Hero characters and their narratives serve as important sites for negotiating a culture’s values. Informed by sexism in Western cultures, female heroes often construct and perpetuate women’s statuses as second-class citizens. However, female heroes also can and sometimes do work against such representations. This thesis argues for a third wave feminist interpretation of Joss Whedon and John Cassaday’s Astonishing X-Men comic books as a text that brings multiple feminist perspectives into conversation with each other and that opposes certain patriarchal systems. Through narrative and formal analysis, I explore female X-Men Emma Frost and Kitty Pryde as characters who reject gender essentialism and misogynist value systems and whose relationship addresses concepts of difference in third wave feminism. Using similar methods, I also explore an interpretation of villain Danger as a failure to integrate radical feminist ideologies into third wave feminism. I believe that Astonishing X-Men provides an example of how norms of the mainstream superhero comic book medium, which scholars have criticized as sexist, can be reworked for a new generation of feminists. / text

This thesis traces Margaret Atwood's uses of three major elements of fairy tales in her novels. Atwood creates a passive, fairy-tale-like heroine, but not for the purpose of showing how passivity wins the prince as in the traditional tale. Atwood also uses the binary system, which provides a moralistic structure in the fairy tale, to show the necessity of moving beyond its rigidity. In addition, Atwood's novels focus on transformation as the breaking of a spell. However, the spell to be broken arises out of the fairy tales themselves, which create unrealistic expectations. Thus, Atwood not only presents these fairy tale elements in a new setting, but she also changes their significance.

This paper proposes that Samuel Richardson consciously created the motivational complexity of Clarissa Harlowe. The arguments are the following: eighteenth-century scientific interest in motivation influenced Richardson, his Puritanism led him to suspect and emphasize motive, his frequent use of the word motive suggests an awareness, his choice of the epistolary form is ideal for revealing motives, his attention to the ambiguity of motives indicates his interest, and his complexly motivated Clarissa demands a conscious creator. The last argument constitutes the principal section of the study, and Clarissa's motives are analyzed from the events prior to the elopement, through the rape in London, and finally to her death. She is studied as a product of eighteenth-century decorum, individualism, and Puritanism, but also as an intricate personality.

Chan Ka-ling. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 160-167). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Acknowledgements --- p.iv / Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter One --- Bridget Jones's Diary： A Novelistic Adaptation of Pride and Prejudice --- p.18 / Chapter Chapter Two --- The Image of Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice and Its Adaptations --- p.4 7 / Chapter Chapter Three --- The Image of Bridget Jones in Bridget Jones' s Diary and Its Film Adaptation --- p.85 / Chapter Chapter Four --- Evolution of a Heroine: From Pride and Prejudice to Bridget Jones's Diary --- p.110 / Conclusion --- p.142 / Notes --- p.157 / Works Cited --- p.160

