Dissertations

Power & Gender in A Song of Ice and Fire (Chapter Two).

Photo of Saad Chebaani Saad Chebaani Send an email 2 December 2019
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Chapter Two

Overview of George Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire:

A Literary and Critical Context

  • Introduction

Within the second chapter, it will be dealt with the corpus overview that treats the writing style of the author and his use of historical fiction fused with fantasy, moreover; it also treats the use of realism within the novel and the explanation of main themes such as Power and Gender, additionally the setting and the characters were also treated and explained, also the chapter showed the fabulous touch of Martin which is linking the events of real world an real facts with a unreal characters by using fantasy.

  • Critical context

The establishment of the characters’ destinations in The Song of Ice and Fire so far has maintained a deal of radical orientations to more than Cersei, Daenerys Targaryen and John Snow, it went beyond to tackle minor characters such as Sansa, Arya stark and Theon Greyjoy, where thereby to the matter of identity change for certain and killing acts and desires that these characters hid throughout the plot of the story; reaching eventually a climax of a social lifestyle that used to be determined according to one’s rank, despite capacities and power any individual used to have; or could have provided, most importantly religious and sexual designations that maintained a solid stand to Martin when he prioritized the sense of anti-feminism very graphically throughout the ups and downs of characterizations generally attached to the thread of the story, in terms of gaining the throne, revenge procedures as they grew with the major characters and acts of killing as they lived up to enrich both main and sub characters till the end of the story.

As Martin attempted to portray the female image as a powerfully driven character to power and domination; he pictured the race for both wealth and heritage as a radically overrated race that took a bloody deviation where Cersei Lannister roughly attempted to satisfy her greed by pursuing wealth, power and domination, yet through the victory she prospered; yet eventually by the end of the story she lost her gigantic kingdom for being killed by this second character, this latter was yet another radically portrayed story of an anti-feminist outlook from Martin; it was that of Daenerys Targaryen, the young girl who experienced a horrific experiment of rape, maltreatment and absolute abuse throughout her adulthood, Daenerys had thoroughly sought for the sense of legacy ever since she was a child, and did maintain her stand by being both abused and pushed to such orientation of heritage most righteous one in the entire village where she resided, because she was fond of Dragons as she raised; her plan was to burn Kings’ landing, an attempt of her to gain the throne of the Seven Kingdom, the place where she lived; she felt it was time to focus on gaining her throne and she did burn it and destroyed Cersei’s kingdom as well, however; Targaryen’s sense of reign lasted for a very short time due to another character’s interference.

It was Jon Snow who betrayed her by stabbing her to death; causing a tragic finale to the story, this was due to an agreement that Targaryen failed to keep and felt rather wrathfully inclined to eliminate the entire of Kings’ landing, both John and Targaryen had in mind such an end before the burning procedures took place and order, and by such illustration of this ultimate persecution that ended several familial combats and indicated intentions of both major and minor characters, the final reign as of then went solely to the Stark family, the ruling family that had always kept the sense of reign exact and wholesome undisputed, John Snow was eventually stabbed to death by Alliser Thorne and several men and fighters of the Night’s Watch; mainly he was already perceived to be a traitor and a losing case to every side he joined, but in fact john was looking for the best to all the seven kingdoms to live in peace, if Mother of Dragons reign she will sow terror if they disobey her they will live under her mercy.1

1 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/nov/10/books-interview-george-rr-martin
  • Corpus Overview

This part exposes an overview about the corpus treating a nutshell about the author and his well-known works, also some main characters and what is significant about their names, it dealt also with the female portrayal and writing style of George RR Martin and the setting of the story.

  1. A Song of Ice and Fire plot

A song of Ice and Fire is a mixture of fantasy and historical fiction, Martin exposes the conflict that happened between Westeros seven kingdoms, also known as the families of Westeros towards the legacy and throne, the story is full of betrayals and assassination among those families and kingdoms, the story also contains abnormal and supernatural behaviors belongs to a certain characters in the story. The story takes place in the two continent of Westros and Essos, the story knew a great deal of changes because the events shows that the dispute’s pace gives main characters no time to show, many protagonists in the story didn’t survive in between two page, starting with the assassination of king Robert Baratheon by his wife Caersi Lannister and having an affair with her twin brother Jaime, when it reaches at the level of revenge Daenerys Targaryen takes the torch towards the revenge of her family so she can claim royalty and the fact that she deserve the throne.

