Gender Roles in George RR Martin's a Song of Ice and Fire

A Dance with Men and Women - Gender Roles in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire Masterarbeit zur Erlangung des Grades eines Master of Arts an der Geisteswissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz vorgelegt von Kerstin Trattler am Institut für Anglistik Begutachter: O.Univ.-Prof.Mag.art.Dr.phil. Werner Wolf Graz, 2017 Table of Contents: Introduction 1 1. Gender Studies – A Brief Description 3 2. The Issue of Gender in Fantasy Literature 4 3. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien 8 3.1 Gender Roles in The Lord of the Rings 9 3.1.1 The Representation of Masculinity in The Lord of the Rings 9 3.1.1.1 Frodo and Sam 10 3.1.1.2 Aragorn 11 3.1.1.3 Gandalf 12 3.1.2 The Representation of Femininity in The Lord of the Rings 13 3.1.2.1 Galadriel 14 3.1.2.2 Arwen 15 3.1.2.3 Èowyn 16 3.2 The Representation of Gender in The Lord of the Rings 17 4. Gender Roles in A Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan 19 5. Gender Roles in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire 24 5.1 A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin 24 5.2 The World of Westeros 26 5.3 Family Matters 29 5.3.1 House Baratheon 30 5.3.1.1 Robert Baratheon 31 5.3.1.2 Stannis Baratheon 34 5.3.1.3 Renly Baratheon 36 5.3.1.4 Joffrey Baratheon (Lannister) 38 5.3.2 House Greyjoy 41 5.3.2.1 Asha Greyjoy 42 5.3.2.2 Theon Greyjoy 45 5.3.3 House Lannister 47 5.3.3.1 Tywin Lannister 47 5.3.3.2 Cersei Lannister (Baratheon) 49 5.3.3.3 Jaime Lannister 54 5.3.3.4 Tyrion Lannister 57 5.3.4 House Stark 61 5.3.4.1 Eddard Stark 62 5.3.4.2 Catelyn Stark 65 5.3.4.3 Sansa Stark 68 5.3.4.4 Arya Stark 71 5.3.5 House Targaryen 74 5.3.5.1 Daenerys Targaryen 75 5.3.5.2 Viserys Targaryen 78 5.4 Additional Characters 80 5.4.1 Brienne of Tarth 80 5.4.2 Khal Drogo 83 5.4.3 Ygritte 85 5.5 Sex and Sexual Abuse in A Song of Ice and Fire 88 Conclusion 95 Bibliography 98 Introduction “I regard men and women as all human - yes there are differences, but many of those differences are created by the culture that we live in, whether it's the medieval culture of Westeros, or 21st century western culture.” – George R.R. Martin A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin is a high fantasy novel series, which has gained a tremendous fanbase over the last couple of years. Its treatment of women is currently one of the most debated issues in popular culture. This is due to the adaptation of the novels for a TV series, but even beforehand, the books were highly popular among fantasy fiction fans. Therefore, those books play a valiant role in shaping the views of readers and their interpretation of female and male gender representation. The issue of gender studies has gained influence since the 1970s and has become a recognized discipline in the field of the humanities and beyond. A Song of Ice and Fire has been called feminist by their readership from early on, and quite a few authors have concerned themselves with the depiction of female characters in those books. This paper will look at the portrayal of female character roles, but the description of male characters as well. Considering that gender studies are trying to evaluate the differences and equality of gender in society, it is necessary to look at the representation of both, male and female gender depiction. Martin himself stated in an interview that “to me being a feminist is about treating men and women the same” (Salter, 2013: April 1). In chapters 1 and 2 of this thesis, a short history of gender studies and its emergence will be presented. Further, an overview on how gender representation in fantasy fiction was dealt with in the past, will be presented. Chapters 3 and 4 will showcase two specific examples of how gender representation is portrayed in other fantasy literature works. The classic depiction of gender roles in fantasy fiction will be disclosed via the example of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, as this work is probably the most well-known fantasy literature narrative in the world. On the other hand, the example of A Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan will be used to show that not all fantasy fiction has to conform to traditional stereotypical gender roles. Further reasoning why this series was chosen as an 1 introductory item for A Song of Ice and Fire is the fact that George R.R. Martin and Robert Jordan were friends and cherished each other’s work. The main part, starting with chapter 5, will consist of a detailed analysis of A Song of Ice and Fire and its characters. As the series is not