<p>Са само пет наслова од дванаест опера колико је укупно написао, Пучини већ више од века доминира у репертоару свих светских оперских кућа, од најмањих до највећих, што га ставља у исти ранг са Моцартом, Вердијем, Вагнером. Његова популарност је тако велика не само због изванредне музике и сјајног осећаја за оркестрацију, него управо због сасвим специфичног начина на који је Пучини драматуршки третирао своје главне протагонисте. Нарочити афинитет је имао ка савршено нијансираном креирању хероина. Управо су његове хероине главно обележје његовог стваралаштва. Како је опера уметност заснована на синтези две уметности &ndash; драмске и музичке, реч је о раду који истражује главне женске ликове анализирајући упоредо драматуршка и музичка средства која је композитор користио и које има за циљ да дође до општих закључака о емоционалном аспекту хероина у значајном делу стваралаштва Ђакома Пучинија, у операма Боеми, Тоска, Мадам Батерфлај и Турандот.</p> / <p>Sa samo pet naslova od dvanaest opera koliko je ukupno napisao, Pučini već više od veka dominira u repertoaru svih svetskih operskih kuća, od najmanjih do najvećih, što ga stavlja u isti rang sa Mocartom, Verdijem, Vagnerom. NJegova popularnost je tako velika ne samo zbog izvanredne muzike i sjajnog osećaja za orkestraciju, nego upravo zbog sasvim specifičnog načina na koji je Pučini dramaturški tretirao svoje glavne protagoniste. Naročiti afinitet je imao ka savršeno nijansiranom kreiranju heroina. Upravo su njegove heroine glavno obeležje njegovog stvaralaštva. Kako je opera umetnost zasnovana na sintezi dve umetnosti &ndash; dramske i muzičke, reč je o radu koji istražuje glavne ženske likove analizirajući uporedo dramaturška i muzička sredstva koja je kompozitor koristio i koje ima za cilj da dođe do opštih zaključaka o emocionalnom aspektu heroina u značajnom delu stvaralaštva Đakoma Pučinija, u operama Boemi, Toska, Madam Baterflaj i Turandot.</p> / <p>With only five out of the twelve operas he wrote, Puccini has been dominating the repertoire of opera houses of the world, from the smallest to the largest ones, for more than a century. This puts him on par with Mozart, Verdi, Wagner. He is so well known not only for the excellence of his music and a great sense of orchestration, but also for the very specific ways in Puccini&#39;s dramaturgical treatment of his main protagonists. He has shown special affection towards his perfectly nuanced creation of heroines. It was his heroines that turned out to be the main feature of his whole opus. As the opera as an art is a synthesis of two arts - drama and music, this thesis analyzes the main female characters by simultaneously focusing on the dramaturgical and musical resources which the composer used, and it aims to reach more general conclusions about the emotional aspect of his heroines in a significant part of the creative work of Giacomo Puccini, in his operas La Boheme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Turandot.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2005. / "August 2005." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 237-246). Online version available on the World Wide Web. Library also has microfilm. Ann Arbor, Mich. : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [2005]. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm.

A stunning poem that draws the attention of the reading public, Omeros is often regarded as the most famous and most successful of Derek Walcott¡¦s works. In one sense, Omeros is the Greek name for Homer, and Walcott chose it for the title of the poem to show his ambition to be a Caribbean Homer, a poet developing an epic from a West Indian perspective. With the epic form and resonant mythic Greek namesakes, Omeros is built upon Walcott¡¦s innate love for St. Lucia. Structurally, the epic form provides the vast framework he needs to describe the multicultural Creole society. However, after a close reading of the text, we can actually find that it does not follow so much the conventions of a classical tradition, since it is not actually a heroic poem. Unlike the superhuman characters in Homeric epics, the male protagonists in Omeros are common people who endure the suffering of individual in exile and try to put down roots in a place where they think they belong. One famous critic, Robert D. Hamner, reads Omeros as an epic of the dispossessed, one in which each of its protagonists is a castaway in one sense or another. In this respect, the male characters are injured (either spiritually or physically). In contrast, the female characters in Omeros, though few in number, play the important roles of heroines to heal the wounds of the male protagonists and to help them trace their roots. This thesis will, therefore, analyze three female characters in the poem. Chapter 1 will focus on Ma Kilman, a black obeah woman. She embodies the memories of the past as well as the connection between African experience and West Indian culture. Through the practice of obeah, a holistic healing method different from Western diagnosis, she is capable of soothing wounds caused by past sufferings. Chapter 2 will examine Maud Plunkett, a white Irish housewife. She represents the physical link between Ireland and St. Lucia due to their inherent similarities ¡Vboth are being colonized with St. Lucia being divided by race and class, while Ireland is split along religious and class lines. Maud¡¦s existence symbolizes the alienation gap on the island; her death, at the end, bridges the gap and relieves historical traumas. Chapter 3 will deals with Helen, an ebony local woman. Appropriating mythical as well as historical allusions, Walcott gives new voice to this Caribbean Helen. She demonstrates her autonomy to male characters and becomes an unapproachable goddess that they attempt to possess. She reestablishes peace and achieves a new harmony in St. Lucia as a way of cross-cultural healing.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- McMaster University, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 236-247). Also available via World Wide Web.

Thesis (MFA)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1990. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Eastern Illinois University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-64).