<p>The essay intends to problematize the notion of heroism in Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game by contemplating the hero himself as well as his enemies. Particular focus will be placed on the good and evil dichotomy, arguing that it is essential to the heroic tale since the hero is supposed to fight evil and foster good. Seeing that Ender is also a murderer, the matter debated will be that he both is and is not a hero.</p>

The essay intends to problematize the notion of heroism in Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game by contemplating the hero himself as well as his enemies. Particular focus will be placed on the good and evil dichotomy, arguing that it is essential to the heroic tale since the hero is supposed to fight evil and foster good. Seeing that Ender is also a murderer, the matter debated will be that he both is and is not a hero.

This thesis creatively reconsiders the ancient Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh and offers a design of the ancient epic as a contemporary, illustrated text. The work is concerned with notions of heroism, and methods relating to construction of imagery. The manifestation of this investigation is the illustrated book Gilgamesh, the Hero of Mesopotamia, which comprises the principal site of research in the project. It consists of thirty-six drawings that explore cyclic composition as a form of narrative discourse.

This thesis creatively reconsiders the ancient Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh and offers a design of the ancient epic as a contemporary, illustrated text. The work is concerned with notions of heroism, and methods relating to construction of imagery. The manifestation of this investigation is the illustrated book Gilgamesh, the Hero of Mesopotamia, which comprises the principal site of research in the project. It consists of thirty-six drawings that explore cyclic composition as a form of narrative discourse.

This diploma thesis focuses on Marie Kudeříková (1921-1943), an almost forgotten figure of the Czech resistance to Nazi occupation, but previously a significant heroine of the Czech state socialist era. It observes her representations in various stages since 1946 to the present and scrutinizes the vitality of her myth and her personal life experience. The thesis tries to show how her life experience was connected to the officially constructed socialist myth, while this fact had determined her following representations and reading of the figure. Hence it shows how the myth of Marie Kudeříková was given by the changes of the official discourse, cultural policy and contemporary ideologies. The mythical constructions of the state socialism are then compared with post-communist representations of her person.

This thesis: "The Phenomenon of Heroism in the Eyes of Secondary-school Students" explores the sample of twelve secondary-school students and their perceptions of the conception of a hero in its various forms. It is divided into a theoretical part and an empirical part, the latter is created by the particular results of author's own research. By applying for this thesis adjusted Grounded Theory method it analysis interviews made with the particular students and tries to answer several questions such as whether this generation of secondary-school students has any heroes; how these students exactly perceive a conception of a hero; whether they had any heroes in their childhood; and suchlike. In the part dealing with case-interpretations these students evaluate specific figures by the social discourse marked as heroic - in particular Jan Palach; Václav Havel; and brothers Mašíns. The terms of theoretical bases come mainly from the conception of Philip Zimbardo and his heroism of everyday life; they also come from Mike Featherstone and his distinguishing between an everyday life and a heroic life; conceptions dealing with moral evolution of a human being are reflected too, for instance the theory of Lawrence Kohlberg and others.

Les romanciers français de la première moitié du dix-huitième siècle, en privilégiant ledéveloppement de la figure féminine, participent à l’évolution du motif héroïque hérité des sièclesprécédents.L’héroïne de roman est confrontée, au même titre que le héros, aux circonstances dans lesquellesun comportement d’ordre héroïque se décide. Mais il se révèle intéressant de constater l’illustrationambiguë de ce nouveau mérite : la peinture d’une élite féminine côtoie l’évocation d’une immoralitécondamnable. La difficulté est alors de distinguer les sources de cette ambiguïté : réside-t-elle dans lecomportement de l’héroïne ou dans sa représentation dans le récit ?Examiner l’existence d’un héroïsme au féminin, c’est avant tout essayer de mettre en évidence lemode de création du personnage féminin et s’interroger sur son identité romanesque. Le personnageféminin dans le roman de la première moitié du dix-huitième siècle est, en effet, à découvrir au-delàdes contradictions et des incohérences qui nourrissent son portrait.C’est à travers la découverte des constantes, des parentés et des rapprochements entre desromanciers comme Challe, Prévost, Marivaux et Crébillon que l’on peut envisager la problématiquehéroïque du personnage féminin : l’héroïne, d’origine incertaine, séduite, trompée (ou croyant l’être),est toujours victime de sa condition. Une esthétique de la figure féminine que l’on peut retrouver chezcertains romanciers contemporains de ces auteurs par exemple Madame de Tencin, Madame deGraffigny, Montesquieu, Duclos et Mouhy / The French novelists of the first half of the eighteenth century, emphasizing the development of thefeminine, play an important role in the evolution of the heroic pattern inherited from previous centuries.The heroine of the novel, as well as the hero, faces circumstances which require a heroic response.This new merit is, however, ambiguously illustrated: the painting of a female elite includes a hint ofcondemnable immorality. The difficulty is then to distinguish the sources of this ambiguity: does itbelong to the heroine’s behavior or does it reside in its representation in the narrative?To examine the existence of a feminine heroism is first of all to try to highlight the mode of creationof the female character and to question its novelistic identity. The female character in the French novelof the early eighteenth century leaves much to be discovered beyond her portrait’s contradictions andincoherences.By examining the constants, relationships and parallels between novelists such as Challe, Prévost,Marivaux and Crébillon we can better understand the problem of the heroic female character: theheroine, of uncertain origins, seduced, deceived (or believing to be), is always a victim of hercondition. An aesthetics of the female figure is also found in the works of Madame de Tencin, Madamede Graffigny, Montesquieu, Duclos and Mouhy

