In our lives we will have to make hundreds upon thousands of choices. The effects of these choices will follow us with varying intervals; some effects may be brief while others may literally last a lifetime. In these moments that we are forced to chose, it ultimately comes down to two options, what we should do, and what we want to do. Essentially, it is a choice between the head and the heart. Playwrights depend on these moments of choice, for it is the basis of almost all plays. At some point, the protagonist must make a choice, even if the choice is not to choose. In the early part of the 20th Century, a religious philosopher by the name of Aleister Crowley helped to define these choices, or as he referred to them, Wills. In essence, he stated that everyone has a True Will and a conscious will, and the path that you will ultimately follow is contingent on the choices you make in your life. Following your True Will, the path of the heart will lead you to a sense of Nirvana, while following your conscious will, the path of the head leads to a life unfulfilled. While some called him demonic (he occasionally referred to himself as The Beast With Two Backs) others saw him as a sage someone to esoterically explain the chaotic and industrial world of the early 1900 s. Aleister Crowley seemed to be one of those few men that you either loved, or hated, or hated to love. At the dawn of the 20th Century, he was an English philosopher and religious guru that made a call to arms to the general populous to start living a better life. His theories will be explained fully in Chapter One, but ultimately he wanted everyone to achieve their True Will and leave their conscious wills by the wayside. He felt that this process could be achieved through what he referred to as his theorems on magick. It is unknown exactly how the idea came to him to add the k to the original magic; however speculation reveals he might have taken from the original Greek word magikE. Contrary to the modern definition of magic (the art of producing illusions by sleight of hand), Crowley felt that his magick was significantly more complex. Pulling on philosophies from the Egyptians and the Celts along with basic Buddhist principles, he defined his magick within his twenty-eight theorems . Ultimately, he philosophized that magick was a way to enlighten a person, or, for the purposes of this thesis a character s True Will4 and to avoid following their conscious will. In layman s terms, Crowley saw it as an argument between the head (conscious will) and the heart (True Will). While the main focus of this thesis is on the tension and outcome of the decision of a character to follow their True Will or their conscious will, it is impossible to talk about these two concepts without discussing, at least in part, magick. Crowley saw magick as the practice and process to achieve True Will. This study, therefore, involves both homonyms, magic and magick. By applying this process as defined by Crowley in his self-named theorems to plays and musicals that have been defined as strictly magic, I am looking for not only the exact moment in which the main protagonists in each play define and execute their decision to follow their True or conscious Wills, but also to critically examine their journey to that fatal decision. I describe it as such because I feel that a characters fate may truly depend on the choice that they make. These philosophies are not new to the philosophical world. Other theorists such as Schopenhauer and Nietzsche and their relation to Crowley s theories will be discussed later; however I felt that because Crowley is the one who his responsible for rejuvenating the word magick from the Greeks in the 20th Century, I should be able to use his theories as a modern lens to examine A Midsummer Nights Dream, Marisol, and Wicked. I plan to take plays that cross both genre and era and consider not only (1) what can be illuminated using this Crowlean lens , but I also to highlight (2) any universal truths, by which I mean any ideological or philosophical ideas that appear in all three plays, that can be found in works as diverse as the ones that I have chosen. While their connection to True Will may be tangential in nature, if there are things in common in these plays that are brought to light using Crowley s lens, then I feel it is worth noting. By examining these two factors I will be able to see if critics have accurately defined these plays. My goal is to add the Crowlean lens to the already existing