The Power of Monstrous Women: Fay Weldon's The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (1983), Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus (1984) and Jeanette Winsterson's Sexing the Cherry (1989)

Abstract

This essay deals with three British novels written by female novelists in the 1980s: Fay Weldon's The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus and Jeanette Winterson's Sexing the Cherry. The protagonists of these three novels are monstrous women who enjoy power over men in different situations. The essay considers the idea of monstrosity explored in each novel from the freakish to the carnivalesque-and argues that, first, it is difficult to assess the feminist ideology of these texts as the respective writers do not write from clearly feminist positions. Second, that whereas criticism of these novels has focused on their (questionable) feminism, little has been said about the role played by men in them or about the implicit androphobic discourse of some fiction by women. Third, that the model of female power offered by these novels is too limited; they pale besides the analysis of powerful female monstrosity offered in some novels by men. The conclusion, supported by Angela Carter's thesis lhat women are reluctant do acknowledge their own moral faults, is that women are reluctant to acknowledge their own moral faults, is that women are offering a biased portrait of themselves, in which the exploration of women's weaknesses is too narrow, even when the issue of female monstrosity is addressed.