An Analysis of Cersei Lannister in A Song of Ice and Fire From the Perspective of Noir Fiction文献综述

 2022-09-02 08:09

Domestic and Oversea Studies

George Raymond Richard Martin (September 20, 1948- ), a master of fantasy novels, is adept at weaving intricate plotlines, intriguing characters, illustrious dialogues, and incredible actions. A Song of Ice and Fire is a series of epic fantasy novels that consist of seven volumes: A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, A Dance with Dragons, The Wind of Winter, and A Dream of Spring. The first volume of the series, A Game of Thrones, was published in 1996, the latest volume A Dance with Dragons in 2011, and the last two volumes have not been finished yet. A Song of Ice and Fire was set in a fictional world with fabricated hierarchy, imaginary creatures, and magic power. The novels are concentrated on the fictional continents Westeros and Essos. After the death of King Robert and the execution of Eddard Stark, Robertrsquo;s brothers Stannis and Renly both lay separate claims to the throne, Robb Stark the eldest son of Eddard Stark is proclaimed King in the North, Balon Greyjoy intends to retrieve the sovereignty of the Iron Islands, and Cersei Lannister the regent queen lusts for the throne. Therefore, the dynastic is called “War of the Five Kings” which involves almost every family in Westeros, and these families fall into several camps. House of Lannister is one leader family of one major camp.

Noir is a French word for black novels. Noir Fiction is a literary genre, closely related to Hardboiled genre (crime fiction) with a protagonist that is a victim, a suspect, or a perpetrator. For example, The Killer Inside Me, Dark Passage, Sing A Song of Homicide, Cold Caller and A Swollen Red Sun, just to name a few. Noir fiction is known for its darkness in content. In America noir fiction, “the protagonist is usually not a detective, but instead either a victim, a suspect, or a perpetrator” (Tuttle, 1994: 36). Besides, sexual relationships and self-destructive qualities of the leader characters are commonly depicted. Hence, the moral boundaries are opaque in noir fiction where petty much everyone is “driven by greed, lust, jealousy or alienation, a path that inevitably sucks them into a downward spiral from which they cannot escape” (Penzler, 2014: 163).

There are two distinctive noir elements in A Song of Ice and Fire. First, there are no heroic figures in A Song of Ice and Fire. Second, happy endings have never been written in A Song of Ice and Fire. The former presupposes the charactersrsquo; unscrupulous tactics and the latter unveils the notorious fate and life. Apropos of Cersei Lannister who stands on the center of “War if the Five Kings”, she undergoes gender discrimination, incest, disgrace, alienation, and bereavement. Her being entangled with a series of conflicts makes it even harder for readers to reason her intention and deeds. To understand the characterization of Cersei Lannister, we need to sort out her ambivalence towards sex, opinions about superstition, and unscrupulous tactics. Through the analysis from the perspective of noir fiction, we may be able to acquire a more comprehensive image of Cersei and some insights of her reference to the real world. This thesis tries to dissect the characterization of Cersei Lannister in three noir elements: self-destructive qualities, a tangle of political system, and doom.

1 Domestic Studies on A Song of Ice and Fire

A Song of Ice and Fire has been studied since its publication. The voluminous epic fantasy series with intricate plotlines, intriguing characters, illustrious dialogues, and incredible actions embodies plenty of theses to dissect such as feminine, archetypes, and writing techniques. However, domestic studies and oversea studies are keen on different areas.

Due to the prevalence of the HBOrsquo;s TV series Game of Thrones, the original series of fantasy novels A Song of Ice and Fire has drawn the attention of Chinese scholars. As is a voluminous epic series that encompasses immorality (adultery, violence, theocracy, etc.), A Song of Ice and Fire provides the scholars with many themes to discuss, but the studies are few and can be divided roughly into the following aspects:

The first approach is the popularity study. Hou Hongge explores respectively the reason why A Song of Ice and Fire overnight both young and old. He attributes the success of the books to the authorrsquo;s unique organization of the content, a wide range of themes and an integrated plotline. In addition, Wang Letao complements the booksrsquo; success by another two elements: narrative technique and characterization. This approach provides an overview of A Song of Ice and Fire but fails to drill into the essence of the books. The second approach is the comparative realistic study. This includes realistic elements exploration and archetypal criticism. The studies of the realistic elements focus on the verisimilitude of narration, the projection of society and the chequered life. The majestic fictional world of A Song of Ice and Fire, Fan Li asserts, has to rely on the insertion of realistic elements. Apropos of archetypal criticism, the main contributor is Yuan Yuan who makes a mythological archetypal study of A Song of Ice and Fire and probes into both the bright and dark sides of humanity. Three archetypal characters are analyzed from the aspects of Eddard, Bran and, Daenerys. And Liu Yinghua further studies the archetypal from the perspective of prophet, scapegoat and the Great Mother. The third approach is the moral study. The factors of morality include violence, and body. Wan Lei analyzes the violent narration from the aspects of content and form, and explores the reason of Martinrsquo;s choice of violent narration as well as its effect. Luo Lei signifies the body in her thesis, distinguishing “flesh” and “nude” in A Song of Ice and Fire and demonstrate how the signified body attributes a new style.

The fourth approach is feminine study. “Women have often been pushed to the margins in the fantasy genre”, while in A Song of Ice and Fire women are the major protagonists (Buchanan, 2014: 1). Ye Yu and Song Lina reach the feminine elements from two complementary aspects: chauvinism and feminism. Song lists a row of poor living conditions to women in the books to lash out the inequality and persecution. And Ye Yu exposes the dichotomy of angel and witch implied in the book and reveals the underlying view of male-standard and male chauvinism in the novel from the feminist view. The fifth approach is character analysis. All studies on A Song of Ice and Fire inevitably embody the analysis of characters. Take Yuan Yuanrsquo;s “An Interpretation of A Song of Ice and Fire, for example, the thesis adopts the myth-archetypal theory and analyzes three characters as supporting points. In addition, there exist “stereotypes” in charactersrsquo; analyses. The second Starkrsquo;s girl Arya is regarded as a revenging girl according to Zhang Liwen, Daenerys a mother-like image, and Cersei a widow subject to the power. In short, the studies on A Song of Ice and Fire focus more on the broad themes such as archetypal criticism, reception aesthetics, and multi-dimensional analysis, many of which fail to delve deeper into the books. Several journal articles comment on A Song of Ice and Fire, lodging around the domain of overall introduction, and the characters are less focused and studied.

2 Oversea Studies on A Song of Ice and Fire and Problems

Compared to the situation of Chinese academic world, the study of fantasy fiction are more prevalent in the western academic world, J. R. R. Tolkienrsquo;s The Lord of the Rings remaining the major subject of the study. Nevertheless, with the popularity of the TV series produced by HBO, A Song of Ice and Fire has been driving the publicrsquo;s concern, drawing many scholarsrsquo; interest. Buchanan concludes the studies on the genre of fantasy that “the traditions of the fantasy genre are inextricably linked to Tolkien” (Buchanan, 2014: 3). However, female characters in A Song of Ice and Fire protrude from piles of fantasy fiction. Traditional fantasy fiction leave women underrepresented, while in A Song of Ice and Fire “gender is not a biological component of identity, but rather a creation by a specific society” (Buchanan, 2014: 8).

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