article - fernanda carvalho

8/10/2019 Article - Fernanda Carvalho

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Breaking codes of sexuality: Angela Carters vampire women

Fernanda Sousa Carvalho

Abstract

This essay analyzes the depiction of vampire women in Angela Carters The loves of

Lady Purple and The lady of the house of love! "#ploring the vampires potential of

a$%ection& this depiction su$verts patriarchal ideologies a$out womens se#uality!

Key-words ' Se#uality& vampire women& a$%ect& Angela Carter!

The figure of the vampire woman has $een used in literature to represent a

transgressive se#uality that opposes the patriarchal ideal of femininity and womens se#ual

$ehavior& $eing Sheridan Le Fanus Carmilla and (ram Sto)ers Lucy *estenra pivotal

e#amples! (ut differently from early vampire stories that reinforce the idea of su$versive

femininity as unaccepta$le& in contemporary fiction the representation of such femininity is

e#plored in a way to undermine patriarchal assumptions& including the very interpretation of

the vampire woman as a stereotype for transgressive femininity! +n this essay& + am going to

develop this argument through a comparative analysis of two vampire stories $y Angela

Carter' The loves of Lady Purple and The lady of the house of love!

The undermining of patriarchal notions related to se#uality $y some contemporary

literary wor)s reflects the arguments of contemporary analyses of the term se#uality! Such

analyses indicate that this term is a socially& historically and culturally constructed convention

and that the notion of se#uality is too comple# to $e grasped $y fi#ed definitions! Some

scholars& however& have $een trying to provide a general definition of se#uality that contests

the e,uivocated traditional ones! Liz$eth -oodman& for instance& affirms that this term refers

to the realm of se#ual e#perience and desire and& sometimes& to a persons se#ual

orientation .as heterose#ual& $ise#ual or homose#ual/! 0 This notion is distinguished from that

of gender& which refers to ways of seeing and representing people and situations $ased on

se# differences! 1 +n sum& the term se#uality generally refers to se#ual practices and

interests& while gender refers to the division of social roles $ased on se# .$iological/

difference!

0 -2234A5! Literature and gender & p! vii!1 +$id& p! vii!

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The constructed notion of se#uality determines a group of $ehaviors and

characteristics considered culturally and socially accepted .related to heterose#uality/& and at

the same time& the se#ual $ehaviors and characteristics that consist of what is unaccepta$le

.related to homose#uality or $ise#uality/! 6udith (utler suggests that this privileging of

heterose#uality is guaranteed through the performative repetition of this se#ual $ehavior $y

individuals! 7 The author argues that on this notion that heterose#uality is natural and original

is $ased the notion of se#& gender& and se#uality as consisting of $inary categories and as

continuous and congruent with each other! 8 (utler contests this continuity affirming that there

is no clear connection $etween gender presentation and se#uality!

4ichel Foucault affirms that se#uality is a social apparatus applied for controlling

individuals! According to him& it is determined and controlled through discourses created $y

social institutions throughout time to e#amine and e#plain the human se#ualized $ody! 9 Such

discourses argue against every )ind of se#ual practice that does not serve the function of

reproduction& dictating in this way which se#ual $ehaviors are proper and which ones are

transgressive!

+t is possi$le to perceive such discourses a$out proper and improper se#uality in the

representation of vampires in fol)lore and in literature! These creatures traditionally

sym$olize transgressive se#uality! The suc)ing of $lood suggests images of random andlustful se#ual intercourse and the vampirization of humans implies moral and $iological

contamination! : +n general& vampires have epitomized the fear of su$version of the social

rules& representing in this sense patterns of $ehavior to $e avoided! ;owever& at the same

time& vampires have $een raising the desire of people who intimately long for freedom

.especially se#ual/ and immortality!

6ulia The a$%ect is mainly related to $ody fluids

.feces& urine& sweat& $lood/& to the corpse& and to the female .the mothers/ $ody and se#uality!

+t is characterized as something positioned in $etween& and as such& it hinders the su$%ects

identification& defying his or her notion of the integrity of his or her own $ody!


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notion of a$%ection e#tends to people who transgress $orders and laws& $eing in this sense also

a threat to the integrity of society!

Although for these threats the a$%ect is seen with repulsion& there is also an attractive

aspect to it!


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+n Carters The loves of Lady Purple& the stereotype of the vampire woman that

characterizes the protagonist relates to a transgressive female se#uality! As a prostitute& Lady

Purples se#uality is e#acer$ated& and as a dominatri#& a necrophagist& and a necrophiliac& her

se#uality is transgressive of a codeBoriented morality& consisting of perversion! *hile a

puppet& she performs the transgressive role created to her $y the old ventrilo,uist! And when

the puppet comes to life& she does not $ecome a conventional woman& $ut a vampire

woman! The narrator does not use the word vampire in the story $ut it can $e inferred from

the description of the scene! The vampire feeding on her master is depicted as a performance&

representing the stereotypical and transgressive se#ual practices related to the womanB

monster' unaided& she $eg insG her ne#t performance with an apparent improvisation which

isG& in reality& only a variation upon a theme! She s in)sG her teeth into his throat and drain sG

him! 0D! Such new performance& therefore& repeats old vampire stories& which represent the

discourses that created the vampireBwoman stereotype! Accordingly& the transgressive act

represented $y the vampire feeding on her own creator is also socially created and

incorporated $y women through compulsory repetition!

