Browsing by Author "Ahonen, Emma"

This thesis studies the ways C.S. Lewis in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-1956) and George R.R. Martin in A Game of Thrones (1996) use the theme of monarchy. By examining these works, this thesis argues that while they use the same theme, their character portrayals convey drastically different attitudes and messages about monarchy. The Chronicles portray a highly romanticized picture of an incorruptible institution while A Game of Thrones offers a more realistic representation that suggests thorough corruption in the system. In the analysis, this study uses notions of thematics to determine how the theme of monarchy can be examined and combine this with close reading to analyze how the two works depict monarchy. The primary material for this study includes The Chronicles of Narnia in their entirety, but the focus is on the novels The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian due to the centrality of monarchical elements in their plots. To balance the amount of material, this study only examines the first novel in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, A Game of Thrones. While abundantly present in fantasy literature, monarchies have received limited attention in academic examinations of the genre. However, this study shows that monarchy is versatile as a thematic tool, and that it can yield fruitful insights into the analysis of political structures in fantasy literature, displaying how works sharing this theme can have drastic tonal differences. The approach taken in this thesis illustrates that monarchical elements can convey significant meaning even at the level of children’s literature, but that with literature for more adult audiences the theme becomes increasingly nuanced and complex. This study finds that certain qualities and values are associated with monarchs in both worlds. The Chronicles offers clear distinctions between good and evil monarchs, guiding its readers to judge the characters accordingly, whereas A Game of Thrones prompts readers to make judgements for themselves.