John Niles notes in his paper “Tam Lin: Form and Meaning in a Traditional Ballad” that on the night of Halloween, when the Fairy Court rides at Miles Cross and Janet saves Tam Lin, Tam Lin and Janet’s roles in the ballad become reversed (342). In both Dean’s and Jones’ retellings, this certainly is the case as the relationship and power balance between their Janet and Tam Lin characters changes and shifts drastically at this point in the narrative of both novels.
In Dean’s Tam Lin, the initial equal balance of power and the romantic relationship that Janet and Thomas are just starting to establish are flipped on their heads as Janet, faced with both an unwanted pregnancy and the knowledge that the pregnancy could save Thomas, struggles with …show more content…
In Dean’s novel, Medeous--head of the Classics department and the Faerie Queen figure in Tam Lin--first says to Janet and Thomas “Oh, had I known what this night I did see, I had looked him in the eye and turned him to a tree,” which Acland points out is a misinterpretation of the lines “I wad hae taen out thy twa grey …show more content…
By drawing from and focusing on different aspects and versions of the traditional folk ballad, Pamela Dean and Diana Wynne Jones have both retold and reinterpreted Tam Lin in thought-provoking and unique ways as they established and explored the relationship dynamics between their characters throughout their novels. In Tam Lin, Dean uses the setting of a college campus to explore the dynamics of sexuality, Janet’s pregnancy, and Janet’s role as the heroine. Bringing in the idea that Janet’s unexpected pregnancy itself is the reason why Janet is able to save Thomas and the intense pressure that situation would put on her as the “female hero,” Dean further explores the balances and imbalances of power between Janet and Thomas throughout the narrative. In Fire and Hemlock, Jones draws from the Janet in the ballad of Tam Lin to build a female hero “[who] behaves throughout like a woman and not like a pseudo man” (Jones, “The Heroic Ideal” 89). Polly and Tom are both highly complicated, human, and deeply flawed characters, and by developing and exploring the relationship and unhealthy dynamics that establish themselves between them as Polly grows up, Jones lays out the groundwork for Polly to later assert herself as Tom’s equal and a true hero of her own right at the
In Dean’s Tam Lin, the initial equal balance of power and the romantic relationship that Janet and Thomas are just starting to establish are flipped on their heads as Janet, faced with both an unwanted pregnancy and the knowledge that the pregnancy could save Thomas, struggles with …show more content…
In Dean’s novel, Medeous--head of the Classics department and the Faerie Queen figure in Tam Lin--first says to Janet and Thomas “Oh, had I known what this night I did see, I had looked him in the eye and turned him to a tree,” which Acland points out is a misinterpretation of the lines “I wad hae taen out thy twa grey …show more content…
By drawing from and focusing on different aspects and versions of the traditional folk ballad, Pamela Dean and Diana Wynne Jones have both retold and reinterpreted Tam Lin in thought-provoking and unique ways as they established and explored the relationship dynamics between their characters throughout their novels. In Tam Lin, Dean uses the setting of a college campus to explore the dynamics of sexuality, Janet’s pregnancy, and Janet’s role as the heroine. Bringing in the idea that Janet’s unexpected pregnancy itself is the reason why Janet is able to save Thomas and the intense pressure that situation would put on her as the “female hero,” Dean further explores the balances and imbalances of power between Janet and Thomas throughout the narrative. In Fire and Hemlock, Jones draws from the Janet in the ballad of Tam Lin to build a female hero “[who] behaves throughout like a woman and not like a pseudo man” (Jones, “The Heroic Ideal” 89). Polly and Tom are both highly complicated, human, and deeply flawed characters, and by developing and exploring the relationship and unhealthy dynamics that establish themselves between them as Polly grows up, Jones lays out the groundwork for Polly to later assert herself as Tom’s equal and a true hero of her own right at the