OAR@UM Collection:https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/674012026-04-15T14:32:11Z2026-04-15T14:32:11ZThe female voice and the absent mother : a study of selected works by Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelleyhttps://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/705632021-03-08T09:24:10Z2020-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: The female voice and the absent mother : a study of selected works by Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley
Abstract: The female voice in literature is a relatively new phenomenon since up to the twentieth century,
women in England were treated as a second-class gender whose primary purpose was to bear
and rear children. Many prominent political and philosophical leaders believed that women
were too emotional to think rationally, and thus, they had decided that girls did not deserve to
have the same educational opportunities as boys. This thesis explores how Mary Wollstonecraft
and Mary Shelley used their work to highlight the injustices women faced, whilst also
discussing sensitive topics such as mortality, morality, sexuality, and the absent mother.
Description: B.A.(HONS)ENGLISH2020-01-01T00:00:00ZWays of escape in fantasy novels : a comparative study of C. S. Lewis’s ‘The lion, the witch and the wardrobe’ (1950) and Mary Hoffman’s ‘City of masks’ (2002)https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/705462021-03-08T09:23:25Z2020-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Ways of escape in fantasy novels : a comparative study of C. S. Lewis’s ‘The lion, the witch and the wardrobe’ (1950) and Mary Hoffman’s ‘City of masks’ (2002)
Abstract: Escape is a recurring motif in most fiction. This is because fiction often depicts
protagonists escaping from a mundane or dangerous situation. However, this motif
takes a different shape in fantasy novels as it becomes a tool for writers to
construct their narratives. This study compares C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch
and the Wardrobe and Mary Hoffman’s City of Masks in an attempt to identify the
ways in which escape is employed by the authors. From the analysis of these
novels, it is evident that the authors make specific structural choices and use genre
conventions in order to shape the theme of escape. Additionally, escape is used as
a means to create the main fantastical element of the narratives, which is the
construction of an altered or new narrative world. Lastly, escape is employed as a
means to psychologically immerse the readers into the narrative. Moreover, this
study highlights the way in which fantasy novels are not always escapist in nature,
albeit using escape in the aforementioned way. In fact, the comparative nature of
this study also sheds light on the cultural and ideological influences hidden within
the narratives.
Description: B.A.(HONS)ENGLISH2020-01-01T00:00:00ZMapping the collective unconscious through myth and symbol in Neil Gaiman’s ‘The Sandman’https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/705322021-03-08T09:22:49Z2020-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Mapping the collective unconscious through myth and symbol in Neil Gaiman’s ‘The Sandman’
Abstract: Myths possess the power to carry human nature’s values and to convey its moral precepts,
seeking to define man’s place in the universe in addition to depicting the tools with which
imagination may be moulded into shape. In this way, they impose a system of values on the
ways in which we think. Literature and narrative are the vehicles and the means by which
myths, including the ideas and beliefs embedded in them, are passed on from generation to
generation.
Works like The Sandman exhibit a yearning for the world of the past, one where humanity’s
need for wonder is not diminished and archetypal grandeur is equally as strong. Much as the
readers’ dreams are themselves unpredictable, the stories narrated in the issues of this graphic
novel series are impossible to foresee, ranging from ancient legends belonging to far and
distant realms to the most modern of nightmares.
In my dissertation, I attempt to map out Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious in The
Sandman through the use of myth and symbol. I also look at the way in which Gaiman
masterfully uses classical mythology in order to tap into age old sign systems and belief
systems to create stories that are deeply meaningful today. These are significant because they
invite new social and cultural paradigms to come into being. Drawing on Eliade’s concepts of
myth and the sacred as well as Frye’s theories regarding archetypal criticism, this dissertation
provides an underlying framework from which the relevance of reading myth in The
Sandman may be demonstrated, as well as a depiction of the way in which the pervasiveness
of myth is still very relevant in our contemporary world.
Description: B.A.(HONS)ENGLISH2020-01-01T00:00:00ZThe Promethean myth in romantic literature with particular reference to Byron and Shelleyhttps://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/705272021-03-08T09:22:15Z2020-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: The Promethean myth in romantic literature with particular reference to Byron and Shelley
Abstract: This dissertation intends to explore the way that the Promethean myth developed
in the Romantic era, and particularly, the way that Byron and Shelley developed
it. The idea of rebellion appealed to Byron and Shelley, who both lived through a
turbulent time, due to the French Revolution. Whilst they were excited about the
possibilities that the French Revolution brought about, and completely in favour
of the changes it promised, they were disappointed with the outcome. Prometheus
was the perfect embodiment of this sense of rebellion that they felt was necessary,
as he symbolised the fight against tyranny, which is what they felt the French
Revolution should have resulted in, considering it was meant to destroy the
monarchy. Prometheus was a promising symbol for the unrest that they felt because
he was also a character in Greek mythology, and the Romantics, Shelley in
particular, were in awe of the cultural legacy that the Greeks left behind in terms
of philosophy, literature and art. It was only natural for them to attribute this myth
to the Greek War of Independence, which was looming over the horizon. Through
their texts, they argued that the Greeks needed to rebel against their subjugation
by the Ottoman Turks, and become independent so that they might return to creating
literature and art as they once did, which is what the first chapter argues. The
second chapter deals precisely with this idea of a positive apocalypse through the
unbinding of Prometheus. Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound uses Plato’s ‘Theory of
Forms’ in order to bring forward the idea that through the unbinding of the Greek
population from the shackles of their Ottoman subjugation, there might be a positive
apocalypse and they will once again create as they did. My third chapter directly
contradicts this as Byron’s Prometheus holds no such promise. Byron depicts
a Prometheus who has no hope, rather one who continue to rebel silently against his subjugation, whilst humanity continues to suffer, and to foresee its own
eradication. It shows this new Byronic hero’s unwavering defiance in subjugation,
and this relates to the Greeks in that the Greeks must also show unwavering defiance
in opposition to the Ottoman Turks. Finally, I will conclude with a short
comment on the importance of the Promethean myth throughout history, and how
both Byron and Shelley were, in themselves, Promethean figures.
Description: B.A.(HONS)ENGLISH2020-01-01T00:00:00Z