Jump to content

Women warriors in literature and culture: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Content deleted Content added
Lyddiechu (talk | contribs)
Lyddiechu (talk | contribs)
Line 323: Line 323:
*[[Cleopatra]],[[Serge]] and [[Hel]] From [[Cleopatra 2525]]
*[[Cleopatra]],[[Serge]] and [[Hel]] From [[Cleopatra 2525]]
*[[Max Guevara]], a [[genetic engineering|genetically enhanced]] [[transgenics|transgenic]] super-soldier in ''[[Dark Angel (TV series)|Dark Angel]]''
*[[Max Guevara]], a [[genetic engineering|genetically enhanced]] [[transgenics|transgenic]] super-soldier in ''[[Dark Angel (TV series)|Dark Angel]]''
*[[Motoko Kusanagi|Motoko Kusanagi]] from the original manga and anime adaptations of [[Ghost in the Shell|Ghost in the Shell]]
*Nell, the protagonist of [[Neal Stephenson|Neal Stephenson's]] [[postcyberpunk]] novel [[The Diamond Age]]
*Nell, the protagonist of [[Neal Stephenson|Neal Stephenson's]] [[postcyberpunk]] novel [[The Diamond Age]]
*[[River Tam]] and [[Zoe Washburne]] in the television series ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]''
*[[River Tam]] and [[Zoe Washburne]] in the television series ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]''

Revision as of 02:50, 25 February 2008

This list of women warriors in folklore, literature, and popular culture offers figures studied in fields such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, film studies, mass communication, cultural studies, and women's studies.

Boudica and Her Daughters near Westminster Pier, London, commissioned by Prince Albert and executed by Thomas Thornycroft

Folklore

Depiction of Itzpapalotl from the Codex Borgia.
  • Boudica was a queen of the Brythonic Celtic Iceni people of Norfolk in Eastern Britain who led a major uprising of the tribes against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire.
  • Queen Cordelia (on whom the character in Shakespeare's King Lear is based), battled her nephews for control of her kingdom.[1]
  • Queen Gwendolen fights her husband Locrinus in battle for the throne of Britain. She defeats him and becomes queen.[2]
  • Ethelfleda (alternative spelling Aethelfled, Æthelfleda, Æthelflæd) (872/879 – 918), Queen of Mercia, called "Lady of the Mercians". Daughter of Alfred the Great, she succeeded to Mercian power upon the death of her husband Aethelred, Ealdorman of Mercia (883-911), in 911. She was a skilled military leader and tactician, who defended Mercia against neighboring tribes for eight years.
File:Hua Mulan.jpg
Oil painting on silk, "Hua Mulan Goes to War"
The warrior goddess Sekhmet, shown with her sun disk and cobra crown
  • The story of Šárka and Vlasta is a legend dealing with events in the "Maidens' War" in seventh-century Bohemia.
  • Ankt may have originated in Asia Minor. Within Egypt she was later syncretized as Neith (who by that time had developed aspects of a war goddess).
  • Cleopatra VII was a Hellenistic co-ruler of Egypt with her father (Ptolemy XII Auletes) and later with her brothers/husbands Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV. Her patron goddess was Isis, and thus during her reign, it was believed that she was the re-incarnation and embodiment of the goddess of wisdom.
  • Sekhmet is a warrior goddess depicted as a lioness, the fiercest hunter known to the Egyptians.
Amazon preparing for the battle (Queen Antiope or Armed Venus) -Pierre-Eugène-Emile Hébert 1860 National Gallery of Art
  • Jeanne Hachette (1456 - ?) was a French heroine known as Jeanne Fourquet and nicknamed Jeanne Hachette ('Jean the Hatchet').
  • Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc in French) asserted that she had visions from God which told her to recover her homeland from English domination late in the Hundred Years' War. The uncrowned King Charles VII sent her to the siege at Orléans as part of a relief mission. She gained prominence when she overcame the dismissive attitude of veteran commanders and lifted the siege in only nine days. She was tried and executed for heresy when she was only 19 years old. The judgment was broken by the Pope and she was declared innocent and a martyr 24 years later.
Image of Durga, shown riding her tiger and attacking the demon Mahishasura
  • Durga (Sanskrit: "the inaccessible"[7] or "the invincible"[8], Bengali: দুর্গা) is a form of Devi, the supreme goddess of Hinduism. According to the narrative from the Devi Mahatmya of the Markandeya Purana, the form of Durga was created as a warrior goddess to fight a demon. The nine-day holiday dedicated to Durga, The Durga Puja, is the biggest annual festival in Bengal and other parts of Eastern India and is celebrated by Hindus all over the world.
  • Vishpala (in The Rigveda) is a warrior queen who, after having lost a leg in battle had an iron prosthesis made. Afterwards, she returned to fight.[9]
  • Hangaku Gozen was an onna bugeisha (woman warrior).
  • Tomoe Gozen (1157?–1247?) was an onna bugeisha (woman warrior).
  • Marisha-Ten the goddess of heaven who was adopted by the samurai in the 8th century CE as a protector and patron goddess. While devotions to Marishi-ten predate Zen, they appear to be geared towards a similar meditative mode in order to enable the warrior to achieve a more heightened spiritual level. He lost interest in the issues of victory or defeat (or life and death), thus transcending to a level where he became so empowered that he was freed from his own grasp on mortality. The end result was that he became a better warrior.
Agustina, maid of Aragon, fires a gun on the French invaders at Saragossa.
  • Agustina de Aragón ('Agustina, maid of Aragon', also known as "the Spanish Joan of Arc") was a famous Spanish heroine who defended Spain during the Spanish War of Independence, first as a civilian and later as a professional officer in the Spanish Army. She has been the subject of much folklore, mythology, and artwork, including sketches by Goya. Her most famous feat was at the bloody sieges of Saragossa where, at the moment the Spanish troops abandoned their posts not to fall to nearby French bayonets, she ran forward, loaded a cannon, and lit the fuse, shredding a wave of attackers at point blank range. The sight of a lone woman bravely manning the cannons inspired the fleeing Spanish troops and other volunteers to return and assist her.
  • Mariana Pineda was a Spanish national heroine, defender of liberalism and famous for her flag with a slogan embroidered in red: 'Equality, Freedom and Law'. After having been arrested, and refusing to betray her accomplices in exchange of pardon, she was publicly executed. She would inspire García Lorca's play Mariana Pineda.
  • Deborah, a prophetess mentioned in the Book of Judges, was a poet who rendered her judgments beneath a palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the land of Benjamin. After her victory over Sisera and the Canaanite army, there was peace in the land for forty years.
  • Jael kills the fleeing Sisera after his army is defeated. (Judges 4:17-21)
  • An unnamed woman from the town of Thebes is mentioned in the Book of Judges (9:50-57) as having killed the would-be king Abimelech , who was besieging her hometown, by dropping a mill-stone on his head.
  • Judith was a widow in the Book of Judith who foils the attack of Assyrian general Holofernes against Bethulia by beheading him.

