Gender Role as Performance in Angela Carter’s The Passion of New Eve

Abstract

The thesis is an analysis on Angela Carter‟s novel, The Passion of New Eve based on the idea of gender role as performance. This research focusedon social construction of power, femininity and gender roles corresponding between sex and gender. It questions the patriarchal power structure that shapes the individual‟s identities. The characters show the gender roles assigned to them through symbolism, dualism, religion, psychoanalysis, and reference to mythology. There are female characters who represent femininity based on patriarchal notions. Using the Judith Butler‟s theory where everyday action, speech utterances, gestures and representations, dress codes and behaviors as well as certain prohibitions and taboos all work to produce what perceived as an essential masculine of feminine identity. I have analyzed characters investigating how the main character‟s gender identity is a construct. The presentation of a subversive performance of gender examinedthrough the idea of symbolic power of Phallus. The reversal of gender role is evident as women are in power by representing them strong and aggressive. The characters‟ gender roles are deconstructed and their individuality put to question in relation to their assigned role in the novel. The analysis of Carter‟s work demonstrates that she is against the imposition of gender roles and identities by patriarchal societies. It reflects the contemporary view of gender and sexuality as construct.