GOTHIC SPACE AND FEMALE OPPRESSION: ANGELA CARTER’S “THE LADY OF THE HOUSE OF LOVE “AS A CASE IN POINT
Research Article
GOTHIC SPACE AND FEMALE OPPRESSION: ANGELA CARTER’S “THE LADY OF THE HOUSE OF LOVE “AS A CASE IN POINT
ABSTRACT
In her short story “The lady of the House of Love”, Angela Carter experiments with feminist postmodern
gothic literature and foregrounds the importance of space and time in imprisoning the female body. The
writer contrasts the space and time within the constraints of the vampire’s palace with those of the cyclist’s
external free world. The vampire symbolizes the submissive female who is ensnared by the ghostly presence
of her patriarchal ancestors within the confines of the patriarchal chivalric space and time. Carter’s feminist
postmodern storytelling aims to defy the patriarchal spatial and temporal frames by providing the lady of
the house of love with a possibility of survival beyond the time and space of her ancestral gothic palace.
During the daylight, the vampire sleeps, whereas at night, she awakes to chase her human masculine preys
with whom she makes love before killing and eating them. Within the limits of patriarchal setting, the
vampire’s role is limited to sexuality and denied any human emotions until the arrival of the new man who
succeeds to stir her emotions and revives her human instincts. The dreary atmosphere of the castle with its
gothic architecture have not hindered the new man, together with the vampire, from challenging and
deconstructing the traditional patriarchal order. The roles space and time play in achieving female liberty
are significant. The vampire’s death within her ancestral castle promotes her survival outside it, in another
space and time, where she blooms after severing with the patriarchal spatial and temporal setting.
, W.,
(2023). GOTHIC SPACE AND FEMALE OPPRESSION: ANGELA CARTER’S “THE LADY OF THE HOUSE OF LOVE “AS A CASE IN POINT. International Journal of Education and Philology, 3(2), 33-46. Arrival Date Posted By:https://ijep.ibupress.com/articles/gothic-space-and-female-oppression-angela-carter-s-the-lady-of-the-house-of-love-as-a-case-in-point
