This diploma thesis deals with dramatic works of the Austrian writer Erika Mitterer. The first part introduces her life and work. The second part presents six Mitterer's dramas which form the basis for the third part of the study aimed at an analysis of female characters in the author's plays. This section focuses on those mothers and women whose actions significantly influence the plots of the selected plays. Key words Drama, Austrian literature, female characters

This thesis explores the ways selected American women writers utilize spatial imagery to convey their female characters' internal and external situation. In the introductory, theoretical chapter, attention is at first paid to the representation of space in literature. Drawing upon Gaston Bachelard's Poetics of Space and Marilyn R. Chandler's Dwelling in the Text: Houses in American Fiction, space is presented as playing a role equal to that of characters and plot since it is perceived as both a production shaped by its inhabitants and a force that is, in turn, shaping them. Furthermore, the difference between female and male spatial awareness as depicted in American fiction written both by men and women is scrutinized with the result that, arguably, male characters have a tendency to regard their houses as mere tokens of their social status, whereas female characters tend to have a more intimate and emotional relationship to their living space. This passage is inspired by Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own. Finally, it is argued that women characters tend to develop their personalities in respect to the space they inhabit, and that domestic space can be for them either a space of confinement (the section dealing with this phenomenon is based on Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar's The Madwoman in...

Medea’s powerful ability to inspire and confuse is at the core of this study. The contradiction concerning Euripides’ character of Medea as a murderer and a victim will be explored in order to understand what implications this would have held for an ancient Greek audience. Thus the irregularities in this female character will be used to indicate the inconsistencies within the society from which Euripides was writing. Women’s lack of freedom in ancient Greece, their confinement to the house and their lack of opportunity to voice their opinions and concerns produced an imbalance in society. This masculine community led to extremes in behaviour. Male heroes overemphasised traits which stressed their physical prowess and masculine bravery. As a hero, Jason’s all-consuming ambition was to succeed in endeavours such as the quest for the Golden Fleece, and to reclaim his title of king. He took advantage of Medea’s gifts until she was no longer of any use to him and then left her for a younger, more beneficial princess to accomplish his subsequent task of gaining a kingdom. Medea’s excessive behaviour was a protest against her position as supportive wife when she found that Jason had neglected his obligation as a protective husband. Euripides’ tragedy was a rebellion against a cultural definition of men and women which did not work. Men were pressured into being the sole providers and authorities over a whole household, whereas women were relegated to the status of possessions. The situation generally suited men, but women were not given a choice of career and had their marriage prearranged by their fathers. More importantly they were not provided with an opportunity to voice their displeasure and were in the hands of fate, whether they attained a kind or a cruel husband. This study argues that by challenging the definition of heroes and victims, Euripides questioned the preconceived perceptions of the nature of women and foreigners. He was also commenting on social restriction and the possible consequences of restraining women’s behaviour and their opinions. / Prof. J.L.P. Wolmarans

In Song of Solomon, published during a transitional moment in the history of U.S. feminism, Toni Morrison portrays the destructive forces of hegemonic female beauty standards, materialism, and consumerism in a Midwestern African-American community from the 1930s to the 1960s. She reveals a hierarchy in which men define standards of beauty and respectability that enforce white bourgeois ideals. Focusing on five female characters, this thesis examines this hierarchy; the agents who maintain it; and the ways in which it affects female characters who accept and/or reject it. While one of the characters, Hagar, perishes in her attempt to live up to normative beauty standards, her cousin Corinthians is liberated when she leaves her oppressive father and moves in with a working class male partner. Morrison thus creates a viable alternative to strict adherence to materialist values, while representing the destructive force of oppressive beauty norms and standards of respectability.