approaches to critically examining a theatrical piece. This lens, as defined before, is simply taking Crowley s concepts of True Will and conscious will and their link to the progression of magick within a character to illuminate the characters choices leading up to their breaking point in which they must ask themselves Do I chose what I should do, or what I want to do? The three plays I chose were done for specific reasons. The basic criterion was to choose on a basis of (1) chronology, (2) genre, (3) and magical reference5. I took three plays that entertained the religious, philosophical, and fantastical nature of what I felt best applied to Crowley s theories. Keeping in mind that Crowley interpreted his magick as a philosophy, a religion, and a way of life to ultimately achieving True Will, I felt it pertinent to explore these aspects of each play as well. In the musical Wicked, the philosophical nature of the piece asks the question Are people born wicked? Or do they have wickedness thrust upon them? This question can be answered through a variety of subjects. By exploring these issues within the context of its main character, Elphaba, (pronounced EL-fa-ba), and a variety of themes throughout this musical (including behavior, appearance, deception, honesty, courage and labeling) we find that True Will and conscious will in the land of Oz are flowering. Defining our True Will, according to Crowley, takes constant affirmations and diligent calculations of our feelings and utilizing those to aid in making the right choice for that specific moment6. In this fashion, Marisol marries the idea of what the author calls magical realism in a post-apocalyptic New York City with a fervent religiosity all while underscoring the political nature of the 1980s indigent cleanup initiated by then mayor Ed Koch. Through the character of Marisol Perez, we find that not only is the choice between True Will and conscious confusing, but it can be potentially lethal. Within the structure of this play is also where Crowley s spiritual views on True Will and conscious will become highlighted. The Lovers (Helena, Demetrius, Hermia, and Lysander) in Shakespeare s fantastical A Midsummer Night s Dream is the perfect backdrop to explore Crowley s more eccentric philosophies on magick and how these philosophies relate to True and conscious will. In essence, I plan to not only explore the choices that these four individuals make due to acts of both types of magic(k), but their ultimate consequences as well. It also must be noted that during the process of this thesis, the one overarching theme throughout all three plays dealt with Crowley s theory of self-preservation. I feel that this is innately tied into the idea of True Will. By achieving True Will, we are inherently attempting to make the best choices for ourselves. This inherently keeps alive the innate human instinct of survival. At the end of this thesis, I hope to defend that Crowley s concepts of True Will and conscious will, when applied in tandem with Crowley s concepts of magick, can be a valid lens to examine theatrical works, old and new alike.

During the last decades, a Hindi Dalit literary movement has emerged in North India. This essay is a study and comparison on character portrayals in short stories by two authors from this movement, Jayprakash Kardam and Ajay Navaria. The aim of this essay is to explore the implications of these portrayals considering these authors’ views on social change, their literary affiliations and a theoretical discussion on Dalit literature. The methodical basis for this study is a detailed character analysis of these short stories’ protagonists, antagonists and other relevant characters, supported by narrative- and conceptual analyses. This essay argues that the theoretical abstraction of Dalit consciousness [cetnā] has a mainstreaming effect on the Dalit experience [anubhūti] when it is portrayed in literature. These dynamics are visible in Kardam’s stories, in which his portrayals of the Dalit protagonist follow the conventional Dalit character template, a forthright and innocent archetype juxtaposed against an evil Brahmin. The pivoting moment in Kardam’s stories is when consciousness awakens in the Dalit protagonist and he joins the corporate resistance against a casteist society. In comparison, Navaria makes the individual the site for change in his stories—reflecting the Gandhian notion of hṛday parivartan (“change of heart”). Navaria foregrounds alternative perspectives to Dalit cetnā