All in all the entire story exemplify the best of seeking wealth and fame and what surrounds them, also Martin shows what really happened in that era but in different way by adding such characters and imaginary creation.

1. The Author’s Biography

George Raymond Richard Martin is an American novelist and a writer; he was born in September 20, 1948 Bayonne, New Jersey U.S. He is a Fantasy fanatic writer, of both horror and science fiction, he is best known for his Song of Ice and Fire books series, as well as the international bestselling series of the epic fantasy novels; which was later adapted by the HBO dramatic Game of Thrones (2011).”In simplistic fantasy, the wars are always fully justified you have the forces of light fighting a dark horde who want to spread evil over the death but real history is more complex.” Martin George R.R.2

2 https://www.goalcast.com/2019/04/19/george-rr-martin-quotes/

2. The Writing Style of George RR Martin

In his masterpiece A Song of Ice and Fire Marin uses a narrative style; he made a fusion between the historical fiction and fantasy. The intention of Martin when he combined the historical fiction and fantasy is to understand the extreme of the human behavior by exploring, understanding and living the horrific events in the past, a smart move by Martin to make either the reader or the researcher think the next time he treats a historical fiction. In this book ,Martin used real places and real events however he included fictional details made by him, when Martin created his own world of Game of Thrones he brought a lot of places together like western European middle ages with some Mediterranean  and a Asian world mixed in, in a world called Westeros and Essos, the main place is Westeros the continent been adapted from Great Britain, in the other hand the secondary setting is Essos which is a mixature between West of Europe until the far China or Eurasia with civilization called Yi Ti, we can see here that Martin has adapted the real life settings and put them within the events of the story.

In order to create such a spectacular world with a such tremendous events and characters Martin has to fill his bag with a dozen of ideas about what happened in that era and he covered all the surface starting with food and feasts and how knights and kings drove through the hundred year war of roses, that’s to say a writer should not rely only on what he found in research because the data he gathered is only a platform, what is important is the story and how the events are written, Martin is a brilliant resourceful author his intelligence made all what is surrounding language work for him, the whole books series is approximately two million words, he is a taping machine he only uses the old DOS system of typing.

“Every man should lose a battle in his youth, so he does not lose a war when he is old” this words said by Martin (1948.until present) can prove the early works of his, he had no sales and no turnout while a song of ice and fire the 2016 bestseller with over two million copy and the book been adapted to the HBO. “In real life, the hardest aspect of the battle between good and evil is determining which is which” these words said by Martin himself show the mentality that he was generating when he created the epic story of Game of Thrones, all the events and the characters are ambiguous, you can’t find the truth until you understand and determine who from who and which from which, even if the language is so simple and it’s at the level of the simple reader however the order of events and the arrangement of the characters is what makes the story more historical and much more fantasy.3

3 https://www.standoutbooks.com/george-r-r-martin-writing-advice/
  • Historical fiction

It is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting located in the past. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for the Historical novel it can also be applied to other types of narrative, including theater opera television.

George R.R. Martin set out to make the story feel more like historical fiction than contemporary fantasy, with less emphasis on magic and sorcery and more on battles, political intrigue, and the characters, believing that magic should be used moderately in the epic fantasy genre.

  • Definition of Fantasy

According to Merriam Webster’s dictionary fantasy is an obsolete: “hallucination” or “fancy”: especially the free play of creative imagination, a creation of the imaginative faculty whether expressed or merely conceived. “Fantasia”: imaginative fiction featuring especially strange settings and grotesque characters; called also fantasy fiction. The power or process of creating especially unrealistic or improbable mental images in response to psychological need an object of fantasy; also: a mental image or a series of mental images (as a daydream).

