Les études sur les personnages féminins stendhaliens et mériméens sont certainement nombreuses. Toutefois, notre travail envisage une nouvelle approche qui a pour objectif de mettre en évidence les rapports que Stendhal et Mérimée entretiennent avec les théories qui prédominent dès le XVIIIe siècle. Nous nous référons en particulier à la théorie des quatre tempéraments et la théorie des climats et leur influence sur la création des figures féminines, protagonistes des histoires qui constituent le corpus des Chroniques italiennes et des nouvelles de Mérimée, c’est-à-dire La Vénus d’Ille, Colomba et Carmen. Notre propos est de découvrir un nouvel aspect de la problématique féminine en analysant le type humain de la femme du Midi étudié sous la perspective de l’influence des théories susmentionnées. Nous avons également mis en relation la forme littéraire adoptée par les deux écrivains (la nouvelle, le petit roman) avec les sujets qu’ils abordent et l’effet qu’ils veulent produire sur le lecteur. En quoi, en effet, la forme brève qu'ils choisissent contribue-t-elle à l'effet de violence que la représentation du Sud est supposée produire ? Le récit court sert, à l'évidence, l'efficacité d'un propos à la fois esthétique, ethnologique et éthique. L’étude s’articule en trois temps. Dans un premier temps, nous nous intéressons à l’évolution de la théorie des tempéraments et la théorie des climats, ensuite, au contexte historique et culturel de la période à cheval entre le XVIIIe et XIXe siècles qui influence aussi la création littéraire de Stendhal et de Mérimée. Dans un deuxième temps, nous nous occupons de la poétique stendhalienne et mériméenne par rapport aux récits courts. Enfin, nous analysons les figures féminines par rapport aux études préliminaires que nous avons faites dans les parties précédentes. / Studies about female characters in Stendhal’s and Mérimée’s works are in no doubt numerous. However, the aim of our work is to highlight the relationship between these authors and the theories that prevailed from the eighteenth century onwards. We refer in particular to both the four temperaments theory and the climate the theory and their influence on the creation of female characters, protagonists in the stories we chose for our corpus: the Chroniques italiennes of Stendhal and the shorts stories La Vénus d’Ille, Colomba and Carmen of Mérimée. Our purpose is to unveil a new aspect of the female problematic by analysing Southern Europe woman human type observed from the perspective of the influence of the above-mentioned theories. We also linked the form chosen by the two writers (short story, little novel) with the themes they address and the effect they want to produce on the reader. To which extent is the short story type contributing to the effect of violence supposed to be produced by the depiction of the South? Short stories serve the efficiency of a purpose at the same time aesthetic, ethnological and ethical. This study consists of three parts. First of all, we examine the the evolution of both four temperaments theory and climate theory, as well as the eighteenth, beginning of the nineteenth century historical and cultural background which also influences Stendhal and Mérimée literary creation. Secondly, we reflect upon Stendhal’s and Mérimée’s poetics in relation to short stories. Finally, we analyse the female characters in relation to the preliminary studies previously mentioned. / Gli studi sui personaggi femminili di Stendhal e Mérimée sono sicuramenti numerosi. Ciò nonostante, il nostro lavoro prevede un nuovo approccio che ha come obiettivo di mettere in evidenza l’influenza che le correnti di pensiero, che predominano a partire dal diciottesimo secolo, hanno sulla produzione letterario di Stendhal e Mérimée. In particolare, ci riferiamo alla teoria dei quattro temperamenti e alla teoria dei climi rispetto alla creazione dei personaggi femminili, protagonisti delle storie che costituiscono il corpus delle Cronache italiane e delle novelle di Mérimée, ossia La Venere d’Ille, Colomba et Carmen. Il nostro scopo è quello di mettere in luce un nuovo aspetto della problematica femminile, analizzando il tipo umano della donna meridionale studiato sotto la prospettiva delle teorie sopra menzionate. Abbiamo anche messo in relazione la forma letteraria adottata dai due scrittori (la novella, il piccolo romanzo) con l’argomento che trattano e l’effetto che vogliono produrre sul lettore. Concretamente, in che modo la forma breve che scelgono contribuisce all’effetto di violenza che la rappresentazione del Sud è presupposta produrre? La novella serve a rendere efficace un pensiero estetico, etnologico et etico. Lo studio si divide in tre parti. In un primo momento, ci interessiamo all’evoluzione della teoria dei temperamenti e alla teoria dei climi, in seguito, al contesto storico-culturale del periodo a cavallo tra diciottesimo e diciannovesimo secolo che influenza anche la creazione letteraria di Stendhal et Mérimée. In un secondo momento, ci occupiamo della poetica di Stendhal et Mérimée rispetto alla novella. Infine, analizziamo i personaggi femminili in rapporto agli studi preliminari effettuati nelle parti precedenti della nostra tesi.

