus on entertainment, in accordance with the theatres’ purposes and target audience in the East End area in London in the nineteenth century.Show less
This thesis explores the ways in which the animals in Poe’s ‘The Black Cat’, du Maurier’s ‘The Birds’, Benchley’s Jaws, and King’s Cujo act as if driven by a vengeful motive. This supposed vengeful...Show moreThis thesis explores the ways in which the animals in Poe’s ‘The Black Cat’, du Maurier’s ‘The Birds’, Benchley’s Jaws, and King’s Cujo act as if driven by a vengeful motive. This supposed vengeful motive is an aspect that allows the animals to act as agents of guilt. Part of the guilt finds its origin in the history that humans and animals share, and in this thesis, specifically in the Western societies. In this shared history animals were more often than not treated horribly. However, in recent years, humans have come to think of animals quite differently than they used to. Animals and humans differ most significantly in the aspect of consciousness: where animals are merely conscious, humans are self-conscious. In horror literature the most important aspect is the monster, and a monster is almost exclusively an animal that has acquired self-consciousness. The animals in the four discussed horror narratives are all seemingly in possession of a self-conscious mind, making them horrific monsters. But, besides being a scary monster that threatens the lives of its antagonists, the acquirement of self-consciousness gives the monster a purpose, it becomes an agent of guilt. In this function the animals can confront the characters in the story with repressed feelings originating from guilt, and, more significantly, through these animals a critical view on human society is offered.Show less
This thesis employs queer and psychoanalytic theory in order to analyze three Gothic texts from the Romantic Period: William Godwin's 'Caleb Williams' (1794), Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' (1818),...Show moreThis thesis employs queer and psychoanalytic theory in order to analyze three Gothic texts from the Romantic Period: William Godwin's 'Caleb Williams' (1794), Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' (1818), and James Hogg's 'Justified Sinner' (1824). Through close readings, this thesis argues that the male protagonist's 'double' is a manifestation of his repressed homosexual desires. Do to societal pressure for normative behaviour, the protagonist experiences opposing feelings of desire and homophobia, ultimately causing his isolation and self-hatred.Show less