in his stories and seeks to understand his characters from a broader human experience. I further argue that Navaria’s stories are suggestive of an expansion of the binary discussion on anubhūti (“experience”) and sahānubhūti (“sympathy”) by the term samānubhūti (“empathy”) since Navaria, by his more complex, nuanced and personalised characterisation of both Dalits and Brahmins, provides a common ground that invites to reconciliation. This study concludes that while Kardam could be designated as a conventional Dalit author, Navaria should rather be situated in the boundaries between the Dalit and the mainstream Hindi literary field. It further concludes that more research is needed on theoretical concepts used in the Dalit literary discourse. / <p>Kandidatuppsats i indologi</p>

Estudo sobre a representação literária da figura do guerrilheiro em romances do brasileiro Antonio Callado (1917-1997) e dos angolanos Pepetela (1941-) e José Luandino Vieira (1935-). Considerando que os autores recriam ficcionalmente realidades muito diferenciadas, em países e continentes distintos, num momento histórico que só as aproxima pelo contexto da Guerra Fria, mas compartilham personagens envolvidos na contestação armada do poder, queremos examinar como essas figuras são construídas, como se aproximam ou se distanciam, e de que maneira se transformam à medida que os textos produzidos se afastam do momento histórico que lhes serve de tema. Um capítulo inicial descreve o panorama geral das lutas políticas no século XX, o fim dos grandes impérios coloniais, o contexto da Guerra Fria, e traça um paralelo minucioso entre a resistência armada à ditadura brasileira e a luta guerrilheira contra o colonialismo português, situando os autores nesse contexto. Depois há uma discussão sobre a figura do guerrilheiro como motivo literário, exemplificado em Che Guevara, um levantamento de questões teóricas sobre o personagem literário e a apresentação e discussão do corpus: Quarup (1967), Bar Don Juan (1971), Reflexos do baile (1977), Sempreviva (1981), de Callado; As aventuras de Ngunga (1973), Mayombe (1980), A geração da utopia (1992), O planalto e a estepe (2009), de Pepetela; O livro dos rios (2006), O livro dos guerrilheiros (2009), de Luandino Vieira. Seguem-se perfis analíticos-interpretativos, feitos a partir da leitura cerrada, de 28 personagens de Callado, 18 personagens de Pepetela e oito personagens de Luandino Vieira, e as conclusões que essas cinquenta figuras nos sugeriram. / This dissertation presents a study of the literary representation of guerrillas in novels by the Brazilian Antonio Callado (1917-1997) and the Angolans Pepetela (1941-) and José Luandino Vieira (1935-). In their fictional recreations of distinct realities, historically contextualized in different countries and continents in the Cold War, these authors created characters who are directly involved in the armed contestation of power. Our purpose is to examine how these characters are constructed, how they converge or diverge in their characteristics, and the transformations they undergo as the focuses in the texts move away from the historical moment associated to their themes. The first chapter draws an overview of the political struggles in the twentieth century, of the end of the great colonial empires, and of the context of the Cold War, and makes a detailed comparison between the armed resistance to the Brazilian dictatorship, which is the context of Antonio Callado\'s novels, and the guerrilla warfare against Portuguese colonialism, where Pepetela\'s and José Luandino Vieira\'s novels are contextualized. Guerrilla warfare and the figure of guerrillas as literary motifs is the subject of the following chapter. The discussion is illustrated through the analysis of literary approaches of the figure of Che Guevara. This chapter also surveys theoretical questions about literary characters and analyzes the following novels : Quarup (1967), Bar Don Juan (1971), Reflexos do baile (1977), and Sempreviva (1981), by Callado; As aventuras de Ngunga (1973), Mayombe (1980), A geração da utopia (1992), O planalto e a estepe (2009), by Pepetela; O livro dos rios (2006), and O livro dos guerrilheiros (2009), by Luandino Vieira. The lasts chapters outlines analytical and interpretative profiles extracted from the close reading of twenty-eight characters by Callado, eighteen characters by Pepetela and eight characters by Luandino Vieira, and presents the conclusions we drew from the analyses of these fifty four characters.