This study is based on the main female African characters in Une si longue lettre written in 1979 by Mariama Bâ and Assèze l’Africaine written in 1994 by Calixthe Beyala. Both novels describe the African society and the obstacles that exist for women in this society where men dominate. This study presents the transformation of Ramatoulaye that is a traditional and passive woman but she becomes modern. In addition, it presents the transformation of young Aïssatou that becomes an independent and strong woman, in these two novels. These two women are facing similar forms of discriminations and oppression in the African society and they are struggling against injustice in various ways. The aim of this analysis is to investigate how the image of the African women and the feminism in Africa show and develop through the main characters, Ramatoulaye and Aïssatou. The conclusion reveal that the image of the African women has considerably changed over the years in a positive way and that Femininity is a cultural construction and not a natural construction. The conclusion further reveal that even today a woman is not independent, but is still considered "the Other" in relation to the man.

A figura da mulher ocupa significativo papel nas novelas de cavalaria do Ciclo Bretão. Emergindo como um elemento que traz liga às narrativas do lendário artúrico, constitui-se adjuvante essencial e multifacetada na construção dos episódios, numa interação constante com o masculino representado, principalmente, pelos cavaleiros. O Medievo traz à tona uma imagem matizada do feminino: a mulher socialmente vista sob clivagens diversas é refletida na literatura de cavalaria, conforme se pode verificar em A Demanda do Santo Graal. A presença feminina é importantíssima na narrativa, sobretudo na sua tensa relação com a cavalaria, agora ligada ao elemento religioso - monastizada, celibatária e ascética. O objetivo precípuo de nossos estudos é investigar de que maneira a fôrma sociocultural medieva, na qual foi moldada A Demanda do Santo Graal, se relaciona com seu substrato: as narrativas provindas da cosmovisão inerente ao imaginário céltico. Desta feita, nosso viés analítico verticaliza-se no elemento feminino presente na obra. Mais especificamente, toma-se por escopo a imagem de personagens que refletem a ideologia clerical moralístico-didatizante do século XIII, mas, sobretudo, resgata-se a imagem de personagens imbuídas de singular dualidade; ambigüidade esta que é marca não só do medievo paradoxal concernente ao feminino, mas também de personas literárias concebidas entre dois mundos, dois pólos ideológicos distintos. Em outros termos, fala-se de personagens que são seres ficcionais bifrontes: personagens localizadas entre as herdades e as identidades. Foram tomados como corpora de pesquisa os episódios em que estas damas polidimensionais aparecem e se tornam adjuvantes na ação literária, seja para cooperar, confundir ou prejudicar os cavaleiros que empreendem a sagrada, inefável e venturosa busca do Santo Cálix que dará fim às aventuras do Reino de Logres / The figure of woman takes leading role in the novels of chivalry Cycle Breton. Emerging as an element that links the narratives of the legendary Arturo, it constitutes a vital and multifaceted adjuvant in the construction of the episodes in an ongoing interaction with the male represented mainly by knights. The Medieval brings up a nuanced picture of the female: the woman socially viewed under various divisions is reflected in the literature of chivalry, as it can be seen in The Quest for the Holy Grail. The female presence is important in the narrative, especially in its tense relationship with the chivalry, now linked to the religious element monasticated, ascetic and celibaterian. The main objective of our study is to investigate how the sociocultural medieval mold, in which was shaped The Quest for the Holy Grail relates to its substrate, the narratives originated of the worldview inherent in the Celtic imagination, thus our analytical bias uprights in the female element in this work. More specifically, it becomes a scope which the image of characters reflects the ideology of clerical didactic and moralistic of the thirteenth century. However it redeens the image of characters imbued with singular duality; that ambiguity which is not only a mark of the medieval paradoxical concerning the female, but also of literary characters designed between two worlds, two distinct ideological poles. In other words, it is about personas who are "bifront fictional beings". Characters located between the inheritances and identities. The research bases were the episodes in which these polidimensionals ladies appear and become adjuvants in literary action, either to cooperate, confuse or impair the knights who undertake the sacred, ineffable and "fortunate" quest for the Holy Chalice which will end the adventures of the Kingdom of Logres

