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The Depiction of the Anti-Hero in Milton's Paradise Lost
Jenč, Jakub ; Beran, Zdeněk (advisor) ; Znojemská, Helena (referee)
In The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, William Blake wrote of Milton to be "of the devil's party without knowing it". Indeed, even before Romanticism, the anti-hero of Paradise Lost was attracting readers for his steadfast rebellious bearing and other traits he shares with Classical epic heroes, as well as for the way he sometimes resembles a Shakespearean tragic hero. Although we cannot really say that Satan is the true hero of Paradise Lost - there are critics convincingly arguing against Blake - it is clear that Milton succeeded in portraying him in such a way that the reader cannot help sympathizing with him. According to the Christian tradition, of course, any such attraction to evil is deceptive, but it is still to Milton's credit that he humanized and complicated the character of the fallen angel. The aim of this thesis is to examine the way the Satan figure is depicted in the poem so as to appeal to us. Methodologically, I will focus particularly on a close-reading of the poem. First, I shall analyse Satan's outward description and his actions, suggesting what Satan might have inherited from Classical epic heroes and how he differs from them. Then I will concentrate on his speeches in which he reveals his eloquence and good command of leadership skills. I shall also consider the discrepancy...
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Femininity in Spenser's Amoretti
Matějková, Julie ; Znojemská, Helena (advisor) ; Nováková, Soňa (referee)
(ENG) This thesis focuses on Edmund Spenser's sonnet cycle the Amoretti with the aim of highlighting the manner in which its treatment of the Lady of the Sonnet (in this case inspired by Spenser's second wife Elizabeth Boyle) differs from the common tendencies exhibited by other Petrarchan sonneteers - specifically, that she is allowed to play a comparatively more active role in the cycle's narrative and engage the speaker more directly, that her personality and opinions are defined with greater clarity, and overall that she displays an atypical amount of independence, considering the genre she appears in. For the purposes of proving this point, two other works were selected for comparison: Canzoniere (also known as Rime sparse) by Francesco Petrarch, the so-called "Father of the Sonnet" whose poetry established numerous defining traits of the love sonnet tradition, and Delia by Samuel Daniel, whose cycle excellently illustrates the conventions eventually understood as "Petrarchan" in Elizabethan England (which originated from Petrarch's successors as often as from the man himself). Crucial claims this paper discusses are, firstly, that the Lady as Spenser portrays her does not defy her admirer primarily through her "heart of flint" and passive refusal of his advances (as was the standard...
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A Comparison of William Morris' The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs and J. R. R. Tolkien's The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún
Hlavatá, Barbora ; Starý, Jiří (advisor) ; Znojemská, Helena (referee)
This thesis focuses on the formal and stylistic analysis and comparison of two works written by English authors, namely William Morris' poem The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs (1876) and J. R. R. Tolkien's poetic work The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún (published posthumously in 2009) with respect to how each of these works deals with the original Old Norse motives which they are based on. Both Sigurd the Volsung and The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún can be described as poetic adaptations of the Old Norse tale of Sigurd Fafnisbani, which is recounted in the Saga of the Volsungs and in a cycle of poems found in the Poetic Edda. Both Morris and Tolkien borrowed this story to use it in their own works, yet each of them treats it in a different manner. Therefore, not only do both of the works differ from the original Old Norse texts on multiple levels, but they also differ one from another. The differences between them can be traced in the metrical properties of the individual poems, for instance, or in the use of specific stylistic elements. From this, it can be inferred that although it was the goal of both authors to evoke the atmosphere of the legendary heroic past where Sigurd's story takes place, each of them attempts to do so in a different way. This is probably caused by...
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Understanding the Female Body in Early Modern England
Halouzková, Kateřina ; Nováková, Soňa (advisor) ; Znojemská, Helena (referee)
The BA thesis will concentrate on the comprehension of the female body in early modern England, dating from 1400 to 1789, with a focus on the woman's reproductive system which was clearly connected to the understanding of her as a feminine being in a socio-cultural context. Firstly, I will analyze the representation of women in English translations of the Bible, where woman is classified as an inferior being to man. The reason is that God first created Adam and from his side came Eve, which leads to an interesting analogy later discussed by Thomas Laqueur and defined by the theory of one sex model. Adopting this concept for my own analysis I shall argue that woman was biologically regarded as an "imperfect" man, therefore her organs were seen as the same as man's but incomplete. Because Eve was the first sinner, the purpose of her reproductive system, meaning mainly menstruation and labour pains, was seen as a type of punishment. It had a great impact in the cultural sphere, meaning that female sexuality conjured fear and repulsion, yet had and undeniable allure. The discussion will continue with the description of how was female body seen medically. Human constitution was derived from the Greek physician Claudius Galenus, whose understanding of anatomy and medicine was principally influenced by the theory...
