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
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