Esta pesquisa tem como enfoque as personagens femininas de Graciliano Ramos em suas obras Caetés, São Bernardo, Angústia, Vidas Secas e Infância. Partindo dos conceitos de Antonio Candido sobre estrutura e função, busca-se analisar como a construção literária se relaciona com os dados sociais e históricos da época em que os livros foram escritos e/ou publicados, a década de 1930. A partir das análises feitas, desenvolve-se a ideia da importância dessas personagens que, mesmo deixadas em segundo plano, são essenciais para a construção dos textos literários. / The following research focuses on the female characters of Graciliano Ramos in his works Caetés, São Bernardo, Angústia, Vidas Secas and Infância. Thinking about the concepts of Antonio Candido on structure and function, we analyze how the literary construction relates to the social and historical life in the moment that the books were written, the decade of 1930. From the analyzes made, we realized the importance of these female characters, even when left in the background.

The aim of this Diploma Thesis is to bring attention to the resemblance between the work of one of the most important Hispanic American authors of 20th century, the Mexican Juan Rulfo, and his less well-known Chilean colleague, María Luisa Bombal. Even though the work of these writers has often been associated with the beginnings of the so-called Magical Realism, so far literary critics have not studied the parallelism in their poetics in detail. This work observes the deviation of these authors from the type of literature dominant in their time, and their effort to renovate it. Furthermore, it concerns the similarity in the approach to death in their work; it pays attention to the influence of the Nordic literature on their literary production. Another part of this work is dedicated to the parallels between the character of Susana San Juan from Rulfoˈs Pedro Páramo and Bombalˈs female characters. In addition to that, the work reflects the personal relationship between the authors in question.

This paper closely examines fairy tale films with road movie components, in particular those films featuring female protagonists. The study’s objective is twofold: first, to further develop existing research on the road movie by exploring one of the lesser known constituents of this broad genre and, second, to address gaps in scholarly literature on road movies when it comes to themes in female-led trips and the characterization of travelling females. Through a detailed analysis of the journeys of female characters in recent voyage-oriented fairy tale films—Peter Pan (P.J. Hogan, 2003), Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton, 2010) and Tangled (Byron Howard and Nathan Greno, 2010)—the investigation shows that these new heroines significantly differ from those of old. Their travels are portrayed as being less difficult, and the traits that they exhibit while on the road, namely fearlessness, rationality and an undying optimism, are rather favourable when compared to those exhibited by former road heroines. Although these protagonists still face characters who wish to impede their movement away from a domestic setting, it is demonstrated that the protagonists are ultimately successful in not only acquiring power in the surroundings that they find themselves in, but also in carrying over their goals and dreams to their own worlds upon their return, privileges that most former road heroines did not have. Ultimately, the study shows that females can be as efficient travellers as males, and in some cases are portrayed as even more competent than their male counterparts.

