Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
open access
This thesis aims to shed new light on the intersection between the Gawain cycle and its socio-political environment by focusing primarily on the monsters. By analysing the monsters in the...Show moreThis thesis aims to shed new light on the intersection between the Gawain cycle and its socio-political environment by focusing primarily on the monsters. By analysing the monsters in the narratives as cultural projections of a certain period, this thesis aims to gain insight into the feelings and anxieties that accompanied the tensions between the noble houses during the Wars of the Roses. The monsters in the narratives of the Sir Gawain Cycle challenge the Arthurian Court to reflect on different sides of nobility. As outsiders, or as ‘Others’, they try to warn the knights of the Round Table to change their values and beliefs, and they urge them to live by a type of nobility that is more focused on virtue instead of wealth and status. Each monstrous body presents a different flaw within the ideology of the Round Table, and in turn, comments upon real concerns and anxieties that existed in the late-fifteenth century border region.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
This thesis deals with two biopics namely Ed Wood (1994) and The Disaster Artist and two films, Glen or Glenda (1953) and The Room (2003)and places these against a postmodern framework in order to...Show moreThis thesis deals with two biopics namely Ed Wood (1994) and The Disaster Artist and two films, Glen or Glenda (1953) and The Room (2003)and places these against a postmodern framework in order to analyze the construction and reconstruction of identity. Similarly, the metatextuality of the biopics as they refer back to the original filmmakers and their films is also examined herein.Show less
This thesis examines the influence of John Milton's Paradise Lost on C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia. In the first chapter it discusses a number of the most clear allusions to Milton's epic...Show moreThis thesis examines the influence of John Milton's Paradise Lost on C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia. In the first chapter it discusses a number of the most clear allusions to Milton's epic in The Chronicles, where they are found and what they do. The second chapter focuses on the question of gender hierarchy, and which role Paradise Lost plays in Lewis's depiction of this in his children's series.Show less