Nights at the circus: subverting male representations of women
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5433/1678-2054.2008v13p78Keywords:
Subversion, Male representations of women, Intertextuality, ParodyAbstract
Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus appropriates and rewrites certain traditional views – thus male views – of the female subject which have become models of behaviour for women throughout history. I will explore Carter’s deconstruction of these representations through the use of intertextuality and parody, giving voice to women who had been silenced for hundreds of years. I will focus on those of Carter’s rewritings who contribute the most to the subversion of a certain traditional patriarchal male representation of women, namely the revision of the mythical character Helen of Troy, of popular fairy tales and, finally, of Goethe’s character, Mignon.References
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