yet finished, the books used for this analysis are: A Game of Thrones (1996), A Clash of Kings (1999), A Storm of Swords (2000), A Feast For Crows (2005) and A Dance With Dragons (2011). A necessary outline of the novels, including the geography and societal hierarchy within the world of Westeros, will be provided, as the representation of gender is connected to the characters background and upbringing. Accordingly, brief family histories are imparted. The characters chosen, are for most parts members of the main families in the book series. The aim is to establish that George R.R. Martin breaks with traditional gender roles, as well as male and female character traits, as opposed to classic traditional fantasy literature. In order to accomplish this goal, main characters will be singled out and analyzed. The character portrayal of the TV series will not be taken into account. The reasoning for only considering the book version of the characters is due to the discrepancy in depiction, as well as the fact that the TV series has advanced the plot of the published novels. The book version of the characters is the one originally intended by George R.R. Martin, and thus offers more validity in the field of fantasy literature. 2 1. Gender Studies – A Brief Description The issue of Gender Studies is nowadays an omnipresent topic, which influences almost every aspect of official life. Originally, the term gender referred to the distinction between male and female sex, as well as the grammatical differentiation concerning noun classification into masculine and feminine. Gender is also used to depict the differentiation between men and women within a socially constructed context (cf. Yule, 1985: 222 – 23). The antonym for the concept of ‘gender’ would be ‘sex’, which describes the anatomical differences between men and women. Sex can be congruent with gender, but does not have to be. For example, a woman, physically female, can claim traditionally male gender roles for herself. The differentiation between those two terms, allows the distinction between gender roles as being determined by nature and physical features, and gender roles as a social construct (cf. Schößler,2008 :10). The notion that gender roles have developed due to physical differences between men and women has its own validity, but the focus with Gender Studies lies on the socially constructed idea of gender. The distinction between sex and gender and the accompanying debates and discussions, emerged in the early 1980s and originated from the feminist movements in the 1970s. Since then, the term gender has experienced a tremendous semantic expansion. Firstly, the term was used to raise awareness for the social as well as cultural construction of gender identity, but it soon shifted into a fundamental critique on the perception of characteristics of biological sex and identity in general (cf. von Braun et al, 2006: 3). Gender Studies emerged in the German speaking part of Europe in the early 1990s. Those studies focus on the socially constructed meaning of gender which describes the predisposition of gender roles according to society, which are enforced by prohibition, punishment and rewards. Therefore, Gender Studies concern themselves with gender as a social construct, as opposed to biological differentiation, because mainly what makes a man a man and a woman a woman, is constructed by social expectations and rules. Such expectations are concerned with dress codes, facial expressions, gestures, social behavior or work and therefore create the representation of what is feminine or masculine. Every 3 culture defines gender or gender restrictions differently (cf. Schößler,2008 :10), which emphasizes the theory that gender is a social construct. Furthermore, the field of Gender Studies accentuates that femininity and masculinity are not mutually exclusive, but one defines the other, meaning that masculinity derives its definition from what femininity is and vice versa. Considering this, Gender Studies should also focus on the construction of what is masculine, but the fact remains that the focus of Gender Studies lies with femininity. This fact correlates with the still problematic issues of gender equality in our society (cf. Schößler, 2008 :11). Taking into consideration that Gender Studies engages gender as a central category of social, cultural and individual aspect of human life, it is not surprising that gender and sexuality has taken over aspects of cultural and theoretical production, and therefore also has become a major issue in the field of Literary Studies.

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