Esta tese traz a análise das personagens arrivistas femininas das obras romanescas de Machado de Assis e Marcel Proust. São elas: Guiomar, Helena e Sofia, de A mão e a luva, Helena e Quincas Borba, respectivamente, e Odette e Madame Verdurin de À la recherche du temps perdu. Em A Mão e a luva e Helena, Machado engendra as tramas no Rio de Janeiro dos anos 1850, período estável do Segundo Reinado. A trajetória ascensional de Guiomar e Helena, em uma época de pouca mobilidade social, justifica-se pelo fato de serem personagens singulares, dotadas de grande habilidade. Aqui, o destino repara o equívoco do nascimento desprivilegiado. Quincas Borba, por outro lado, ambientado entre 1867 e 1871, apresenta uma sociedade mais dinâmica e fluida. A mudança gradativa de classes operada por Sofia e Cristiano Palha se deve ao grande senso de oportunismo nos negócios e às ações pouco escrupulosas do casal. De todo modo, as narrativas brasileiras tratam predominantemente do desejo de pertencer à burguesia rica. Em À la recherche du temps perdu, Proust mostra uma sociedade complexa e estratificada, em que a burguesia e a nobreza, a despeito da Revolução Francesa, continuam divididas em várias subcategorias na Belle Époque. Por isso, Odette e Madame Verdurin têm de cumprir muitas etapas no decorrer de quatro décadas para conquistarem seu espaço no faubourg Saint-Germain. Considerando as diferenças históricas e espaciais dos romances brasileiros e franceses, analisamos a construção das figuras femininas citadas através do cotejamento de trechos das obras. Com isso, foi-nos possível apontar pontos de aproximação como o casamento, a maternidade e a importância dos salões, vistos sob os pontos de vista das condições sócio-culturais de cada país. / This thesis provides an analysis of female social-climber characters in the novels of Machado de Assis and of Marcel Proust. They are: Guiomar, Helena, and Sofia, from A mão e a luva, Helena, and Quincas Borba, respectively; and Odette and Madame Verdurin, from À la recherche du temps perdu. In A Mão e a luva and in Helena, Machado unwinds his plot in the Rio de Janeiro of the 1850s, a stable period of the Second Reign. The upwards trajectory of Guiomar and Helena during a time of limited social mobility is justified by the fact that they are singular characters, gifted with great abilities. Here, destiny corrects the mistake of underprivileged birth. Quincas Borba, on the other hand, set between 1867 and 1871, presents a more dynamic and fluid society. The gradual changes in class accomplished by Sofia and Cristiano Palha is a result of the couples enormous sense of opportunism in business and the relative lack of scruples in their actions. Regardless, the Brazilian stories deal predominately with the desire to belong to the wealthy bourgeoisie. In À la recherche du temps perdu, Proust shows a complex and stratified society where the bourgeoisie and nobility, in spite of the French Revolution, continue to be divided into various categories of the Belle Époque. As a result, Madame Verdurin has to pass through many stages during a period of four decades to conquer her space in the faubourg of Saint-Germain. Considering the historical and spatial differences between the Brazilian and French novels, we analyze the construction of the abovementioned female characters through a comparison of excerpts from the works. In so doing, it was possible for us to show points of similarity, such as marriage and maternity and the importance of salons, viewed through the eyes of each countrys sociocultural conditions.

The topic of this master thesis is a description of female characters in short stories by Silvina Ocampo. The main goal is a study about how Silvina Ocampo works with female characters present in her stories and whether they share any similar characteristics. The stories were selected from the books: La furia, Las invitadas, Los días de la noche. The thesis analyzes typology of female characters and their relationships with other characters. Fantastical elements such as the theme of doppelganger and transformation are also part of the analysis. Key words: Silvina Ocampo, short stories, fantastic fiction stories, female characters, cruelty