Estudo sobre a representação literária da figura do guerrilheiro em romances do brasileiro Antonio Callado (1917-1997) e dos angolanos Pepetela (1941-) e José Luandino Vieira (1935-). Considerando que os autores recriam ficcionalmente realidades muito diferenciadas, em países e continentes distintos, num momento histórico que só as aproxima pelo contexto da Guerra Fria, mas compartilham personagens envolvidos na contestação armada do poder, queremos examinar como essas figuras são construídas, como se aproximam ou se distanciam, e de que maneira se transformam à medida que os textos produzidos se afastam do momento histórico que lhes serve de tema. Um capítulo inicial descreve o panorama geral das lutas políticas no século XX, o fim dos grandes impérios coloniais, o contexto da Guerra Fria, e traça um paralelo minucioso entre a resistência armada à ditadura brasileira e a luta guerrilheira contra o colonialismo português, situando os autores nesse contexto. Depois há uma discussão sobre a figura do guerrilheiro como motivo literário, exemplificado em Che Guevara, um levantamento de questões teóricas sobre o personagem literário e a apresentação e discussão do corpus: Quarup (1967), Bar Don Juan (1971), Reflexos do baile (1977), Sempreviva (1981), de Callado; As aventuras de Ngunga (1973), Mayombe (1980), A geração da utopia (1992), O planalto e a estepe (2009), de Pepetela; O livro dos rios (2006), O livro dos guerrilheiros (2009), de Luandino Vieira. Seguem-se perfis analíticos-interpretativos, feitos a partir da leitura cerrada, de 28 personagens de Callado, 18 personagens de Pepetela e oito personagens de Luandino Vieira, e as conclusões que essas cinquenta figuras nos sugeriram. / This dissertation presents a study of the literary representation of guerrillas in novels by the Brazilian Antonio Callado (1917-1997) and the Angolans Pepetela (1941-) and José Luandino Vieira (1935-). In their fictional recreations of distinct realities, historically contextualized in different countries and continents in the Cold War, these authors created characters who are directly involved in the armed contestation of power. Our purpose is to examine how these characters are constructed, how they converge or diverge in their characteristics, and the transformations they undergo as the focuses in the texts move away from the historical moment associated to their themes. The first chapter draws an overview of the political struggles in the twentieth century, of the end of the great colonial empires, and of the context of the Cold War, and makes a detailed comparison between the armed resistance to the Brazilian dictatorship, which is the context of Antonio Callado\'s novels, and the guerrilla warfare against Portuguese colonialism, where Pepetela\'s and José Luandino Vieira\'s novels are contextualized. Guerrilla warfare and the figure of guerrillas as literary motifs is the subject of the following chapter. The discussion is illustrated through the analysis of literary approaches of the figure of Che Guevara. This chapter also surveys theoretical questions about literary characters and analyzes the following novels : Quarup (1967), Bar Don Juan (1971), Reflexos do baile (1977), and Sempreviva (1981), by Callado; As aventuras de Ngunga (1973), Mayombe (1980), A geração da utopia (1992), O planalto e a estepe (2009), by Pepetela; O livro dos rios (2006), and O livro dos guerrilheiros (2009), by Luandino Vieira. The lasts chapters outlines analytical and interpretative profiles extracted from the close reading of twenty-eight characters by Callado, eighteen characters by Pepetela and eight characters by Luandino Vieira, and presents the conclusions we drew from the analyses of these fifty four characters.

