ABSTRACT
Dalam Tugas Akhir ini, saya menganalisis tokoh utama dalam novel The Other Boleyn Girl karya Philippa Gregory. Tokoh utama ini digambarkan hidup dalam lingkungan kerajaan pada zaman Raja Henry VIII di Kerajaan Inggris.
Anne, tokoh utama novel ini, merupakan seorang wanita muda yang mempunyai sebuah mimpi yang teramat tinggi. Di awal cerita, Anne digambarkan seorang wanita yang baik dan peduli terhadap orang lain serta pintar. Akan tetapi, saat mimpinya berubah menjadi sebuah obsesi, Anne berubah menjadi seorang wanita yang jahat, egois dan licik. Anne melakukan segala cara untuk memenuhi obsesinya walaupun ia akan melakukan perbuatan yang sangat buruk. Pada akhirnya obsesi tersebut membawanya pada kehancuran. Ia tidak hanya mengalami kehancuran tetapi juga kehilangan nyawanya karena dihukum mati oleh Raja Henry VIII karena kelakuannya yang teramat buruk.
TABLE OF CONTENT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... i
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... iii
ABSTRACT ... iv
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Background of the Study ... 1
Statement of the Problem ... 2
Purpose of the Study ... 2
Methods of Research ... 3
Organization of the Thesis ... 3
CHAPTER TWO: ANALYSIS OF THEME THROUGH THE PROTAGONIST IN PHILIPPA GREGORY’S THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL ... 4
CHAPTER THREE: CONCLUSION ... 15
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 18
APPENDICES: Synopsis of The Other Boleyn Girl ... 19
APPENDICES
SYNOPSIS OF NOVELS
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
The Other Boleyn Girl is a novel about two Boleyn girls, both of whom love the same man. The man is the King of England, whose name is Henry VIII. Mary Boleyn is the younger sister of the Boleyn girls. At first, King Henry is attracted to Mary Boleyn. Eventhough Mary has already got a husband, he does not care about it. He still wants to have her as his mistress because he wants a son. From his Queen, he does not have a son. Yet, the King must have a son to replace him after he dies.
After Mary becomes the King’s mistress and has given two children, a
daughter and a son, for the King, her father and her uncle ask her to become a Queen. Yet, she refuses it because she does not want to betray her own Queen. Suddenly, Anne, who is Mary’s sister becomes Mary’s rival to draw the King’s
attention. Anne wants to take over Mary’s place as the King’s favorite girl
because she has an ambition to become the Queen of England.
England. Although she knows that she will hurt her own sister, Anne does not care about it.
After Anne becomes the Queen of England, she still cannot give the King a son. Therefore, she does everything in order to maintain her position as the Queen. She conducts an incestuous affair with George, her brother. She does that in order to have a son. Yet, the King finds out about it and thus decides to execute Anne.
BIOGRAPHY OF AUTHORS
Philippa Gregory is a New York Times bestselling author of over eight historical fiction books, including The Other Boleyn Girl (2001) and The Boleyn Inheritance (2006). She was born in 09 January 1954, Kenya, she moved to England with her family and lives there. She was educated in Bristol and at the National Council for Training of Journalists course in Candiff. She worked as a senior reporter on the Portsmouth News, and as a journalist and producer for BBC radio. Philippa obtained a BA degree in history at the University of Sussex in Brighton and a PhD at Edinburgh University in 18th century literature.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Philippa Gregory is an English novelist who was born in Kenya. Later she moved to England where she lives and produces novels. She writes a number of fictions based on history. As a matter of fact, she is a New York Times bestselling author of over 8 historical fiction books. “Accuracy is very important to me
because I have a total commitment to history” (“Biography of Philippa Gregory”).
Most of her novels are concerned with romantic happenings and situations. Accordingly, she won Romantic Novelist of the Year Award in 2002.
One of Philippa Gregory’s novels, The Other Boleyn Girl is a classic
historical fiction novel based on the sixteenth-century life. This novel becomes popular and won the Parker Pen Novel of the year award 2002 and the Romantic Times fictional biography award. This novel is also made into a film released on 29th February 2008. The Other Boleyn Girl is concerned with the obsessions of Anne Boleyn, Mary Boleyn’s rival, to get attention of love from King of England,
dream but becoming obsessive is not good for us because it can ruin our relationships with other people.
