Women are an essential part of many British works. Although women are typically given the role of minor and less significant characters in British literature, they serve a greater purpose than that of which is initially perceived by the reader. Grendel’s mother in Burton Raffel’s, Beowulf, and the female creature in Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s, Frankenstein, are two noteworthy characters that are overlooked, but the roles they play and their influence are important to the storyline. Although she is monstrous and is described as having masculine features and actions, Grendel’s mother is a peaceful and loving being at the core.
Since the beginning of literature, women have been depicted as devious individuals. As a result, women put use to this stereotype to get what they want. This is proven, especially in medieval literature. Examples of this are shown in works like “Macbeth,” * Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” and “The Canterbury Tales”.
Amyann Albritton Hero’s journey 1/2period One day during summer break on a very hot and steamy day a girl was running through a field when there lay an arrow in the grass telling her to go towards the forbidden place. She refuses to go and turns in the other direction and goes home, though fear and curiosity were bubbling inside of her. Well for the past two weeks she has been thinking of going and she went to start the journey.
Many of the women in these stories are portrayed as strong, independent women who, in many cases, are the hero themselves. Women in Chrétien and La Motte-Fouqué’s stories are given strong roles in order to highlight and emphasize the important virtues of peace, bravery, and power which ultimately transfers the role of the hero from men to women. In order to understand why the women in Yvain and The Magic Ring are considered to be the true heroes, the definition of a true hero must first be fully defined. Many will describe a hero as a character who performs deeds to remove people from danger.
Marie de France, one of the few women writers of the medieval time period, challenged gender roles through her exploration of women’s empowerment and resistance to social norms. Her work shows her creative talent and provides an overview of the evolution of the attitudes of the era. She also expresses and shows the value and ideals of medieval society through the love and chivalry in Lanval. She illuminates the concept of love, emphasizing its ability to transcend social boundaries and trigger transformational
The majority of the characters in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and John Gardner’s Grendel comprises of men, often travelling or going on adventures while the women stay at home and wait for the men to return. The passive role of women is offset by the more aggressive nature of men in Frankenstein and Grendel, but the perceived submissiveness of the women does not necessarily detract from their strength and stability that they provide to society. In fact, both novels are full of the men’s oversight that consequently leads to devastation, revealing the idea that women make up the foundation of society. In both novels, women are the ones to soothe conflicts.
Every hero archetype has to experience the journey. James Campbell, a scholar who studied mythology across the world defines archetypes as people such as a mother figure, a father figure, a hero, a maiden,or a trickster. A hero is a person who has curiosity, humility, and is courageous. In addition, a hero goes out of their way to reach their goal, even if that means putting their life on the line for others or for a set accomplishment. Furthermore, the hero archetype must experience the three stages of the Hero’s Journey which includes The Departure, The Initiation, and The Return.
Gothic fiction has been around for centuries and many great works were created with gothic fiction being the main role. “The Vampyre” by John William Polidori is amongst one of the most famous works under the gothic fiction genre. In “The Vampyre” reflects several themes which also reflect current real life problems and issues of the 19th century. Those themes that are going to be discussed are time and place, power, sexual power, the uncanny, the sublime, crisis, and the supernatural and the real.
A byronic hero’s flaws are more recognizable than their achievements, and the hero is considered to be a rebellious and mysterious character, along with self-destructive
In addition to virginal innocence, during her funeral, the girl wore white “fitting for a virgin” to increase the significance of this chastity. Reaching the end of the story, the same innocent girl comes back into view. She “put on [her] white burial dress, [her] white veil, as befits a virgin” and excepts her fate just as women accepted their place in society (Atwood 266). Quite unexpectedly, I have attempted to show this story in a new light. Through the reading of Margaret Atwood’s short biography and her clever “Lusus Naturae,” I found an interesting symbolic connection between the treatment of women and the monster in this story.
Charles Brockden Brown’s novel, Wieland, explores the aspects of both a Gothic and sentimental novel. The novel investigates on subjects such as gender norms, religious views, and femininity. Clara, being both the narrator and protagonist, is driven by gender expectations of the eighteenth-century. She resembles the heroine of a gothic novel, but has independence due to her living on her own. Clara breaks through the eighteenth-century thinking that women were passive and ruled by their bodies and their emotions.
Superman, Gandalf, Jay Gatsby, and Harry Potter. All of these character have something in common, all of them are heroes. Heroes are common in many literary works. They help portray messages and feelings in ways the reader would understand. There are three main archetypes of heroes.
Beowulf is an excellent piece with a lot for the readers to desire and relate to while reading. This analysis explores different escapades while examining the role of women in the literature. One thing to point out is that female characters have always received very thin attention in different pieces of literature, something that has always made many people think that their role is meager. Every piece of literature has an important message to pass across to its intended audiences. Indeed, this study seeks to demystify the male-centric mindset to promote the visibility of women in the contemporary interpretation of literary works demonstrating that women play a greater role in the literature despite the proximity given to male protagonist.
The earlier gothic works as well as Dracula covered something that is outside the social norm. Female sexuality, something that was unacceptable and under the surface of society, it is exposed in these writings. The earlier readings such as Carmilla, as well as the poem of Christabel question the boundaries. The texts from these literature pieces contain passages of female sexuality and the passages contain phrases that hint towards the social taboos. In the era when women were thought of mere objects these pieces decide to give them a personality or at least a voice that can express desire, a voice that states women have a purpose apart from pleasing men.
A classic element of gothic fiction typically involves a threatening atmosphere and it is very important that this is not just part of the background, but forms a crucial part