Denna uppsats hanterar hur kvinnliga karaktärer porträtteras i romantisk komedi genom att närmare studera begreppet ”Manic Pixie Dream Girl”. Detta begrepp leder till missförstånd om kvinnans roll i filmens värld och skapar diskussioner om jämställdhet och västerländsk berättarkultur. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka två kvinnor i två olika romantiska komedier uppfyller de kriterier som nämns av Manic Pixie Dream Girl-begreppets myntare, Nathan Rabin, har lagt fram och om det således är motiverat att argumentera att karaktärerna upprätthåller sexistiska synsätt. Den teoretiska grund som uppsatsen bygger på kommer främst från feministisk teori, men även från Laura Mulveys teori om skopofili och den manliga blicken. För att analysera det utvalda materialet används en skräddarsydd karaktärsanalytisk metod. Resultatet visar att, trots att de kvinnliga karaktärerna må uppfylla några eller flera av de kriterier som Rabin ställer fram så innebär inte det direkt att karaktärerna är endimensionella och, i förlängning, overkliga porträtt av kvinnor i allmänhet. / This essay deals with how female characters are portrayed in romantic comedies by studying the "Manic Pixie Dream Girl"-phenomenon closer. This concept leads to misunderstandings about women's roles in the world of cinema and creates discussions about equality and Western storytelling. The purpose of this essay is to study two women in two different romantic comedies and study if they meet the criteria Nathan Rabin, the man who coined the term “Manic Pixie Dream Girl”, has announced to be qualities of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl and whether it is justified to argue that the female characters maintain sexist ideals. The theoretical basis on which the essay is based primarily comes from feminist theory, but also from Laura Mulvey’s theory of scopophilia and “the male gaze”. To analyze the selected material I have chosen to use a customized method of character analysis. The results show that, despite the fact that the female characters may meet some or more of the criteria Rabin have announced, the material does not directly imply that the characters are one-dimensional and, in extension, improbable and unreal portraits of women in general.

No description available.

「人觀」注重「人」與「社會」、「自然」與「自我」之間的互動關係，以及依據不同脈絡下，如何思考「人」的意義與定位，進以建構「社會人」、「自然人」或「自由人」命題，形成「人觀」的理論體系。當中特別凸顯「人」所具道德、藝術、宗教、文化的多向度事實，注重諸向度間的相互作用，抉發「人」於此關係迴環下呈現的「形象」蘊涵，依此可作為體現人物豐富生命義蘊的方法。 　　在儒家「人觀」視域下，「好學進德」的顏回形象，可視作「君子之學」典範，豁顯「仁」「禮」修身的「具體實踐」內涵。《莊子》則建構「心齋坐忘」的「體道」顏回形象，內容多與「至人」身心修養和主體轉化相關，故顏回實為深入莊子「人觀」的「思想符號」。漢代揚雄、王充依「用氣言性」態度，創構「氣化大賢」的顏回形象，由是發展出「潛心學聖未至」的說法，又用「未達一間」詮釋孔顏聖賢位階之分，甚至將顏回短命早亡視作「性善命凶」、「以才自殺」的必然結果。魏晉南朝綰合「玄理思辨」與「人物品鑒」，如講求天資、智愚、識量、言語的觀人識鑒情境，對照「本末」、「形神」、「言意」概念的玄學《論語》詮釋，反映出會通儒道、玄化孔顏的聖賢觀，故有「玄化顏回」的特殊形象面目。就「玄化顏回」現象的實踐面觀，如黃憲「顏子復生」或謝尚「年少一坐之顏回」稱譽，背後便以「淵粹玄遠」、「天才神悟」的顏回形象為品鑒依據。待及唐宋，退之、習之、伊川皆據《中庸》、《易傳》立義，闡發「體道學聖」的顏回形象命題和「聖學」理論。如濂溪將「顏回之學」提升至「體天明誠」的「證體」超越層次。「顏學」與「顏樂」互相包含，「聖學」踐履以「學顏回」、「求至樂」為目標。明道則匯流「識仁」與「觀氣象」命題，塑造「體之而樂，反身而誠」的顏回形象，發揚濂溪「尋顏樂」的體道美學與聖賢觀，「體道」即含「樂道」，更是「觀聖人氣象」和「觀天地生物氣象」前提，也是探討明道孔顏觀的關鍵線索。 　　要之，本文認為，顏回「好學進德」、「心齋坐忘」、「氣化」、「玄化」、「樂道」、「學聖」諸「形象」，彼此相互作用與轉化之際，組織成儒道「人觀」體系圖像的運行圓周，「形象」與「人觀」猶如珠網牽連相即的共生關係。依此脈絡，不管是如詩劇美趣的玄化顏回觀到向上超拔的理學「體天樂道」顏回觀，當中包含身體與社會間的關係互動，名教與自然間的調和抗爭，道德相與超道德相的工夫分際，都是學者試圖還原與建構顏回形象的珍貴線索。故本文所論，實與採取「類型化」或概念結構理解模式的顏回形象研究有別，望藉此對顏回於儒道思想、身體觀、工夫論及人物品鑒學具有的關鍵意義，提出不同的理解視域和詮釋路徑。 / The “idea of the person” is a concept that centers on the interrelationship between “man” and his interaction with “society” and “the self” and its relation to “nature”. Different philosophical thought systems have differing definitions of “man”`, and use their specific definition of “man” as a basis for the development of their unique concepts of “man in society” and “natural man” or “free man”. These concepts together construct the philosophical system for the “idea of the person”. These philosophical systems place a strong emphasis on the interaction between virtue, art, religion, culture and the multiple aspects of man’s existence. Through the interaction between these different aspects of