In this thesis I have argued that the tombs of Blanche en Jean, children of Louis IX, were personal dedications instead of monuments with public intentions. Through the use of tomb type, metal and...Show moreIn this thesis I have argued that the tombs of Blanche en Jean, children of Louis IX, were personal dedications instead of monuments with public intentions. Through the use of tomb type, metal and heraldry, the monuments show the felt need to provide answers for the tehologically difficult situation that an early death brought. These tombs were there to give the two children a solid base from which their identity and therefore their eternal remembrance could be ensured. The tombs were not necessarily reliant upon the viewer to construct its message, it was a self-sufficient visual manifestation of the said message, in which the viewer had no active role.Show less
One might argue that the Christian themes in Flannery O'Connor's fiction were prevalent not because she wished to produce religious texts about redemption, but rather because Christianity and the...Show moreOne might argue that the Christian themes in Flannery O'Connor's fiction were prevalent not because she wished to produce religious texts about redemption, but rather because Christianity and the church played a great role in her life and in the South in general. In fact, she claimed that “the South is hardly Christ-centered, it is most certainly Christ- haunted” (861). This thesis argues that Wise Blood is not a religious novel nor does it have a religious message. Instead, O’Connor deploys the gothic, or more specifically its southern variety of the grotesque, to criticise Evangelical Protestantism for obscuring and sustaining the social injustices in the South.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