Les personnages des romans d’Elsa Morante (1912-1985) sont analysés du point de vue du rapport apparemment opposé entre leur dimension sociale et leur évidente typisation littéraire. Ces deux pôles, le premier analysé par le recours à certaines notions d’études sociologiques menées par G. Simmel et E. Goffman, le deuxième axé sur la construction au niveau littéraire des personnages, contribuent à mettre en lumière le réalisme de Morante, qui tourne autour des vicissitudes humaines vécues par des « personnages vivants (bien qu’imaginaires) » : la relation avec l’autre et avec soi-même, la recherche d’une identité, grâce et malgré la présence des stigmates, concourent à créer des personnages tout à fait modernes. Les deux parties de cette étude, examinées roman après roman, s’avèrent indispensables et interdépendantes : d’un côté, le réalisme des dynamiques humaines, de l’autre l’univers narratif, fondé sur un incessant travail de réutilisation et de personnalisation des figures stéréotypées et d’éléments identifiables de la tradition littéraire, de la part de l’auteure. / This research focuses on the study of the characters in Elsa Morante's novels. The characters are analysed mostly in relation to the apparently conflictual relationship between their recognizable social dimension and their equally clear literary characterisation. The first aspect is examined with the help of some ideas inspired by the sociological studies carried out by G. Simmel and E. Goffman, while the second is centred on the literary construction of the characters. These two aspects contribute to highlight Morante's understanding of Realism: a concept that revolves around the human events experienced by “living but fictional characters” and that is closely connected to the 20th century. One of the central themes is the relationship with the others and with oneself, together with the search for identity, thanks to and notwithstanding the presence of stigmas. The two dimensions of this study were examined analysing each novel, they are at the same time essential and interdependent: on the one hand we see the realism of human dynamics, analysed with the help of sociological theories, and on the other hand the narrative universe, based on a continuous work of re-use and personalization of stereotypical characters and elements that can be recognised on the basis of literary tradition.

Dentre todas as famílias de Characiformes, Characidae, com 1209 espécies válidas é, sem dúvida, a mais problemática, com suas relações intra e inerfamiliares em Characiformes ainda pouco definidas. Isto se deve à imensa diversidade e variação morfológica presente em seus representantes. Embora alguns trabalhos, tanto morfológicos quanto moleculares, incluindo um grande número de táxons terminais tenham sido realizados, as relações intra e interfamiliares continuam controversas. Estes trabalhos, no entanto corroboram o monofiletismo de um grupo caracterizado pela ausência do osso supra-orbital, um caráter aparentemente redutivo: clado 204 de Mirande, 2010, Clado 37 de Oliveira et al.,2011, Clado A de Malabarba & Weitzman, 2003 semelhante ao ortí clade proposto em Ortí & Meyer, 1997. Diversos autores resumiram as principais dificuldades enfrentadas por ictiólogos no estudo de relações intra e interfamiliares em Characidae: 1) grande diversidade aliada à relativa pouca divergência morfológica, 2) redução em tamanho, com consequente perda/truncamento de muitas estruturas por pedomorfose, 3) falta de boas séries de exemplares bem preservados e sexualmente desenvolvidos em coleções, e 4) necessidade de mais informação quanto ao colorido em vida e dimorfismo sexual. O dimorfismo sexual tem sido estudado extensivamente em Characidae, se mostrando informativo na resolução de grupos em níveis menos inclusivos, como Glandulocaudinae sensu Weitzman & Menezes (1998) e Xenurobryconini. Embora tenha havido um notável avanço no conhecimento dos caracteres sexuais secundários em Characidae, nota-se que grande parte dos estudos se restringem aos táxons com caracteres sexuais secundários mais evidentes, mais especializados e em grupos muito pouco inclusivos. Nesta contribuição realizamos uma análise anatômica comparada incluindo um grande número de espécies, representando todos os grupos menos inclusivos citados em literatura na tentativa de encontrar padrões que reflitam a evolução dos grupos menos inclusivos. Como resultado, desvendamos uma diversidade incrível nestes caracteres, que se mostraram potencialmente informativos na resolução de relações de grupos menos inclusivos em Characidae. / Among all Characiforms families, Characidae, with 1209 valid species is, undoubtedly, the most problematic, with its relationships within Characiformes still poorly defined. This is due to the great diversity and morphological variation among its members. Although some recent studies, both morphological and molecular including a great number of terminal taxa were performed, its intra and inter-family relations are still very controversial. These studies however, corroborate the monophyly of a group characterized by the absence of supra-orbital bone, a seemingly reductive character: Clade 204 of Mirande, 2010, Clade 37 of Oliveira et al., 2011, Clade A of Malabarba & Weitzman, 2003 similar to the Ortí clade proposed in Ortí & Meyer, 1997. As summarized by many authors in literature the main difficulties faced by ichthyologists in the study of intra and inter-familial relationships in Characidae: 1) diversity combined with relatively little morphological divergence, 2) reduction in size with consequent loss/truncation of many structure by paedomorphosis, 3) lack of good series of well-preserved sexually developed specimens into collections, and 4) the need form more information about the of color in life and sexual dimorphism. The sexual dimorphism has been studied extensively in Characidae, being very informative on the resolution of less inclusive groups, as Glandulocaudinae sensu Weitzman & Menezes (1998) and Xenurobryconini. Although there has been a remarkable advance in the knowledge os secondary sexual character in Characidae, it is clear that most of the studies are restricted to taxa with secondary sexual characters more evident, more specialized and on very less inclusive groups. In this contribution we performed an anatomical comparative analysis including a large number of species, representing all less inclusive groups cited in literature in attempt to find which patterns reflect the evolution of the less inclusive groups within the family. As a result, we unveil an incredible diversity in these characters, which might be potentially informative in resolving relations less inclusive groups in Characidae.