The female characters in James Joyce's fiction have received considerable critical attention since the publication of his writings and are often denigrated as misogynist portrayals of women. However, a textual and historical analysis of the female characters in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Dubliners, Ulysses, and Finnegans Wake shows them in a more constructive light. Such an analysis reveals them to be sympathetic portrayals of the situation of Irish women at the turn of the twentieth century. An historical contextualization of the characters is essential in any reading of Joyce, but is particularly important for his female characters. An historical and textual analysis also reveals a noticeable shift in the characterization of women from his early novel to his later novels. Additionally, approaching Joyce's fiction from this angle highlights the significant influence of Nora Barnacle, whom he eventually married, on Joyce's characterizations of women. Joyce started writing A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man as a very young man, before he met Nora, and this fact coupled with the choice of an adolescent boy as the narrator explains some of the criticism leveled at the novel. The subject of the novel, an artist as a young man, requires that the narrator be a self-centered youth. Consequently, the aesthetics of the novel are not focused on the female characters, but this is a result of the somewhat narcissistic adolescence of the narrator, not Joyce's purported misogyny. A close textual reading reveals the female characters as somewhat fleeting as a result of the age of the narrator, but not misogynist creations. The discussion of Portrait serves as an introduction to the larger subject of the admirable aspects of his female characters in Dubliners, Ulysses, and Finnegans Wake. Numerous parallels can be found between the female characters in "Araby," one of the first short stories in Dubliners, and the female characters in Portrait. However, throughout the progression of the collection of short stories, the female characters become more detailed, in part because the narrator is no longer an adolescent and has become more socially aware. This textual analysis of the female characters in "Araby," "Clay," "Eveline," and "The Dead" is enhanced by an historical analysis that clarifies the similarities between the women in the stories and the situation of Irish women as Joyce observed them, as discussed by Joyce in some of his published letters. An awareness of these close parallels between the characters and the historical setting reveals the characters as sympathetically drawn, eliciting a reader's pity rather than judgments of misogyny. A similar textual and historical analysis, when applied to Molly Bloom in Ulysses, reveals the mosaic-like quality of her characterization. Although she speaks only in the "Penelope" episode, Molly Bloom's characterization is established from the beginning of the novel through frequent references to her by her husband Leopold Bloom, and other characters throughout the novel. The layered or mosaic-like approach to her characterization is a departure from Joyce's earlier style, but the resultant character is engaging and intricately detailed. An historical and textual analysis accounts for the stylistic aspect of her character and allows for a more engaging perspective of Molly. Always innovative, Joyce transforms the mosaic style of characterization used for Molly in the characterization of Anna Livia Plurabelle and Issy in Finnegans Wake and, instead, creates the characters on an entirely differentscale, that of myth. Ulysses is a daytime walk through Dublin that could also function as a founding myth for Ireland; Finnegans Wake is the nighttime counterpart to a walk through Dublin. Joyce chose to stylistically obscure the language in the novel in order to create the nighttime setting for his dream-like comment on Dublin's founding myths. The characters of Finnegans Wake are rooted in mythic tradition also, which serves this aesthetic choice well. An historical and textual analysis of ALP and Issy reveals the universalized and nuanced characterization inherent in their creation and execution. From A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man to Dubliners, Joyce's early female characters are notable in their own right, and function as important precursors to Joyce's visionary approach to characterization which culminated in Ulysses and Finnegans Wake with Anna Livia Plurabelle.

The aim of this thesis is to understand the way the fan community of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) perceives Marvel’s female characters. This study was focused on Marvel’s fandom on Reddit, which is a social media platform hosting millions of users. The research was conducted by using two methods – netnography and content analysis. Netnography helped for tracing Marvel fans’ behavior and engagement with other fans in an online environment, which were caused by their shared interests on discussing Marvel movies and their characters. Their comments on two key movies – ‘Black Widow’ and ‘Avengers: Endgame’ were analyzed, because these productions host female characters with major roles. Fans’ discussions on six key female figures were considered and content analysis was used for analyzing the comments of the fans. In order to understand the results, two theories were applied – affective disposition theory and feminist media (film) theory. The first one explains the way fans can form affiliations towards the movie characters, therefore it was used to understand the way they perceive the characters. The second one explains the stereotyped image of the woman in media and the way the audience perceives it. The research paradigm of interpretivism was considered for the outcome of the research, which leads to generalizations of the results. The results of this study show that there is no universal perception of the female character in Marvel, but many controversies arise. In the end, this paper discusses the limitations of this research and describes the recommendations for further research.