Literature or general iconic images

Rosie the Riveter

Children's culture

Computer and video games

Anime and manga

Films and live shows

General

Historical fiction and folklore

Hong Kong action cinema

Horror

Parody and homage

Science fiction and cyberpunk

Sports

Publicity poster of Annie Oakley in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show.

Superheroines

The Western

Spy fiction, police drama, and femmes fatales

Mata Hari, exotic dancer and convicted spy, made her name synonymous with femme fatale during World War I
Cleopatra VII popularized as a femme fatale by Theda Bara in Cleopatra

Blaxploitation

General

Parodies and homage

Television

Historical fiction and folklore

Evelyn Carnahan O'Connell / Princess Nefertiri in "The Mummy Returns"

Horror

Parodies

Science fiction and cyberpunk

Superheroines

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Geoffrey of Monmouth, p.286
  2. ^ Geoffrey of Monmouth, translated by Lewis Thorpe (1966). The History of the Kings of Britain. London, Penguin Group. pp. p.286. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  3. ^ Warrior queens and blind critics
  4. ^ Cassius Dio. Published online by Bill Thayer. Cf. also the Gaulish goddess Andarta.
  5. ^ Warrior queens and blind critics
  6. ^ Zeus is also "Aegis-bearing Zeus".
  7. ^ "Durga." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 25 Feb. 2007 <http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9363243/Durga">.
  8. ^ "Durga" Sanatan Society <http://www.sanatansociety.org/hindu_gods_and_goddesses/durga.htm>.
  9. ^ "A Brief Review of the History of Amputations and Prostheses Earl E. Vanderwerker, Jr., M.D. JACPOC 1976 Vol 15, Num 5".
  10. ^ Wilkinson, p. 24
  11. ^ Guirand, p. 58
  12. ^ Salmonson, Jessica Amanda (1991). The Encyclopedia of Amazons. Paragon House. pp. p.56. ISBN 1-55778-420-5. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  13. ^ Oya at Pantheon.org
  14. ^ Sheridan Harvey (August 1, 2006). ""Rosie the Riveter: Real Women Workers in World War II" (Transcript of video presentation)". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2007-08-14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ Razor girls: Genre and Gender in Cyberpunk Fiction
  16. ^ "Scream, Popular Culture, and Feminism's Third Wave: I'm Not My Mother"
  17. ^ ‘Shrek,’ for All Ages
  18. ^ Shrek the Third

Further reading