life, thus emerges the significance of the classical “images” or paradigms that serve as a concrete example of how these concepts are used in life. In the Confucian “idea of the person” the “virtue through learning” portrayal of Yanhui conveys the Confucian paradigm of “learning to be a man of noble character” and through this it can be known that Yanhui in the Confucian tradition is portrayed as a concrete personification of the cultivation of the self through “ren” and “li”. In Zhuang zi ,Yanhui is portrayed as the model of Zhuang zi’s “purification of the mind” and having done so portrays Yanhui as an exemplar of the Zhuang zi’s”the perfect person”. Through this it can be known that Zhuang zi uses Yanhui as a symbol for the “idea of the person”, thus highlighting the fact that the image of Yanhui is deeply engrained in the symbolism contained in Zhuang zi, During the Han dynasty, Yang Xiong and Wang Chong’s thought incorporated “qi” and used “qi” in particular in describing “nature”. In light of this, thus developing the idea of using “qi” to describe the image of Yanhui, as being the paradigm for the man of virtue. They also gave commentary and description of the difference between the levels of Confucius and Yanhui, describing Yanhui as having a”partial actualization of sagelypotential” and being ”slightly lower than a sage”. Lastly viewing Yanhui’s early death as the eventual result of a man having a “good nature but bad fate” and his practice of “self sacrifice”. During the Han dynasty Yang Xiong and Wang Chong’s usage of “qi” in describing “nature” thus developing the idea of using “qi” to describe the image of Yanhui as the paradigm for the man of virtue. They also gave commentary and description of the difference between the levels of Confucius and Yanhui, describing Yanhui as having a”partial actualization of sagely potential” and being “slightly lower than a sage”. Lastly viewing Yanhui’s early death as the eventual result of a man having a “good nature but bad fate”and “self-sacrifice”. The WeiJin and Southern Dynasty philosophers combined “Speculative Mystical Philosophy”with the “Examination of the character of cultural Figures”. They used natural endowment, wisdom/ignorance, capacity to use one’s abilities and language to analyze a historical figure. Also using these idea in concert with ideas such as: “beginning/end”, “Form/Spirit” and “language/meaning” , which then formed the essential concepts used in Xuan Xue’s commentary on The Analects. In using Daoist concepts to comment on The Analects, they combined Confucian and Daoist thought and through this mergence, the images of Confucuis and became mystified and through this creating the “Mystical Yan Hui」portrayal of Yanhui. The practical aspect of the “Mystical Yan Hui” is portrayed in the praise given to Huang Hui and Xie Xiang. Huang Hui was praised as being “Yanhui Resurrected” and Xie Xiang was said to be a “young Yanhui”, using the “mystical” and “gifted student” Yanhui as the basus for the praise given to these two philosophers. During the Tang and Song dynasties the philosopher Yi Chuan used The Doctrine of the mean and Yi Zhuan to develop the philosophical treatise for the “Practice of Dao and learning to be a sage”, and in this treatise thus using the image of Yanhui to signify these concepts. He then used this treatise to develop the “Learning to be a sage” philosophical system. For example, Lian xi elevated the idea of “The learning of Yanhui” to “actualizing the way of heaven in the self”, giving the image of Yanhui a transcendental aspect which can be specifically seen in Yi Chuan ’s concept of the “actualizing the essence of all”. Thus in his philosophy he merged the ideas of the “learning of Yanhui” and the “contentment of Yanhui” and used them both in concert, making the “learning of Yanhui” and the “pursuit of contentment” the goals of one who seek to learn to be a sage. Ming Dao used the topics of “understanding ren” and “observation of the disposition of the sages ”, two ideas that in antiquity are associated with