Esta Tese analisa as peças mitológicas do dramaturgo setecentista Antônio José da Silva, o Judeu, fortemente devedoras da tragicomédia espanhola do século XVII, a partir das quais se aventam elementos para a leitura do texto dramático: a leitura híbrida, lançando mão de elementos dos estudos teatrais e literários, a contextualização histórica, para evitar anacronismos, e a construção de personagens, vista como pedra de toque da relação entre Literatura e Teatro. Por se tratar de textos distantes temporal e estilisticamente do leitor contemporâneo, é incentivado o uso da imaginação para reconstrução da cena intuída no texto. A reflexão acerca das peças é dividida em duas Jornadas, complementares entre si, mas separadas por conta de sua extensão e variedade da pesquisa. Na Primeira Jornada, a dramaturgia de Antônio José é vista inserida no contexto histórico-cultural em que foi produzida para tanto, são cotejadas as diferentes releituras dos mitos greco-romanos e as preceptivas coetâneas do autor. Inicialmente, são apresentadas as diferentes preceptivas tragicômicas desenvolvidas na Europa seiscentista, a fim de estabelecer pontos de contato e referência no corpus da pesquisa. A partir de extensa consulta em material das bibliotecas portuguesas, é traçada uma hipótese acerca do caminho de construção das personagens mitológicas até os textos do Judeu. Cada uma das cinco peças é analisada separadamente. O foco desta análise é a intriga principal ou seja, a parte trágica da tragicomédia e as personagens que a compõem, em sua maioria extraída da literatura mitológica greco-latina. A Segunda Jornada tem como foco a construção da intriga secundária o componente cômico que completa uma análise da tragicomédia em suas partes , cuja luz sobre tais textos é lançada através de recentes perspectivas de interpretação dos textos dramáticos, desenvolvidas por um grupo de pesquisadores espanhóis acerca do teatro do Século de Ouro. Desta análise, depreendem-se alguns aspectos relevantes para a leitura dos textos do Judeu. A análise revela um ganho de importância da intriga secundária em relação à intriga principal, chegando, nas últimas peças do autor, a interferirem no enredo protagonista mas nunca se destacando mais do que este. Para o estudo dos graciosos e criadas (graciosas), que constituem a intriga secundária, é utilizada uma lista de funções valorativas do discurso das personagens, tendo como referente o protagonista de cada peça. Outra característica da intriga secundária das peças de Antônio José é sua independência em relação à principal, o que levou à criação de mais uma função, agregada às já desenvolvidas pelos pesquisadores espanhóis. Assim, são analisadas separadamente cada uma das peças mitológicas do Judeu, evidenciando a participação da intriga secundária e das personagens baixas na composição estrutural e no estabelecimento de uma unidade de interesse que atenda ao gosto do público. Por fim, à guisa de conclusão, é elaborada uma discussão conceitual acerca de elementos fulcrais para a leitura e análise destes e de outros textos dramáticos: a leitura híbrida, a contextualização histórica e a construção de personagens. / This doctoral thesis analyzes the mythological plays written by the eighteenth century playwright Antônio José da Silva, the Jew, whose work owes a great deal to the Spanish tragicomedy of the seventeenth century. Based on his plays, this paper proposes elements for a better understanding of dramatic texts: hybrid reading, which makes use of Literary and Theatre studies; historical contextualization, to avoid anachronism; and character construction, the touchstone in the relationship between Literature and Drama. Because the texts analyzed here are distant from the contemporary reader both chronologically and stylistically, it is advised to use the imagination to reconstruct the scenes described in the text. The reflections about the plays are divided into two Journeys which complement each other, but they are presented separately due to their extension and to the diversity of research outputs. In the First Journey, Antônio José\'s playwriting is considered within the cultural-historical context of its production, by comparing different versions of the Greco-Roman myths and the precepts contemporary with the author. To start with, this paper presents the varied tragicomic precepts of the seventeenth-century Europe and, by doing so, it establishes points of contact and reference in the corpus of this research. After extensive search in Portuguese libraries, a hypothesis about the route linking the construction of mythological characters and the texts of the Jew is proposed. Each of the five plays is analyzed separately and the focus is the main plot - that is to say, the \"tragic\" part of the tragicomedy - and its characters, in great part extracted from Greco-Latin mythological literature. The Second Journey focuses on the construction of the secondary plot - the \"comic\" component which completes the analysis of both parts of a tragicomedy -. Recent interpretative perspectives of dramatic texts about the Spanish Golden Age, developed by a group of Spanish researchers, shed light on the secondary plot. This analysis shows that the secondary plot grows in importance when compared to the main plot. In fact, in the authors last plays, it even affects the main storyline - without overcoming its prominence, though. The secondary plot comprises graciosos and servants (graciosas), and to study these characters, this paper adopts a list of evaluative functions of the characters\' speeches, using the protagonist of each play as a reference. The secondary plot in the plays by Antônio José retains another feature: they are independent from the main one; and from this aspect derives another function, combined to the ones that had already been developed by the Spanish researchers aforementioned. Therefore, each of the mythological plays by the Jew is analyzed separately to demonstrate that both the secondary plot and the low characters perform an important role not only in the structural composition of those plays, but also in the constitution of an interesting unit to please the audience. By ways of conclusion, this paper sets up a conceptual discussion about crucial elements to read and analyze these dramatic texts and others: the hybrid reading, historical contextualization and character construction.

