"Until Death Do US Part" : Marriage in George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones

Tapody, Emília (2018) "Until Death Do US Part" : Marriage in George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones. Masters, Szegedi Tudományegyetem.

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Abstract

George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire is one of the most popular contemporary literary works of art. Martin refers to his work as epic fantasy, however, his passion to history and his fascination to the era of the War of the Roses are well-known. In my MA thesis I wanted to find out whether the principles that govern marriage in Westeros are medieval even if the world itself is the product of Martin’s imagination. The scope of my research is the comparison of Christian marriage as an institute in medieval England and marriage as constructed in the fantasy world of Westeros. I argue that there are three significant differences between the marriages of medieval England and Westeros. Firstly, the marriage traditions of Westeros reflect the state of marriages of medieval England after the Canterbury synod. Secondly, there is no evidence on the existence of conjugal debt in Westeros. Thirdly, while in medieval England people tended to use the courts to their advantage to end unwanted marriages, in Martin’s novel the people of Westeros tend to take matters into their own hands. There are no significant differences between medieval marriage and the marriage traditions of Westeros in creating a legally binding marriage in terms of betrothal, legal age, consent, the exchange of vows and the consummation of marriage. Marriages in medieval England and in Westeros ended in three basic ways: annulment, divorce from table and bed and death. Annulment was the only means of divorce from the bond that allowed both parties to remarry. Divorce from table and bed allowed separation but it did not allow the couple to enter into matrimony again. All in all, if it was Martin’s intention to add a sense of realism to A Song of Ice and Fire by applying medieval principles then, in my opinion, he achieved that goal. As for why a story with such outdated marriage principles can be so popular in 2018 could inspire further research.

Institution

Szegedi Tudományegyetem

Faculty

Faculty of Arts

Department

Angol Tanszék

Discipline

Humanities

Institute

Angol-Amerikai Intézet

Specialization

angol

Supervisor(s)

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Subjects:	06. Humanities
Depositing User:	szerkesztő BTK
Date Deposited:	2019. Apr. 30. 13:51
Last Modified:	2019. May. 02. 07:19
URI:	https://diploma.bibl.u-szeged.hu/id/eprint/74712

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