Abstract

Sara Tavassoli and Parvin Ghasemi*

Angela Carter is considered by critics as one of the most original writers of the twentieth century. She gives scholars plenty of material to work with as she draws on many disciplines and sub-genres in her narratives: romance, fairytale, porn, science fiction, folklore and the Gothic. The purpose of this paper is to examine a few Gothic elements in three of her short stories: “The Loves of Lady Purple”, “The Lady of the House of Love” and “Fall River Axe Murders”. The re-emergence of the Gothic mode in the last decades of the twentieth century can be seen as part of the revival of the marginalized sub-genres of the past during the post-modern era. Carter uses Gothic characters and themes in these works to explore one of the main issues of the century: the role of women in society and the relationship between the sexes. In fact, from the beginning of the development of the genre in the eighteenth-century, writers have used the potential of Gothic to address feminist issues. The heroines of Carter’s stories take different roles: marionettes, damsels in distress, monsters, and vampires. No matter what they do, they have no control over the role the patriarchal society determines for them.