In my thesis, I choose to analyze the theme from this novel. According to Story and Structure, “The theme of a piece of fiction is its controlling idea or its central insight” (Perrine 102). I intend to analyze theme through portrayal of the protagonist because according to Perrine, “A story through its portrayal of specific
persons in specific situations will have something to say about the nature of all men or about the relationship of human beings to each other or to the universe. Whatever central generalization about life arises from the specifics of the story constitutes theme” (103). Therefore, I think it is most suitable to analyze theme
through the portrayal of the protagonist from the novel The Other Boleyn Girl.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The problems of this study are: 1. What is the theme of the novel?
2. How does the portrayal of the protagonist help to reveal the theme?
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
Based on the statement of the problem, the purposes of the study are: 1. To show the theme of the novel.
METHOD OF RESEARCH
The method I applied is library research. At first, I read Philippa Gregory’s
The Other Boleyn Girl as my primary text. Then, I analyze the portrayal of the protagonist. I use some resources and references from the book and Internet that enables me to support the analysis and help me write the thesis. Finally, I make some conclusions of what has been discussed.
ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS
There are three chapters in my thesis. Chapter One is the Introduction which consists of the Background of the Study, the Statement of the Problems, the Purpose of the Study, the Method of Research and the Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two consists of analysis of the theme through the portrayal of the protagonist in Philippa Gregory’s The Other Boleyn Girl. Chapter Three is the
CHAPTER THREE
CONCLUSION
After finishing the analysis of the protagonist in The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory, I would like to draw some conclusion. In the novel, I find there is a good girl who has a big dream which turns into an obsession that makes her become a wicked girl. Her obsession leads her to her downfall because she does everything in order to fulfill her obsession. Therefore, I formulate the theme of the novel “A dream which turns into an obsession may lead to one’s downfall”.
Anne, the protagonist of The Other Boleyn Girl, is a good girl who has a high dream at the beginning because she is portrayed as a high dream, caring and smart girl. Yet, her characteristics changes when her dream turns into an obsession. Anne becomes wicked, selfish and cunning. She turns into that kind of woman because she wants to fulfill her obsession. Besides, she will do anything even bad things to fulfill it. She is so blinded by her obsession that she does not care even if she has hurt her own sister, Mary, in order to fulfil her obsession.
obsession ruins her relationship with her brother and sister. Her downfall can also be seen when she becomes the loneliest girl. People who always stay beside her leave her. Not only that, she is also executed by the King. From analysis above, I find that the portrayal of Anne as the protagonist of the novel can reveal the theme.
After I read The Other Boleyn Girl, I find that this novel wants to make all people aware that a dream which turns into an obsession can make our life become ruined. It is a good thing to want to realize our dream, but a dream which turns into an obsession may result in a bad thing. Being obsessive makes us do anything in order to get what we want even bad things. Not only does it make our characteristics change from positive characteristics into negative ones but also can make us to come to our downfall.
I am of the opinion that this novel also wants to inform us that an obsession does not make us happy; on the contrary, it makes us miserable and lonely. We will feel alone because all people who always stand by side us will choose to leave us. They do that because they have been hurt by us. Perhaps, we are not aware that we actually have hurt them. However, we actually have hurt them in such a way that we can fulfil our obsession. Therefore, I find that an obsession is a negative thing which can lead us to our downfall.
In my opinion, The Other Boleyn girl is very useful to be read because we can learn a lot of things from the novel. It explains us how an obsession can ruin our life. This novel is useful for not only the King Henry’s period in the sixteenth
want their dreams to come true. They often do anything that they can to get the position they want. They also are not aware of the fact that actually they have sacrificed the people who always stand by them, like their family or their best friends. Sometimes, they do not ever care about it. In their mind, they just want to fulfil their obsession. Therefore, if we read this novel, it can act as a reminder that should not become an obsessive man, which make us capable of doing anything to get what we want.
As a human being, we can just do the best to get what we want; especially to fulfil our dream so as to become true. However, we should not let our dream become an obsession which can make us become bad people. We must keep our mind fresh and logical so that we can think positively in our lives.
Finally, after reading and analyzing The Other Boleyn girl by Philippa Gregory, I find that we can not force anything in order to realize our dream. If we force ourselves to get what we want by doing anything even bad things, it would turn to be an obsession. Consequently, it may lead us to our downfall, is presented in the theme of this novel. That is, “A dream which turns into an obsession may
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Text
Gregory, Philippa. The Other Boleyn Girl. New York: Pocket Star Books, 2007
References
Book References:
Perrine, Laurence. Story and Structure. United States: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1974
Internet sources:
“Biography of Philippa Gregory”. Philippa Gregory. 2006. 18 Apr. 2008.
<http://www.bookbrowse.com/biographies/index.cfm?author_number=12 34>
