Publicação
Fevvers as a model of subversive agency: the impact of the circus spectator on gender identity in Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus (1984)
| Resumo: | This dissertation proposes an alternative framework for understanding gender in Nights at the Circus (1984), not solely through the lens of Judith Butler’s gender performativity, but via Mary Russo’s theory of the female grotesque. By focusing on Sophie Fevvers as both performer and performance, this study argues that Fevvers’ awareness of gender as a social artifice—and manipulation of that artifice—transforms her into a conscious agent of subversion. Rather than blindly reproducing gender roles, Fevvers constructs her identity through performance, strategically engaging with her audience in ways that challenge and destabilize normative conceptions of femininity and power. Through an interdisciplinary approach that brings together theories of performance from Erving Goffman and Guy Debord, this thesis explores how Fevvers’ self-produced and use of spectacle function as tools of social commentary. The circus, as both literal and symbolic space, becomes the stage upon which Fevvers and other performances—grotesque, marginal, or monstrous—enact layered identities that expose and resist systems of control. Furthermore, this dissertation closely examines the role of the spectator, not as a passive viewer, but as an integral participant in the performance. Whether individual, collective, or internal, the spectator’s perception shapes and is shaped by fevvers’ subversive façade. Ultimately, this thesis highlights how Nights at the Circus reconfigures the freak, the performer, and the gaze, offering a radical reimagining of gender, embodiment, and agency. |
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| Autores principais: | Motta, Maria Vitoria Aisha Callender Damaceno |
| Assunto: | Grotesque Identity Performance Spectator Woman(Hood) Espectador Feminino Grotesco Identidade Performance Humanidades::Línguas e Literaturas |
| Ano: | 2025 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | dissertação de mestrado |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade do Minho |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho |
| Resumo: | This dissertation proposes an alternative framework for understanding gender in Nights at the Circus (1984), not solely through the lens of Judith Butler’s gender performativity, but via Mary Russo’s theory of the female grotesque. By focusing on Sophie Fevvers as both performer and performance, this study argues that Fevvers’ awareness of gender as a social artifice—and manipulation of that artifice—transforms her into a conscious agent of subversion. Rather than blindly reproducing gender roles, Fevvers constructs her identity through performance, strategically engaging with her audience in ways that challenge and destabilize normative conceptions of femininity and power. Through an interdisciplinary approach that brings together theories of performance from Erving Goffman and Guy Debord, this thesis explores how Fevvers’ self-produced and use of spectacle function as tools of social commentary. The circus, as both literal and symbolic space, becomes the stage upon which Fevvers and other performances—grotesque, marginal, or monstrous—enact layered identities that expose and resist systems of control. Furthermore, this dissertation closely examines the role of the spectator, not as a passive viewer, but as an integral participant in the performance. Whether individual, collective, or internal, the spectator’s perception shapes and is shaped by fevvers’ subversive façade. Ultimately, this thesis highlights how Nights at the Circus reconfigures the freak, the performer, and the gaze, offering a radical reimagining of gender, embodiment, and agency. |
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