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De la seconde moitié du XVIe siècle au règne personnel de Louis XIV, les duels clandestins se multiplient en France. Par le biais de cet exercice, la noblesse cherche à affirmer son identité de classe en réaction aux changements politiques et structuraux qui affectent la société d'Ancien Régime. Or cette prolifération de combats donne lieu à une vaste production d'ouvrages se consacrant au phénomène. D'une part, les auteurs attachés aux valeurs aristocratiques tentent de persuader l'autorité royale de rétablir un duel autorisé à la manière médiévale, qui, en offrant un lieu d'expression officiel à l'honneur nobiliaire, permettrait selon eux de faire cesser les affrontements. D'autre part, un groupe d'auteurs appartenant aux corps constitués oeuvrant à la défense des structures de l'État - magistrats et hommes d'Église -, proposent plutôt d'infliger de graves peines aux combattants. Dans cette thèse, nous montrons, par l'examen des procédés stylistiques, des emprunts intertextuels et du système de références mis en oeuvre dans ces textes, que la réflexion sur le duel s'articule autour d'un imaginaire héroïque, mobilisé par les auteurs de chaque position selon leurs intérêts. À travers un ensemble de figures récurrentes empruntées à la littérature de fiction ou l'histoire fictionnalisée - figures qui cristallisent une série de notions-clés au coeur du débat intellectuel sur le combat singulier (vertu, honneur, noblesse, jugement de Dieu) -, ce sont deux façons de concevoir l'organisation de la société française qui s'affrontent dans un véritable duel symbolique. / From the second half of the 16th century to the personal reign of Louis XIV, there was an increase in the number of clandestine duels in France. Through this practice, nobility sought to affirm its class identity in reaction to structural and political changes which affected the Old Regime. This proliferation of combats gave rise to a vast production of works dedicated to this very phenomenon. One group of authors attached to aristocratic values tried to persuade the royal authority to re-establish a legal form of duel, similar to what existed in medieval times. It would create, they argued, an official space for the expression of nobiliary honour and would permit the end of the clandestine duels. An opposite group of authors who belonged to the constituted bodies dedicated to the defense of the structures of the State - magistrates and clergymen - proposed rather to inflict grave punishments on the combatants. This thesis will demonstrate, though the analysis of stylistic processes, of intertextual loans and of the system of references employed in these texts, that the reflection on the duel revolves around heroic imagery, used differently by each group of authors in accord with their own interests. Through an ensemble of recurring figures borrowed from fictional literature or fictionalized history - figures which reinforce a series of key-notions at the heart of the intellectual debate on the duel (such as virtue, honour,

This dissertation examines rhetorics of heroism and immortality as they are negotiated through a variety of (new) media contexts. The dissertation demonstrates that media technologies in general, and videogames in particular, serve an existential or “death denying” function, which insulates individuals from the terror of mortality. The dissertation also discusses the hero as a rhetorical trope, and suggests that its relationship with immortality makes it a particularly powerful persuasive device. Chapter one provides a historical overview of the hero figure and its relationship with immortality, particularly within the context of ancient Greece. Chapter two examines the material means by which media technologies serve a death denying function, via “symbolic immortality” (inscription), and the McLuhanian concept of extension. Chapter three examines the prevalence of the hero and villain figures in propaganda, with particular attention paid to the use of visual propaganda in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Chapter four situates the videogame as an inherently heroic, death denying medium; videogames can extend the player’s sense of self, provide quantifiable victory criteria, and allow players to participate in “heroic” events. Chapter five examines the soldier-as-hero motif as it appears in two popular genres, the First Person Shooter, and Role-Playing Game. Particular attention is paid to the Call of Duty series and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Chapter six outlines an “epistemological exercise,” which attempts to empirically test the claims made in the previous chapters via Terror Management Theory, an experimental paradigm which examines the relationship between mortality, self-esteem, and ideology. The conclusion discusses how videogames can contest prevailing views of the heroic, and calls for a departure from contemporary game design practices.