“The best fantasy is written in the language of dreams. It is alive as dreams are alive, more real than real … for a moment at least … that long magic moment before we wake.by George R.R Martin (1948.until present).4
4 https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/53166-the-best-fantasy-is-written-in-the-language-of-dreams

In other words fantasy opens up the gate of impossible possibilities, it is precisely about what cannot happen in real life, as human beings we are limited in all what is logical (rational) real and possible, for us life is simple and rarely unusual things happen, hence we intend to imagine and fantasize extraordinary things using our minds and inner thoughts in order to make life exciting, thrilling and worthy of living; therefore people write and read fantasy.

2.4.1. Elements of Fantasy in Literature

Fantasy is a genre of literature such an imaginative fiction dependent for effect     on strangeness of setting like a fiction world and characters can have super power or magical effects supernatural elements as part of the plot. However, fantasy works can often combine the real world with a second fantastical reality.

  1. Plot

The plot is structured in a convenient way thus, it seems believable and logical for the readers and keeps them attracted to the story events, the plot is almost a natural it is simple, predictable. The characters’ actions often based on traditional roles and archetypes rather than on personal motivation.

2. Setting

The setting in the fantasy genre is usually beyond realistic world, because some stories take place entirely in a fantasy world; where everything is unreal, unknown and timeless, in other words fantasy setting lacks specificity, hence other stories travel back and forth between the real world and fantasy world in which the story begins with the hero living in the real world and somehow he is taken into fantasy world just like in Peter Pan by Sir James Barrie, 1911, and the Adventures of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. 5

5 http://www.homeofbob.com/literature/genre/fiction/fantsyElmnts.html

3. Characters

In fantasy, characters are different from the other genres’ characters; the difference is that a character can have super powers which allow him or her to do extraordinary things such as flying, transforming things into whatever they want using magic and people who represent transformations of basic human traits such as wizards, witches, elves, fairies, dwarves, goblins often these creatures are psychic types such as villains, or ugly stepmothers…etc. (ibid)

4. Tone

The tone in fantasy is often serious, though the stories are often light and airy, it is magical and at the same time plausible and humorous. Fantasy is perfectly suited to the thoughtful exploration of fantasy stories at a level that can be understood and appreciated by readers. Hence failure is an option for characters. However; the tone of fantasy genre stories is serious with a light sense of humor that gives the reader a slight feeling of anxiety and much more thrill and amusement, in addition to the magical atmosphere in which the story takes its course smoothly.(ibid)

  • How historical fiction benefits from the injection of fantasy

When Martin used historical fiction in his story he adapted a real life settings and events that happened in a certain period of time, however he brought a new creation of characters made by him, and he much better represented the most important elements of it which are adapting a real life events and setting and brining a new characters.

As it is mentioned earlier in this paper Martin links certain historical events, characters and settings with fantasy, A Song of Ice and Fire is full of adaption from the real world the story is written in a real setting and real characters but the use of fantasy by Martin gives the story the imaginary side, this option is available only in Martin’s works, his manipulation with words allowed him to create such style, he has the ability to link the adaptation of real life events, places and characters and creating a world of his own, in addition to this he adds the fantasy as a link between the events.

The heptarch of England in the dark ages is replaced by the continent of the seven kingdom of Westeros and the rest of the Western Europe and Asia is replaced by the continent of Essos, Martin didn’t stop at this level he also adapted the war of roses as the war of the  red wedding and the war of Edward the third when he tried to claim the French thrown also another war between England and Scotland in the late middle ages. , this real world and real events were surrounded by a fantasy, he give the power of controlling the dragons to Daenerys Targaryen which seems quite abnormal and supernatural behavior, “I will take what is mine with fire and blood”. (1 prologue, 144. These words of Daenerys show the power that she has when she said fire she meant that herself and the dragons are ready to proclaim ad recover the legacy of the Targaryen, in the other hand the Starks have also another power which is controlling wolves that were raised by the family members of Starks, not quite normal behavior that the real life characters used to dothe mixture that Martin creates in his novel took it to higher level of creativity, because the factor of fantasy gives the story a better shape unlike the usual works, he allowed the reader travel throughout the events of that era by replacing the real characters and settings by others of his own.

  • Main themes in The Song of Ice and Fire

Like any other novel or a literary work A Song of Ice and Fire contains a great deal of themes that treat different kinds of subjects, Martin in this piece of writing came upon the following themes: Politics and society.