Neste trabalho, é apresentada a revisão taxonômica dos Pyrgotidae pertencentes à fauna do Novo Mundo, atualmente composta por 66 nomes válidos de espécies distribuídas em 15 gêneros. A revisão taxonômica resultou na descrição de dois novos gêneros e de duas novas espécies e na sinonímia de quatro gêneros e 18 espécies e uma espécie foi revalidada. De acordo com esses resultados a fauna de Pyrgotidae do Novo Mundo possui 51 espécies válidas dispostas em 12 gêneros. Análises filogenéticas foram processadas com o intuito de testar o monofiletismo dos gêneros e estabelecer o relacionamento entre suas espécies, além de testar o desempenho dos caracteres contínuos na filogenia de Pyrgotidae. Com este propósito foram levantados 54 caracteres morfológicos dos adultos, sendo 14 contínuos e 40 discretos. Os caracteres contínuos e discretos foram analisados separadamente e em evidência total. As análises em que se utilizaram apenas caracteres discretos e as que utilizaram os caracteres em evidência total, resultaram em topologias muito semelhantes entre si, divergindo apenas nas posições entre três terminais. Na topologia obtida em evidência total, o suporte dos ramos aumentou na maioria dos ramos o que demonstra que os caracteres contínuos são filogeneticamente informativos para serem utilizados em Pyrgotidae. / This work presents a taxonomic revision of New World Pyrgotidae, currently composed of 66 valid species names distributed in 15 genera. The taxonomic revision resulted in the description of two new genera and two species, synonymy of four genera and 18 species and revalidation of 1 species. According to these results, the Pyrgotidae of the New World contains 51 valid species arranged in 12 genera. Phylogenetic analyses were conducted to test the monophyly of the genera, establish the relationships among their species, and test the performance of continuous characters in the phylogeny of Pyrgotidae. Fifty-four morphological characters of adults were coded and divided as: 14 continuous and 40 discrete. Continuous and discrete characters were analyzed separately and under total evidence. The analyses using only discrete characters and in total evidence each resulted in one tree, which were very similar, diverging only in the positions of three terminals. In the tree obtained using total evidence, the branch support increased in more branches, which demonstrates that continuous characters are phylogenetically informative for use in analyses of the Pyrgotidae.

O objeto de estudo nesta pesquisa é a verificação da influência da indumentária e da moda na caracterização da personagem de ficção nos romances brasileiros do século XIX, através da análise dos romances Cinco Minutos (1856), A Viuvinha (1857), Lucíola (1862), A pata da gazela (1870) e Senhora (1875), de José de Alencar; Iaiá Garcia (1878), Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas (1881), Dom Casmurro (1899) e Quincas Borba (1891), de Machado de Assis; e O cortiço (1890), de Aluísio Azevedo. No estudo são efetuadas analogias entre moda, roupa e literatura, com a finalidade de identificar a presença da moda e da indumentária como suporte narrativo pelos autores para a caracterização das personagens nos romances analisados, bem como detectar o caminho da construção do imaginário do leitor por meio de representações aproximadas de modelos das roupas descritas pelos romancistas, sendo utilizados, para isso, recursos iconográficos como a fotografia, a ilustração e as notícias e imagens de jornais e revistas de época. Também são apresentadas nesta pesquisa as questões econômicas, sociais e culturais que abrangem a contextualização do século dezenove em consonância com os fatos apresentados nos romances. O período refere-se de 1850 a 1890 / This research studies the influence of clothing and fashion in the characterization of the figures in 19th Century Brazilian fiction, analyzing novels like Cinco minutos (1856), A Viuvinha (1857), Lucíola (1862), A pata da gazela (1870) and Senhora (1875), of José de Alencar; Iaiá Garcia (1878), Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas (1881), Dom Casmurro (1899) and Quincas Borba (1891), Machado de Assis; and O cortiço (1890), Aluísio Azevedo. In this study, analogies are made between fashion, clothing, and literature for the purpose of identifying the authors use of fashion and clothing as narrative support for portraying and understanding the characters. The study also tries to include images such as period photographs and illustrations to help shape the readers imaginary construction of the characters. In this research, the economic, social, and cultural issues of the period (1850 to 1890) are also presented to help understand the historical context of the time presented in the novels

