You'll have to explain to me what you mean by this:
but that they think they can actually escape from even having to control themselves
And I'm not sure that Lear/Othello/Hamlet would be fair comparisons, as those characters are intended as traditional, tragic heroes. Elphaba (and, I presume, Morgaine) are, at best, *revisionist* heroes. The more apt comparison would be to John Gardner's Grendel (or the recent opera version of that character, although I don't think it's based on the book) or some other story told from the "villain's" POV. Unfortunately, although I've intended to read that for years, I haven't gotten around to it so can't do the kind of comparison I'm suggesting. But I think if you want to look for a pattern of males versus females, you'd need to use the male version of the revisionist hero to determine whether the trend you've noticed comes from the characters being *female*, or whether it comes from them being *revisionist* in nature.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2006-07-21 04:50 am (UTC)but that they think they can actually escape from even having to control themselves
And I'm not sure that Lear/Othello/Hamlet would be fair comparisons, as those characters are intended as traditional, tragic heroes. Elphaba (and, I presume, Morgaine) are, at best, *revisionist* heroes. The more apt comparison would be to John Gardner's Grendel (or the recent opera version of that character, although I don't think it's based on the book) or some other story told from the "villain's" POV. Unfortunately, although I've intended to read that for years, I haven't gotten around to it so can't do the kind of comparison I'm suggesting. But I think if you want to look for a pattern of males versus females, you'd need to use the male version of the revisionist hero to determine whether the trend you've noticed comes from the characters being *female*, or whether it comes from them being *revisionist* in nature.