Power, Gender, Betrayal, Sexuality, Religion, Violence and Death

1- Power

The biggest struggle in the book is the conflict over political/royal power in the Seven Kingdoms; but power is also portrayed through warfare, “The broken sword fell from nerveless fingers. Will closed his eyes to pray. Long, elegant hands brushed his cheek, then tightened around his throat. (1 Prologue.109)”. “Ten thousand, that would be enough, I could sweep the Seven Kingdoms with ten thousand Dothraki screamers. The realm will rise for its rightful king. […] They cry out for their king.” He looked at Illyrio anxiously. “They do, don’t they?” (4. Daenerys 1.34).

2- Gender

The roles for men and women are pretty narrow: women are pretty and nice; and men are strong and capable of violence. At least, that’s the way things are supposed to be. But since it’s a George R.R. Martin book, nothing ever happens easily. Instead we’re given a number of men and women who push against the boundaries of the roles that society has given them, whether it’s tomboy Arya or sensitive Samwell.

If she choked on the blood or retched up the flesh, the omens were less favorable; the child might be stillborn, or come forth weak, deformed, or female. (47 Daenerys 5.3).

Daenerys eats a horse’s heart to prove her child will be strong. But check out the alternative. If she fails her child might be (a) stillborn, (b) weak, (c) deformed, or (d) God forbid, a girl. Clearly the Dothraki are hoping for sons, too, just like our friends in Westeros.

3- Betrayal

Game of Thrones is chock-full of betrayals, even the people who are incredibly principled do their share of betraying. But remember that betrayals are different than lies. Ned Stark, notes, “We all lie” [23 Arya 2.63]). In order to betray someone, you have to have their trust first. So if there is a lot of betrayal in the world of A Game of Thrones, that means there’s also a lot of trust. In a world where no one man can accomplish anything on his own, trust is hugely important; and that means betrayal is a major risk. And a major pain in the neck. “Lord Petyr,” Ned called after him. “I… am grateful for your help. Perhaps I was wrong to distrust you.” Little finger fingered his small pointed beard. “You are slow to learn, Lord Eddard. Distrusting me was the wisest thing you’ve done since you climbed down off your horse.” (26 Eddard 5.81-82).

4- Politics and society

When Martin created the universe and the world of a Song of Ice and Fire taking place in Westeros; he adapted the real life war of roses in England between the kings and the thrones, a rich south and a poor north, where the characters and folks were to be valued by their kingship6, as of nowadays such standards that measure the value of a person or folk are not perceived or prevalent, people give their loyalty to careless kings and rulers; whereas in return they only follow their desires and the  willingness of fame and wealth that come in time.

In this novel, Martin illustrated would be called the battle between the creation of those territories; villages and towns with rulers’ obsession directly channeled to power and domination, these latter ignore the fulfilment of religious standards, duties and values, this novel is famous with its inclinations to political sides, more than the heroism’s idea or the fact of being the humanity’s saver, within the plot, characters were obliged to make a call between their beloved Ones and those in higher positions, however if disobedience happened to appear in any way, the Characters or folks pay precious deal, it is their lives7.

7 Serwer, Adams, Game of Thrones when fantasy looks like reality, (April 12, 2011).

Arya Stark and Theon Greyjoy are the best examples by Martin for the change of identities in the vast image of social life, as that period of time or so is called the medieval era; entities used to be brought to declare and exhibit their classes in the society, this was due to  the sorry’s plot that stood for characters being compelled to lose their identity and names in a way that they have to figure a solution for escaping such despotism at the time, as for the examples mentioned above; Arya Stark the character that underwent a lot of obstacles, and due to being unable to keep her identity, she had to remain close to faceless men identity so that she can recognize other identities at ease since hers was forcefully taken away, on the other hand; Theon Greyjoy and his fellows preferred to hide their identities by faking their names, nevertheless, this was never effective in affecting who and what they really were. 8

8 Andres, Charlie Jane, George R.R. Martin explains why we’ll never meet any gods in a song of ice and fire ,(july 21, 2011).
  • Sexuality

