Against the current: Analysing the women of Game of Thrones
Regardless of its highly violent scenes, adult themes, and sexualized portrayal of women, the television series Game of Thrones continues to gain immense popularity not only in the United States of America but worldwide. Despite being set in a fantastic, feudal society the series gives a picture of present social realities that most of us accept as the norm. As fantasy is often used as a critique of reality, the gender roles found in the series can be very much associated with the gender roles we have today.
In the series, it is very evident that men dominate the society and women should always follow their father or husband. Women are meant to look beautiful, to bear children, and
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Sansa is especially trained for “feminine” chores like needlework and embroidery and she is always praised by Septa Mordane for her exceptional abilities. Sansa Stark is more of an average noblewoman who fits the status quo and is aimed at nurturing than at rebellion or leadership. However, people have come to Sansa’s defense, arguing that she is not essentially weak. When Sansa arrived at King’s Landing with her father and sister, she was almost immediately exposed to the prince’s sadistic character. Moreover, Sansa has been through a lot of traumatizing circumstances, one of which was the beheading of her father. It is important to note that before Lord Stark was killed, she was trying to bargain with Cersei by saying that she would convince her father to confess and Cersei and the then King Joffrey would forgive Lord Eddard Stark. Sansa may lack the physical strength but it was showed in the series that she has the brains to fill for it (Angel 2013). In addition to her miseries, she suffered verbal, psychological, and physical abuse from Cersei Lannister and her men, she have been forced to mature quickly to marry the queen’s brother, Tyrion Lannister, later she was accused of killing Joffrey, and then she was taken by Petyr Baelish …show more content…
These manifestations can be seen when he reminds Arya of what her role in the society should be, a wife of a high lord and mother of his children. He also prompts her that ladies should not play with swords to which Arya’s reaction is that she does not want to be a lady. “For all her transgressive tendencies, she is often denied the equality she yearns for as others want to keep her confined within the limitations of their standards for women” (Jones 2012,