Angela Carter: Deconstructing Motherhood in Feminist Fairy Tales
Angela Carter’s Subversive Motherhood Portrayals
Reimagining Maternal Figures in Fairy Tales
Combining elements of Gothicism, Surrealism, eroticism, pornography, myth, and fairy tales, Angela Carter explores in her works such themes as violence, the distribution of power in contemporary society, gender roles, and female sexuality. One of the preferred and most frequently used images in her novels and altered fairy tales is that of the mother. From one story to the next, the character and function of the mother alters dramatically, shifting from savior or mother-goddess to destroyer or malevolent witch.
Motherhood in “Ashputtle or The Mother Ghost”
A typical story where the image of the mother plays a vital role in the narration is Carter’s re-writing of “Cinderella” in her short story “Ashputtle or The Mother Ghost”. Through the image of two mother figures in three different versions, Angela Carter represents her twisted visions of motherhood and societal conventions.
Conventional Views of Motherhood
Before delving into Carter’s representation of motherhood in the story, it is important to establish the conventional view of motherhood and maternal love. Throughout history, women have often been represented as victims of oppression by men. Many cultures and religions have separate rules for men and women. Traditional gender roles, however, have cast men as the providers, while women are the nurturers, staying home to keep the house clean, cook, and care for the children and their husbands. Women play a sacred and vital role in society. They don’t just give birth to a child; they are also completely responsible for the formation and development of their children. As role models for their children, mothers teach them right from wrong and guide them on how to act in society. They provide their children with physical support and emotional bonding. The impact they make is profound; by fulfilling their duty, mothers often predetermine the life of their progeny.
Deconstructing Maternal Love in “The Mutilated Girls”
However, while mothers can help their children find their appropriate place in society, they can also ruin the lives of their loved ones. The mother gives birth, but can also cause death. In the feminist revision of “Cinderella,” Angela Carter subverts Western conventions. The first story, “The Mutilated Girls,” portrays the mothers as the central focus. The children only exist as an extension of the mothers’ desire for a conventional, fairy tale romance. Both the mother and the stepmother deny Ashputtle a sense of autonomous self. Carter doesn’t even mention her name; the girl remains nameless throughout the tale.
The Selfish Desires of Mothers
Ashputtle’s real mother is forced to live vicariously through her daughter due to her present lack of substance. The stepmother’s motivation is equally selfish; she desires a son and is willing to destroy her daughters to get one: “The other woman wants that young man desperately…She wants a son so badly she is prepared to cripple her daughters”. The sisters are no longer actively sadistic, merely vain, self-centered, and spiteful. They are victims of their mother’s desire. Carter’s reintroduction of the element of dismemberment explicitly dramatizes the patriarchal view of femininity, as a castrated form of subjectivity. Only the passive woman will fit the feminine role. “Cinderella” seems to be a story about the conflict between women, and between mothers and daughters, but it is actually about the constraints on women in society. The mother is willing to destroy female beauty, as well as the feminism in her daughter. Acting as an instrument in this mutilation, the stepmother shows that women can be as cruel as men. Carter also deconstructs the myth of women’s inherent gentleness. Both of these women are engaged in this struggle for their own self-interest, yet they pretend to act out of love for their children. Ashputtle reflects on this phenomenon: “Mother love, which winds about these daughters like a shroud”. The daughters are formless; their mother has wiped them out. The shroud is like a noose by which the mothers lead them to their fate.
Marriage as Bondage
Carter’s concept of marriage as a form of bondage arises again as Ashputtle puts her foot into the shoe, a direct path to married life. In the last line, the mother exclaims: “Her foot fits the shoe like a corpse fits a coffin! See how well I look after you my darling!”. This story takes the convention of a ghostly mother watching over her child and twists it, portraying her as an impotent mother trying to live vicariously through her child. Ashputtle’s real mother is portrayed just as negatively as the stepmother and even more so because she succeeds in enslaving her child.