The Alienating Effect of the Mask of Feminity

Abstract

The grotesque theme of the mask has been traditionally associated with the problem of identity. While the mask of the carnivalesque tradition implies the possibility of positive transformations, of becoming someone else, the mask of the Romantic and post-Romantic grotesque points to the troubling aspects of identity, such as the estrangement of the Self-experienced by modern individuals. The paper discusses two novels by British feminist author Angela Carter, Love and The Passion of New Eve, in which the grotesque motif of the mask plays an important role. The discussion shows that Carter draws attention to the problematic position of the female subject in the symbolic order of patriarchal culture, combining images of what Luce Irigaray calls ‘feminine masquerade’ with the more traditional form of the mask motif, the mask of the (post)Romantic tradition.