All the same& this act is not a simple repetition of the theme of female transgressive

se#uality& $ut a variation upon that theme& which conveys the same idea $ut with different

implications! Eampirism appears only at the end of the story as a new element in thetransformations that Lady Purple e#periences throughout it& in a way that suggests new

possi$ilities to that new $eing! +t is through the violent act of the vampire feeding on her

master that she is a$le to $rea) free from the strings that )eep her under the ventrilo,uists

control! The importance of the vampire figure in The loves of Lady Purple is that& through

it& Carter demonstrates an alternative way to represent womens se#uality! The vampire

feeding on her master sym$olizes the possi$ility of womens acting upon her own desires as

an alternative to simple repetitions of the performances that are rendered se#uallytransgressive $y the male desires and fantasies that inform patriarchal discourses!

Similarly& the role of a vampire woman in The lady of the house of love implies an

e#acer$ated and improper se#uality! The ritual of seduction and murder is an o$ligation&

through which the $eautiful somnam$ulist helplessly perpetuates her ancestral crimes! 00

This ritual can $e related to (utlers notion of compulsory performance of se#uality 01& in that

Countess 5osferatu repetitively and perpetually plays the role of the menBeater woman& a

stereotype for female transgressive se#uality! Countess 5osferatu is o$served $y the vampire

0D CA@T"@& The loves of Lady Purple& p! 7:!00 +dem! The lady of the house of love& p! 7!01 (?TL"@! +mitation& p! >19

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ancestors& who monitor her accomplishment of her rituals out of the old portraits on the

castles walls& in a reference to the control $y society and tradition over female se#ual

$ehavior! Therefore& se#uality is discussed in this story through the characterization of a

womans se#uality that is transgressive $ut still imposed! The only survivor of an aristocratic

family& Countess 5osferatu still suffers from the imposition of se#ist social rules instead of

$eing a$le to live according to her free will! There is no physical presence of her ancestors to

constrain her& only the internalized notion that she is $ound to perform the role she inherited

from them!

@egarding the dangerous ,uality of Lady 5osferatus se#uality& it can $e said that her

victims are drawn to her through a )ind of se# appeal! The description of her rituals resem$les

the wor) of a prostitute& a real role performed similarly for every victimHclient without any

)ind of affection! This performance is not indicative of her se#ual interest or identity& in that it

agrees with (utlers argument that ones se#uality is not something that can $e grasped

through the o$servation of ones performance! 07 She does not identify with the role of the

vampire .metaphorically& the female e#acer$ated se#uality/& her performance is deprived of

any )ind of personal involvement and selfBsatisfaction! An evidence for this fact is that the

vampireHprostitute performs this se#ual role compulsively and efficiently only until the day

she falls in love with her victim& the (ritish soldier .who corresponds $oth to the fairytales prince and to the gothic hero/! *hen she feels affectively attracted $y the one she is supposed

only to use and discard .as an o$%ect of physical desire/& she does not )now how to negotiate

her personal interests and is una$le to perform that compulsory ritual!

The idea of female se#uality evo)ed in the story is descri$es as e#cessive and o$scene&

at the same time that it is capa$le of overwhelming mens senses& li)e the roses into#icating

scent! The fact that these roses incarcerate the countess in her castle can $e interpreted as

suggesting that her e#acer$ated female se#uality isolates her from social life& deprives her of indulging in practices that would satisfy her personal desires! Similarly& Countess 5osferatus

mouth is rendered se#ual implications& especially from the young soldiers point of view! The

idea that that )ind of mouth is typical of a whore attests the common sense that sees it as

indicative of the womans se#ual appetite& $ecause of the similarities $etween the mouth and

the female genitalia! 19!

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repulsive $ecause it is considered improper $y hegemonic social discourses& a danger to the

individuals physical and moral integrity!

The end of Countess 5osferatus tale presents a parado# in the criticism of control of

womens se#ual $ehavior $y the se#Hgender system' she $rea)s free from the fate of )illing

every man she seduces $ut dies& as if she could not live in any other way! Although the death

of the victimized lady seems a sad end& it can $e seen as congruent with the idea of $rea)ing

with social e#pectations' if Lady 5osferatus fate is to live eternally from the $lood of her

victims& $rea)ing with this fate means not )illing and thus not living! 3ifferently from Lady

Purple& whose transformation into a vampire represents an alternative possi$ility of

satisfaction of womens se#ual desires& Countess 5osferatu dies $ecause the )ind of

satisfaction offered $y vampirism does not interest her! The se#ual pleasure implicit in the

vampire feeding is presented to Lady Purple as a new possi$ility& different from those she

e#perienced in her performance of the other roles she assumes .the puppet& the prostitute& the

dominatri#& the necrophiliac& the necrophagist/!

+t can $e concluded that the short stories $y Carter analyzed here demonstrate a

criticism on the social control of se#ual options and se#ual practices! This use of the vampire

figure is particular of contemporary fiction& which tends to su$vert $inary oppositions such as

those $etween humanHmonster and menHwomen! Carters short stories demythologizestereotypes of womens transgressive se#uality& contesting and undermining patriarchal

notions of womens se#uality through the e#ploration of the potential of a$%ection that the

figure of the vampire women represents!

Resumo '

"ste ensaio analisa a representaIJo de vampiras em The loves of Lady Purple e em

The Lady of the ;ouse of Love de Angela Carter! "#plorando a a$%eIJo dos vampiros& essarepresentaIJo su$verte ideologias patriarcais so$re a se#ualidade feminina!

alavras-c!ave ' Se#ualidade& vampiras& a$%eto& Angela Carter!

"orks Cited '

A?"@(AC;& 5ina! Our vampires, ourselves ! Chicago' ?nivesity of Chicago Press& 0 9!

(?TL"@& 6udith! Gender trouble ' feminism and the su$version of identity! London'

@outledge& 1DD:!

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KKK! +mitation and gender insu$ordination! +n' @+E

article - fernanda carvalho

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