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Angela Carter`s Fairy Tale: Myths of Gender and Sexuality
Pyshkin, Dmitry ; Nováková, Soňa (advisor) ; Znojemská, Helena (referee)
This thesis attempts to analyze in what manner Angela Carter subverts the classical fairy tale`s discourse as regards its portrayal of sexuality, and affords the readers a new perspective on the genre that has never been thoroughly addressed. In the first chapter, I have commented on the objectives Carter pursues in the framework of her revisionist project while choosing the fairy tale as its primary basis, and the way the writer approaches the discussion of the genre as a repository of mythical constructions, as understood by a French literary scholar and philologist, Roland Barthes. In the following chapters, I have focused on different manifestations of human sexuality that Carter depicts in her work, namely the sexuality of subjugation and domination, sexuality of reciprocity and otherness, as well as the problematics inherent in the phenomenon as such. Key words Angela Carter, fairy tale, myth, narrative myth, political myth, sexuality, demythologization
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Shakespearean chorus/prologue: its functions and effects in the play
Ohlídalová, Anna ; Znojemská, Helena (advisor) ; Hilský, Martin (referee)
The aim of this BA Thesis is to analyse and compare Shakespeare's prologues and choruses according to their formal features (narrative strategies, Chorus persona, and distribution in the play) and their position and function in the individual plays. The introductory chapter will briefly comment on the use of the chorus and prologue in Elizabethan drama, providing the context for subsequent specific analysis of Shakespeare's plays. The discussion will open with the analysis of the earliest of the containing this feature plays, Romeo and Juliet. This will provide a basis for categorising and documenting the development of the above characteristics, which will then be compared with other Shakespeare's prologues and choruses from all the genres of his plays. The other compared plays are Henry VIII, Midsummer Night's Dream, Troilus and Cressida, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, and Henry V.
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The poetry of John Donne: T.S.Eliot as Critic and Poet
Šmejdová, Barbora ; Znojemská, Helena (advisor) ; Beran, Zdeněk (referee)
The aim of the B. A. thesis called "The Poetry of John Donne: T. S. Eliot as Critic and Poet" is to analyse Eliot's view of John Donne in relation to his own poetry and critical work. This is also reflected in the structure of the paper. The first chapter following the introduction is devoted to the description of Eliot's critical positions. The chapter should create a general background of the following discussion of Eliot's view of John Donne. It deals with the issues like Eliot's concept of tradition, the theory of depersonalization, Eliot's attitude to the problem of Romanticism and Classicism, and his earlier account of metaphysical poetry. The next chapter discusses Eliot's specific view of John Donne on the bases of his definition of metaphysical poetry. At first, it sets the problems connected with the definition to a wider perspective of literary criticism. It shows that there are not only different interpretations of the phrase "metaphysical poetry," but the critics differ in the answer to the question which particular poets should belong to this group. Eliot deals with this topic in his lectures on metaphysical poets collected under the title The Varieties of Metaphysical Poetry. In this material, we can trace two complementary definitions of metaphysical poetry. Eliot stresses that the...
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Shakespeare's Drama and Homosexuality
Mašková, Barbora ; Znojemská, Helena (advisor) ; Nováková, Soňa (referee)
Slowly developing since the 1980's, queer theory became a very important sphere of gender studies of the end of the 20th century and affected not only the very perception of gender categories, but also intepretations of these in texts. The thesis concentrates on queering of the dramatic works of William Shakespeare, describing relations which can be broadly characterized as homosexual - romantic or sexual attraction between members of the same sex, including homoerotic or homosocial aspect of these relationships. After establishing the textual grounds for these readings the text goes on to describe various stagings in theatre, television and film of Anglophone and Czech origin. In order to achieve representative illustration of the problem the established division of Shakespeare's drama is maintained, dividing the plays into three categories - comedies, tragedies and historical plays. One play of each of these categories is then discussed further. These are The Merchant of Venice for comedies, Othello for tragedies, and Richard II as a representative of historical plays. In the Merchant of Venice the discussed relationship is the one of Antonio and Bassanio, examining the possible motivation for Antonio's incredible generosity towards his young friend. The most famous homosexual interpretation of the...
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