Unlike Martin’s usual thread of writing, this time he decided to add more intriguing content to his own picture of Fantasy, he included sexuality in a very graphic figure, and simply because he was rather interested in that certain lifestyle of the Middle Ages, at the time where sex in its exaggerating rate depicted that each character had every right in including sexual orientations within the story’s narration and event9. The best example for such designation was the case of Cersei Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen, as these two characters experienced both sex and rape simultaneously perfected according to the story’s sexual themes, whether in the beginning or within the story events; Cersei cheated on her husband by having an affair with her twin brother Jaime, so she can have a pure blooded son or heir, only to maintain the position that she still had as of then, on the other hand; Daenerys Targaryen was raped at an early young age, where thereby this helped constructed a deep sense of revenge, she became more powerfully related more often in the story progressive event, as for the majority of the high born women married below or also married at the age of 13, they had an assumption that stated the sooner the person grows sexually mature, the faster they become adults even if they achieved it by age; this is respectfully what explains the sexual history that Daenerys had undergone through her early upbringing10.

9 Robinson, Tasha, interview, George R.R. Marin continues to sing a magical tale of ice and fire, ( December 11, 2000), science fiction weekly 6, No.50.
10 Itzkoff, Dave, A familly affair as old as Oedipus, ( December 11, 2011).
  • Religion

Religiously speaking, Martin pioneered the mentioning of religion and varied it in his book to make the story seem close to reality, raising attention in a Catholic church that religion was and is still an important subject even if the story took place in the Medieval ages, Westeros in a land of religion; several realistic and fictional religions appeared due to historical and spiritual background of the city, in the next worlds, discussions congreggates those religions vigorously11.

11 Andres, Charlie Jane, explains why we’ll never meet any gods in a song of ice and fire,,(july 21, 2011).
  1. The Old Gods

Depending on the belief system of ancient people in a fusion of fantasy elements, Martin created this very ongoing religion in his novel.

  1. The Faith of Seven

In the contrast of the Christian trinity, the Father the Son and the Holy ghost, the Faith of the Seven or simply as the Faith; it is a middle ages Catholic church faith that has seven elements, six Masculine and six other Feminine, and the remaining one is neither of them, the Feminine elements that represents the pagan views on motherhood are the mother, maiden and Crone, the other three Masculine elements were added later which were the father, smith and the warrior, the last piece of the religion is the stranger; it represents the mystery and death, like any other church, there are priests in both genders in the Seven gods religion, they have a slight change in naming those priests and ranks within the church, the high septon is the head of the church, and he would elected by the most devout which is the church council, male priests are called septon while female priests are called septa, among those priests, there are the silent sisters who devote themselves to work with strangers; such is the element of death and mastery12.

12 Author@Google, George R.R. Martin in a conversation with Dan Anthony at Google talks, July 28, 2011.

3. The Drowned god

Other beliefs Martin mentioned in his spectacular story, as this latter is known among the Iron born in the Iron Islands and has the same ceremonies as baptism, but this is different, and not in a river, in fact it happens in a holy sea, however this religion encourages piracy and women capture not exactly in a religious way, yet this was what the Iron born thought of, and as a reprieve, they would be punished by being drowned in the sea if somewhat misbehavior or disobedience come upon both them and the rules as well.

4. R’hllor the lord of light

They rarely appeared in the land of seven kingdoms, the priests of the lord of light, or as also known the red lord the fundamentals of this religion; is that men can communicate with the lord through fire, such as the example of worshipping fire of Zoroastrianism; the oldest religion that lasts till nowadays, the people of Essoe or the fire worshiper think that a man should come and redeem them, this excercise is called Azorahai with his lightbringer sword, for in the book of Asshai, it is mentioned that a war will come to an end when this Azaro returns and the prophecy will see light.

5. Violence and death

A man having his nose chopped off, a boy being thrown off of a balcony, a lady having her ear sliced off and labeling it as a children literature, for some critics; Martin is being ruthless in his sequel of books, the killing of relatives and depicting atrocity towards the loved ones in a way that showed savagery, according to Martin, what pushed him to include this scenery was the lack of reality in fantasy, the reader must bear in mind that no character is safe in this fabulous Piece of writing, relying on Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, the latter already helped Martin create the spectacular world of surprising deaths in his book.