Yanhui, to construct his image of Yanhui. He portrays Yanhui as the paradigm of “using practice to find contentment, internalize this practice and actualizing virtue”. Thus developing Lian xi’s “pursuing the contentment possessed by Yanhui” and its aesthetic description of the practice of dao and the concept of the sage and the man of virtue. In his thought, the “learning of Yanhui” encompasses the “Dao of contentment” and serves as the basis for the “observation of the disposition of the sages” and “observing the qi of heaven, earth and all things” , which serves as the quintessence of Ming Dao's treatise on Confucius and Yanhui. “Virtue through learning”, “purification of the mind”, “qi approach” ,“mystical approach” , “dao of contentment”, “Learning to be a sage” are the major portrayals of Yanhui. Through the inter use and melding of these ideals they became the structure of the Confucian “idea of the person” , thus melding the relationship between “image” and the “idea of the person”. From the artistic and mystical Yanhui to the transcendental "actualization of heaven and contentment in Dao" Yanhui of the li xue philosophers and in between, all conceptions of Yanhui incorporate a few major themes: the body and its interaction with society, the harmonizing of the relationship between ethics and nature , the differentiation between the practice of virtue and transcendental virtue . These are all the attempts of philosophers to construct the importance of the image of Yanhui. Therefore this paper discusses the difference between the historical Yanhui and the conceptualized Yanhui portrayal in the hopes of offering a new research direction and a deeper understanding of Yanhui's role in Confucian and Daoist thought, philosophical treatises on the body, treatises on practice and the character analyses of ancient figures.

The current paper is a study of the male characters Simon and Jace from Cassandra Clare's City of Bones (2010), and the characters Tamlin and Rhysand from Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses (2015). The main aim is to examine whether the characters in these fantasy novels for young adults have traits and functions that previously have been used to describe and portray female characters. The study discovered among other things that vulnerability and sensitivity could be found in all the characters, especially when danger was upon them or their loved ones. Simon was also the only character that was not portrayed with skills in combat, which was mocked by the other male characters but not by the female protagonist. The two male characters in A Court of Thorns and Roses were also portraited as sexual objects in the novel, and Rhysand was exposed to sexual abuse by the novel’s antagonist, which can be seen as stereotypical female trait. The male character’s function in the novels was to have a folie function to each other, and be a love interest, a confidant, and a choir to the female protagonist. The male characters in the novels were also the ones who needed to be rescued by the female characters, and thereby found themselves in a female position.

The essay examines how characters in the Moomin novels change through relationships based on a psychosynthetic subpersonality analysis. This is a new perspective in the field of literature and therefore a solid theoretical basis in psychosynthesis is given and a presentation of my method which includes the concept of subpersonalities. Then three main constellations of characters that focus on Moomin, Sniff, Snufkin, Moominmamma, the Groke, Fillyjonk, Hemulen and Whomper Toft are analyzed. From my discussion it appears that the characters are types who each have their own way of being, thinking and feeling, and in this way Tove Jansson writes a whole where differences may exist. With my perspective, the light is directed towards how the characters integrate sides of each other and thereby develop. The results show that the characters change through the relationships between them, and that a synthesis in each constellation arises.