The nature of the animals that appear in Goblin Market, The Water Babies and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland are either fixed(as in Bestiaries) or in flux (influenced by evolution theories,...Show moreThe nature of the animals that appear in Goblin Market, The Water Babies and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland are either fixed(as in Bestiaries) or in flux (influenced by evolution theories, depending on the author's view on timeless childhood and the message they want to convey through their work.Show less
This thesis explores the literary theme of aliens in disguise, taking the sit-com 3rd Rock from the Sun as its main focus, yet drawing on various works of science fiction. The disguises used by the...Show moreThis thesis explores the literary theme of aliens in disguise, taking the sit-com 3rd Rock from the Sun as its main focus, yet drawing on various works of science fiction. The disguises used by the aliens in this TV-show are explored in relation to character roles and dramatic purposes, revealing set tropes as well as the ways in which the disguises are used to reflect on human practices such as emotions, gun control and gender. It is through the aliens' disguises that the audience learns about humanity, along with the aliens.Show less
‘Gothic has, in a sense, always been ‘queer’’, or so Hughes and Smith argue in their introduction to Queering the Gothic. Other critics have suggested that Gothic is queer in the sense that it has...Show more‘Gothic has, in a sense, always been ‘queer’’, or so Hughes and Smith argue in their introduction to Queering the Gothic. Other critics have suggested that Gothic is queer in the sense that it has always occupied the liminal spaces and transgressed boundaries in order to interrogate what is “normal” in society . In the Victorian age the sexual aspect of the queer becomes of pivotal importance. When the Labouchere Amendment was passed in 1885, acts of homosexuality became officially criminalised. Research shows how the Gothic then evolved even more strongly into a space for expressing ‘sexual defiance’. Late Victorian authors found ‘a safe location’ in the Gothic genre to ‘explore the landscape of sexual taboos’. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and The Picture of Dorian Gray are both narratives of the late Victorian period and have been widely researched for expressing homosexuality in their narratives. This thesis examines the two novels explicitly for the similar Gothic tropes they use in order to express their queer narrative. This thesis is a close reading of the two novels, comparing and contrastingthese texts by showing how they employ similar Gothic tropes the two novels use to express their homosexual narrative, namely: contemporary anxiety around degeneration, a repressed hidden identity, and the strategical use of elision and “silence”. Through this I will investigate how The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and The Picture of Dorian Gray mirror one another’s queer narratives and how they use the Gothic to criticise and accuse Late Victorian society and law enforcement for marginalising homosexual men and thus creating the internalised double homosexual ‘monster’.Show less
For his deeply considered secondary world Middle-earth, J.R.R. Tolkien shaped and reshaped all the elements of this fictional realm, not least the way that he conceived his Elves. In doing so, he...Show moreFor his deeply considered secondary world Middle-earth, J.R.R. Tolkien shaped and reshaped all the elements of this fictional realm, not least the way that he conceived his Elves. In doing so, he deviated from the popular and traditional Germanic concept of elves with regards to their origins, their inner characters, their external appearance, and their function and significance within society. This thesis shows how, why and to what end Tolkien’s Elves are different from the conventional figure of the elf.Show less
This thesis examines the gender representation in the animated series Avatar: the Last Airbender by analyzing several male and female characters of the series. Gender theories by Judith Bulter...Show moreThis thesis examines the gender representation in the animated series Avatar: the Last Airbender by analyzing several male and female characters of the series. Gender theories by Judith Bulter served as the main sources for this thesis.Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
open access
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 will analyse the continuing significance of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice in contemporary media, through an analysis of the attempts made to modernize the novel. It will do so, by...Show moreThis thesis will analyse the continuing significance of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice in contemporary media, through an analysis of the attempts made to modernize the novel. It will do so, by providing an in-depth analysis of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, which makes use of multiple modern media platforms to update the plot of Austen’s novel and make it more plausible and recognizable in modern society, and conducting a comparison with another adaptation, namely Gurinder Chadha’s Bride and Prejudice (2004). In doing so, I shall argue that miscommunication is the main theme in Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and that this theme continues to be relevant and echoes through both adaptations regardless of their time, culture, or social settings.Show less