“There is an inherent dishonesty to the sort of fantasy that too many people have done, where there’s a giant war that rips the world apart, but no one that we know is ever really seriously inconvenienced by this. […] The heroes just breeze through [devastated villages], killing people at every hand, surviving those dire situations. There’s a falsehood to that troubles me.”George R. R. Martin in an interview with Science Fiction Weekly in 2000.

When it comes to some characters who were chosen to be dead whether by betrayal or during a battle scene; Martin chooses the character without valuing it significantly; his reason for such a thing to do comes to restrain that character’s development throughout the plot, in some cases they are just names, there is a chapter called the Red Weeding; Martin said the chapter “was painful to write, it should be painful to read, it should be a scene that rips your heart out, and fills you with terror and grief.” This shows how much murder and killing in this chapter had happened, and the intentions of Martin to make the book exclusively surprising and interesting.

6. The Characters

In fantasy, characters are different from the other genres’ characters; the difference is that a character can have super powers which allow him or her to do extraordinary things such as flying, transforming things into whatever they want using magic, or they can do whatever comes in their minds.

It’s widely known that novelists, including George RR Martin, agonize over the naming of their characters: names represent much more than just a handy handle. Classic literature often uses symbolic names to foreshadow the destiny of characters, choosing a character name for an epic fantasy novel such as The Game of Thrones A Song of Ice and Fire it has to suit the character’s personality, to make sense for the era and most importantly wind up unforgettable.

George Martin attached meaning to most every name chosen in his book series. Some character names are rooted in ancient myth and others have different meanings.

  • “Aegon”, comes from the Germanic name Egon meaning edge of the sword and in the Ancient Greek Agon meaning struggle, competition seems so far right for Jon Snow and his namesake. Jon Snow, born Aegon Targaryen, is the son of Lynna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen, the late Prince of Dragonstone.” Winter is coming”. The motto of House Stark is more than just a reminder to bundle up for the cold. The lords of the North are always prepared for the harshest season and the arrival of White Walkers, but the phrase is also a warning to others to think twice about provoking the family, because “the North remembers.”.
  • “Cersei Lannister”, described as a witch in some tales, Cersei is a variation on Circe, the mythological sorceress who fed men wine and turned them into swine. Given how a pig impales King Robert after Cersei’s “agent” (Lancel) induces  him  to  drink  too much wine, Cersei’s name foreshadows her  defining moment: murdering a king through wine.“Everyone who isn’t us, is an enemy” – Cersei, she has concocted hateful schemes and brutal demonstrations of power. Cersei is made up of so much more than her violent acts. She is mostly a victim of shitty circumstance and near constant abuse. Cersei Lannister is never feelingless, she feels desperate love for her children and Jaime and all-consuming fear of losing her own autonomy. “When you play the Game of Thrones you win, or you die. There is no middle ground” – Cersei Lannister. There is. Cersei describes the brutal game that the high lords of Westeros play. In the pursuit of power, you either win or you die.
  • “Arya Stark”, her name origins means noble and honorable. Since her father’s death Arya is trained as a faceless knight in Braavos she uses her skills to revenge her family and to bring those who have wronged her father to justice. “Leave one wolf alive and the sheep are never safe. When people ask you what happened here, tell them the North remembers. Tell them winter came for House Frey.” Arya getting her revenge on House Frey. She says this line after poisoning the Freys while wearing the face of their patriarch and Red Wedding mastermind. Arya’s quote here makes clear that, for as long as she’s alive, no Stark enemy is safe.
  • “Tyrion Lannister” One of the major characters in the book is Tyrion; sometimes called the Imp and Halfman, because he is a dwarf. He is most lovely character to George Martin because he is lucky and intelligent. “My mind is my My brother has his sword, King Robert has his war hammer, and I have my mind… and a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone if it is to keep its edge. “. The wit & Wisdom of Tyrion Lannister by Martin R.R George. Because his golden tongue has saved his  skin from death plenty of times.
  • “Sansa Stark”, her name describe praise charm and sacred she is the princess of the house of Winterfel, it has a ton of charm. “My skin has turned to porcelain, to ivory, to steel.” “There are no ..in life, the monsters win.” It means Sansa change from fragile flower to strength Ivory. After her father executed and Lannisters forced her to merry king Juffery her life change to the worst after the maltreatment and violence Sansa turned to a cold heart women. She was effectively a hostage of her betrothed, Juffrey, and his Lannister family in King’s landing. Martin George drew a lot of inspiration for the names of his characters from history and it could be very well that he was inspired by a member of the famous Borgia family.
  • “Daenerys Targaryen”,Daen origins is a Hebrew which means God is my judge, where Erys is derived from the Greek Eris meaning goddess. Martin George use this name to his character to show how powerful she is. Mother of Dragons the last Targaryen she fight to get back her legacy throne of the seven kingdoms and the only thing that defeated her was Love. “When the sun rises in the west, and sets in the east, then you shall return to me, my sun and stars” – Daenerys Targaryen. “I am Daenerys Stormborn, of House Targaryen, of the blood of Old Valyria – I am the Dragon’s Daughter. And I swear to you, that those who would harm you will die screaming” – Daenerys Targaryen.

