The Role Of Dragons In Western Fantasy Literature

Fantasy literature is a young and influential literary category.In the 1950 s,J.R.R.Tolkien opened the door to fantasy literature with the The Lord of the Rings.After half a century,J.K.Rowling opened the world market for youth literature with Harry Potter.A Song of Ice and Fire redefines the value of high fantasy in contemporary literature.But the literary value of fantasy literature is still not fully understood,and the research of fantasy literature in literary criticism is not enough.Based on the current situation of fantasy literature study,this thesis selects three series of fantasy literary works including The Lord of the Rings,Harry Potter and A Song of Ice and Fire to explore the dragon's role in the west fantasy literature,traces the development of dragon-imagery and summarizes the special narrative of fantasy literature.By reviewing the research of fantasy literature in China and abroad,the introduction clarifies the purpose,the significance and the innovation of this topic,then lists the main research methods used in this paper and proposes the difficulties with the targeted solutions in the research process.The text is divided into five chapters.In the first chapter,the important definitions related to the topic are further clarified,and the scope of the research is determined.First of all,the definitions applicable to the topic are given and the genre characteristics of fantasy literature are summarized.Secondly,confirm that the dragon-image is applicable for this topic.Finally,select three series of fantasy literature series with similar foundations as the research text of the topic and briefly describe the dragon-image in the topic.In the second chapter,I discuss the image of the dragon in Tolkien's works and its role in the series The Lord of the Rings.First of all,it is proved that the fundamental attribute of the dragon-image in Tolkien's works is natural and revealed that the dragon-image plays the role of the natural spokesman under the evil coverage.Themythological features of the dragon-image in the Arda world is proofed.Then determine the role and function of the dragon-image in these works according to the category of the works,and finally confirm the gain which the dragon-image does to the fiction's dramatic.The third chapter explores the dragon-image in Rowling's works and its role in the Harry Potter series.Firstly,confirm the true biological position of the dragons in the magical world.And then analyze the application of the dragon-image's instrumental while dragons come on the stage as the capacity testers.Finally,analyze how Rowling's books work on the development of the novel's literary genre and how the instrumental dragons act on the philosophical theme and summarize the changes in the role of the dragon-image in the works.In the fourth chapter,explore the dragon-image of Martin's works and dragons' role in the series of A Song of Ice and Fire.Discuss the two different existence forms of dragons under Martin's pen and summarize the fundamental attributes of the two kinds of dragons are both violent through examining the combination of the two kinds of dragons,the manifestation of violence in the dragon's mother Daenerys.According to the contrast between the magic in the environment and the magical power of the dragon-image itself,and the relationship between the dragons and the Targaryens,the conclusion that the dragon's violent nature serves the politics is concluded,and also the modern development of the work and the change of the dragon-image's property are summarized.The fifth chapter straighten out the relationship between the image of the dragon and the development of the times and literature,and summarize the special narrative of western fantasy literature from the perspective of the dragon-image.According to the chronological order,comb the development process and characteristics of the dragon-image from the original totem era to the mythological period,to the traditional literature period,finally into modern and contemporary fantasy literature,andconclusively deduce the relationship between the dragon-image and literature.Finally,from the perspective of the dragon-image,examine the western fantasy literature and summarize the special features of the narrative.Finally,through the above discussion,affirm the characteristics and roles of the dragon-image in the selected text,and once again summarize the role of the dragon-image in Western fantasy literature.In the three appendices of the text,the plots involving the image of the dragon in the three works were sorted and summarized,and the word frequency of the "Dragon" was counted.