Medievalism in George R. R. Martin's a Song of Ice and Fire Diplomarbeit

Medievalism in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire Selected Forms and Functions Diplomarbeit zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades einer Magistra der Philosophie an der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz vorgelegt von Leonie RIEKEN am Institut für Anglistik Begutachter: Prof. Mag. Dr. Werner Wolf Graz, 2019 !I 1. Introduction 1 2. Medievalism and Neomedievalism 4 2.1. Medievalism 4 2.2. Neomedievalism 5 2.3. Martin’s blend of Medievalism, Neomedievalism and Historical Fiction 7 2.4. Literary functions in A Song of Ice and Fire 9 3. Medieval Romance and Anti-Romance 11 3.1. Medieval Romance 12 3.2. Martin’s Anti-Romance 15 3.3. Selected Elements of Romance and Anti-Romance 19 3.3.1. Structural Similarities between Martin’s Books and Medieval Romance19 3.3.1.1. Episodic Organisation and Plot Interlacement 19 3.3.1.2. The Narrative Situation 22 3.3.2. The Classic Romance Hero and The Romantic Hero 23 3.3.2.1. Example one: Eddard Stark 25 3.3.2.2. Example two: Daenerys Targaryen 27 3.3.2.3. Example three: Brienne of Tarth 30 3.3.3. The Fair Unknown 32 3.3.3.1. Example one: The Knight of the Laughing Tree 33 3.3.3.2. Example two: Jon Snow 34 3.3.4. Chivalry and Knighthood 37 3.3.4.1. Example one: Jaime Lannister 38 3.3.4.2. Example two: Sansa Stark 39 4. Fictionalisation of History 41 4.1. Parallels to Medieval British History 42 4.1.1. The War of the Five Kings and The Wars of the Roses 42 4.1.2. The Red Wedding and The Black Dinner 45 4.1.3. The Wall and Hadrian's Wall 46 4.2. Parallels between Characters and Real Historical Figures 48 4.2.1. Cercei Lannister and Margret of Anjou 49 4.2.2. Joffrey Baratheon/Lannister and Edward of Westminster 51 4.2.3. Daenerys Targaryen and Henry VII of England 53 5. Religion 55 5.1. The Faith of the Seven and Medieval Christianity 57 5.1.1. Common elements between the Faith of the Seven and Medieval Christianity 58 5.1.1.1. Common Imagery and Symbolism 59 !II 5.1.1.2. Common Rituals and Practices 61 5.1.1.3. Organisation of the Church 63 5.1.2. Parallels between the history of the Faith of the Seven and Medieval Christianity 65 5.1.2.1. The Arrival of the First Men and the Andals and Medieval Christianity 65 5.1.2.2. The Targaryen Conquest and Medieval Christianity 68 5.1.3. The Role of the Church in the Seven Kingdoms compared to the Role of the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages 69 5.1.3.1. The Relationship between the Church and the Crown 70 5.1.3.2. The Importance of Religious Power 72 5.2. Other Religions in Westeros and Essos and their Parallels to World Religions in the Middle Ages 74 5.2.1. The Old Gods and Medieval Paganism 74 5.2.1.1. Common Imagery and Symbolism 76 5.2.1.2. Common Rituals and Practices 77 5.2.1.3. Historic Parallels between Medieval Paganism and the Faith of the Old Gods 79 5.2.2. Worship of R’hllor and Zoroastrianism 80 5.2.2.1. History and Prophecies in Zoroastrianism and the Faith of R’hllor 81 5.2.2.2. Common Imagery and Practices 83 6. Conclusion 86 7. References 89 !III List of Abbreviations: ACoK - A Clash of Kings ADwD - A Dance with Dragons AFfC - A Feast for Crows AGoT - A Game of Thrones ASoIaF - A Song of Ice and Fire ASoS - A Storm of Swords !IV 1. Introduction George R. R. Martin’s book series A Song of Ice and Fire as well as the TV Show based on it, Game of Thrones, have become widely successful and popular around the world. Readers and audiences enjoy the well-rounded characters, the story lines full of unexpected turns, as well as the elements of foreshadowing that allow them to come up with theories and feel like they can participate in the story. He tells an epic story that, so far, centres around the rightful inheritance of the recently unexpectedly vacated Iron Throne, and the question of the rightful ruler of the Seven Kingdoms on the continent of Westeros. In his book series Martin has created a fantasy world that relies heavily on material from the Middle Ages and other people’s representation of the era. He looks to the Middle Ages for inspiration and mainly looks to other so-called ‘medievalist’ authors to create a contrast to their work to add layers of meaning to his own. He frequently criticises his contemporary fantasy authors to create representations of the medieval that are ‘disneylandish’ and escapist and intentionally makes his medievally inspired world darker. This means that his world is not only full of castles, knights, and noble ladies but also incorporates the dark and violent aspects of the Middle Ages which are frequently also called the ‘Barbaric Age’ or the ‘Dark Age.’ Authors that incorporate elements from and get inspired by the Middle Ages in their writing create so-called ‘medievalisms.’ This thesis will explain how such medievalisms are created and attempt to answer the question why the author chose certain elements from the medieval while leaving out others. The question why and how authors do things in and with their writing is closely related to the idea of literary functions. Functions of literature go beyond simple entertainment. Through their writing, authors have a voice that they can use to convey subtle messages and exercise criticism. They can also aim at the reader directly and provide teaching moments or inspire a critical examination of the issues brought up in their story. Literary functions, unless explicitly stated by the author either in the work itself or in interviews, can only be speculated about by readers and scholars. Such a speculation, the compilation of function hypotheses and an analysis of the text in regards to them, is the aim of this thesis. With the right argument, a vast variety of function hypotheses can be made about George R. R. Martin’s work, especially because of its length and complexity. However, even an attempt to come close to analysing all functions realised in his work would go far beyond the scope of a thesis like this one. Therefore, only three function hypotheses will be made. The three proposed functions are: 1.) George R. R. Martin criticises the supposedly naive portrayal of the Middle Ages in other medievalist and fantasy literature and claims to have created a more realistic representation of the medieval in his work. Therefore, the first hypotheses is that he uses selected elements of !1 of !94 medievalism to realise his subjective perception of the ‘real’ Middle Ages in the medievalist world he creates in his writing. 2.) In interviews, the author frequently talks about the predictability of stories with heroic protagonists and a lack of emotional buildup and emotional falls. He, consequently, intentionally attempts to work against the reader’s expectations. The second hypothesis is, thus, that Martin uses elements from the Middle Ages to both elicit positive emotions (a focus will be laid on the emotion of nostalgia) and to, then, crush those positive emotions again with contrasting darker aspects of medieval times. 3.) Martin is not one to shy away from discussion and critical remarks. He has strong opinions about his contemporary society, politics and the concept of religion. Thirdly, it will be hypothesised that he incorporates those opinions and, through them, his criticism of the relevant issues into his writing by providing an abstract representation of them in a narrated, fictional past. Putting issues of his contemporary society in a setting full of medieval elements allows him to exercise subtle criticism and enables him to confront the reader with these problems. Not only is the scope of possible functions seemingly infinite but so is the array of analysable parallels between the Middle Ages and the world Martin creates in his book series. Therefore, here, too, there will be a focus on only three bigger aspects of the medieval and their relevance to the three proposed functions. The three forms of medievalism that will be relevant in this analysis are medieval romance, fictionalisation of British medieval history, and medieval religion. Within all three there will be subchapters covering even smaller components and their relevance. While all forms will play into all proposed functions in one way or another, each of them is more relevant to one or two functions compared to the others. Medieval romance is the form that most prominently supports the hypothesised realisation of the function of nostalgia and disenchantment. The chapter on religion will mainly argue for the function of criticism of 21st century society and fictionalisation of history will be most relevant to the subjective authenticity of Martin’s medievalism. Especially within the chapters of medieval romance and medieval religion, a lot more could be explored since they are both very open concepts with a wide variety of aspects that could be included. These two chapters will also be longer than that on medieval history since there, a focus is previously applied, and only British medieval history will be explored. So, while there is a vast multitude of characteristics, themes, and motifs that can be taken from medieval romance and a number of different religions that existed in medieval times can be looked at, there is only one exhaustive comprehensive chapter of medieval British history.

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