In this masterpiece, A Song of Ice and Fire, the author shows no mercy to his characters, and maybe that’s why we love it so much. We sometimes feed on stories where good triumphs over evil, yet we know that “life happens” to everyone, irrespective of how good or bad people are. In his fantasy tales, Martin reflects the reality of war, which is mostly unexpected and unfair.

7. The setting

The storylines of A Song of Ice and Fire, set in the fictional Seven Kingdoms of Westeros and the continent of Essos. The series chronicles the violent dynastic struggles among the realm’s noble families for the Iron Throne, while other families fight for independence from it.

Martin has described the world inhabited by his characters as an earth- like world similar to that of Fantasy’s vast worlds and dimensions, but it is based exclusively on Western European Middle Ages with some Mediterranean and Asian world-building mixture, the primary setting is the continent of Westeros in the west that resembles a much larger Great Britain, the secondary setting with much of the action is the continent of Essos in east across the Narrow Sea from Westeros. Essos is like a combination of Western Europe and the Mediterranean, almost precisely like Eurasia with a very China-like civilization called Yi Ti in the far east.

There are other areas like the continents of Sothoryos and Ulthos and the Summer Isles, but no action has taken place there yet.

The setting in the fantasy genre is usually beyond realistic world, because some stories take place entirely in a fantasy world; where everything is unreal, unknown and timeless, in other words fantasy setting lacks specificity, hence other stories travel back and forth between the real world and fantasy world in which the story begins with the hero living in the real world and somehow he is taken into fantasy world just like in Peter Pan by Sir James Barrie, 1911, and the Adventures of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.13

13 http://www.homeofbob.com/literature/genre/fiction/fantsyElmnts.html

Conclusion

The series of struggles and collapses so far; have maintained throughout   A Song of Ice and Fire a great deal of a fully expressed and mixed aspects of both dramatic and gradual sense of damage, as well as natural turning point that Martin tried to convoy, and through which the gaining of wealth, power and domination over the throne.

 

                                   Biobliography

.Thedailybeast, retrieved from: https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-abused-wives-of- westeros-a-song-of-feminism-in-game-of-thrones May.26.2019

  • Brinton, P. (2016) How the Names in Game of Thrones Give Away More Than You Realized.

Popsugar, retrieved from: https://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/Game-Thrones- Character-Name-Meanings-41442660May.14.2019

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Amy_Mazur/publication/288623012_Women’s_move ments_feminism_and_feminist_movements/links/5799dbfa08ae33e89fb79d6b/Womens- movements-feminism-and-feminist-movements.pdf#page=173. April20, 2019.

https://www.goalcast.com/2019/04/19/george-rr-martin-quotes/ April.29.2019

:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301649619_Women_of_Ice_and_Fire_Gender_ Game_of_Thrones_and_Multiple_Media_Engagements on May.21.2019

 

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Saad Chebaani

An occasionally driven writer of very important events, incidents and newly popping activities of certain deals, a musician who wishes to put both his career and English on one road.

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