Adapting Claire's Feminist Beliefs and Female Agency: A Comparison Between the First Outlander Novel and Its Television Adaptation

Abstract

In Diana Gabaldon’s romance novel Outlander (1991) the main character Claire is portrayed as a woman with feminist beliefs and a clear determination to preserve her sense of agency. The thesis aims to demonstrate how and to what extent this depiction of Claire is improved in the first season of the Outlander television series (2014), developed by Ronald Moore. The analysis is conducted by performing a close-reading of the novel and discussing relevant scenes that were added to the original storyline by the adaptors of the series. By improving and further focussing on Claire’s female agency and her portrayal as a feminist, the television series is more in line with contemporary fourth-wave feminist beliefs.