Esta dissertação tematiza a configuração das personagens de sobrenome Caré na trilogia O Tempo e o Vento, do escritor sul-rio-grandense Erico Verissimo (1905-1975). Lulu Caré, José Caré (Juca Feio), Quincas Caré, Chiru Caré, João Caré, Mingote Caré, Pedro Caré, Mané Caré, Ismália Caré, Lauro Caré, Romualdinho Caré, Antônia, Ondina Caré, Joaninha Caré são representantes de uma classe de indivíduos espoliados presentes nas três partes do romance: O continente, O retrato e O arquipélago. Ladeando o enredo principal, quase despercebidos do leitor, os Carés contrapõem-se aos protagonistas, os representantes da aristocracia. São sujeitos livres, mas \"sem eira nem beira\", desvalidos, que vivem, inicialmente, errantes, e que, posteriormente, passam a viver nas franjas da propriedade dos Terra Cambará, dependentes da solidariedade dos poderosos. O objetivo desta dissertação é explorar a configuração dos Carés ao longo da trilogia, buscando observar as relações entre ficção e experiência da realidade. Para tanto, a dissertação aborda: 1. a relação entre os Carés e o sentido de \"raça\" ou mestiçagem, analisando-se a linhagem dos Carés em um viés étnico; 2. a relação entre os Carés e a ideia de \"gaúcho\", procurando inquirir se eles se enquadrariam ou não em um modelo culturalmente preconcebido - destemido, audacioso, íntegro, com seu cavalo e indumentária típica; 3. a conexão entre Carés e a terra (o Continente de São Pedro, o estado do Rio Grande do Sul, a fazenda do grande proprietário) que os abriga, mas sobre a qual não têm direito; 4, a relação entre os Carés e a guerra, sublinhando a incongruência entre sujeitos rechaçados pela sociedade em tempos de paz e apreciados em tempos de conflito. Focaliza, igualmente, a relação da sociedade descrita por Erico com as mulheres Carés, tratadas como objetos sexuais dos estancieiros. / This dissertation thematizes the configuration of the characters surnamed Caré in the trilogy \"The Time and the Wind\", written by the Rio Grande do Sul State writer, Erico Verissimo (1905-1975). Lulu Caré, José Caré (Juca Feio), Quincas Caré, Chiru Caré, João Caré, Mingote Caré, Pedro Caré, Mané Caré, Ismália Caré, Lauro Caré, Romualdinho Caré, Antônia, Ondina Caré and Joaninha Caré are representatives of a class of stolen individuals present in the three parts of the novel: The Continent, The Portrait and The Archipelago. Besides the main plot, almost unnoticed by the reader, the Carés counterpoint the protagonists, the representatives of the aristocracy. They are free subjects, but without anything to call their own, helpless, who live, initially, wandering, and who, later, live in the fringes of the Terra Cambará property, dependent on the solidarity of the powerful. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the configuration of the Carés throughout the trilogy, seeking to observe the relations between fiction and reality experience. To do so, the dissertation addresses: 1. the relationship between the Cares and the sense of \"race\" or miscegenation, analyzing the lineage of the Carés in an ethnic bias; 2. The relation between the Cares and the idea of \"gaucho\", trying to inquire whether or not they fit into a culturally preconceived model - fearless, audacious, upright, with his typical horse and typical clothing; 3. The connection between Carés and the land (the Continent of Saint Peter, the Rio Grande do Sul State, the farm of the great owner) that houses them, but which they are not entitled; 4, the relationship between the Cares and the war, highlighting the incongruity between subjects rejected by society in times of peace and appreciated in times of conflict. It also focuses on the relationship of the society described by Erico with the Carés women, treated as sexual objects of the ranchers.