“New Wine In Old Bottles”: A Study Of Postmodernist Parody Of Shakespeare In Angela Carter’s Wise Children

Angela Carter(1940-1992)is a prominent contemporary British writer and feminist,known for her use of parody and other intertextual techniques to create highly original works.Among her many novels,her final novel,Wise Children(1991),has received widespread attention and recognition.This masterpiece is widely regarded as a bold rewriting of Shakespeare’s classic works and cultural elements.The story begins with Dora Chance and her twin sister Nora Chance attending their father’s 100 th birthday party as his illegitimate daughters and traces their marginalized lives as chorus girls.The entire plot spans a century and two continents,yet takes place in a single day.The novel is filled with identical twins,substitute bride,philandering fathers,warring brothers,cuckolded husbands,and resurrected maiden.This is a riotous Shakespearean-themed comedy that is both brilliant and absurd.As Carter’s later work from fairy tale back to reality,Wise Children weaves a colorful and brilliant maternal family myth from the perspective of the marginal character Dora Chance.Dora recounts the untold history of the Hazard family for five generations,confirming that “a mother is a biological fact,whilst a father is a movable feast”.Wise Children uses Shakespeare’s classics,particularly his plays,to reveal the diversity of British culture.Carter satirically interrogates the distinction between elements of dichotomy such as the refined and the vulgar,the superior and the inferior,the core and the periphery,and the legitimate and the illegitimate.The novel is replete with parodies of many of Shakespeare’s dramatic elements,and in this way,it subtly opens up space for women to live and gain more rights of speech and initiative.Postmodernist parody not only targets the prototype but also points to language itself and traditional centrist value standards.In other words,parody makes the postmodernist novel less of a mere textual fiction and gives it the possibility to operate in conjunction with social practices.Therefore,analyzing Angela Carter’s Wise Children through the lens of postmodernist parody is more aligned with her intent as an author.This thesis consists of five parts.The first part is an introductory section,which reviews the existing research on Angela Carter’s parody and Wise Children,both at home and abroad.The part also emphasizes the high degree of relevance and rationality of interpreting Carter’s work with postmodernist parody theory.In the main body part,the first chapter discusses how Wise Children subverts the traditional interpretation of various tragic roles by parodying the classic characters and plots in Shakespeare’s plays.Carter repositions their identities and breaks away from traditional gender stereotypes.The second chapter focuses on the subversion of patriarchal narratives through the use of parody: Carter changes the narrative perspective and conveys women’s voices through the marginal character,Dora,and her self-mocking narrative;linear narrative conventions are broken,and serious narrative language is transformed into a carnival-like discourse.Carter successfully deconstructs the traditional Shakespearean grand narrative,obscures the male narrative subject that manipulates women’s fate,and the all-knowing and all-powerful author,allowing women to stand on their own to re-examine all value standards.The third chapter points out that the most direct purpose of parody is to give new meaning to the source text.Carter replaces the traditional Shakespearean grand themes,brews“new wine” out of “old bottles”,and conveys her unique feminist thoughts and reflections.This section also discusses the exemplary and inspiring significance of Carter’s text for the feminist writing that follows.Finally,the conclusion part summarizes how Carter uses parody to subvert the classic,deconstruct patriarchal narratives,and reconstruct female subjectivity.Besides,this section also evaluates Angela Carter’s parody creation and calls for more attention to this outstanding female writer and her works.In conclusion,this thesis attempts to reinterpret Wise Children based on postmodern parody theory,breaking the limitations of previous studies that highlight the purpose of feminist writing through the analysis of characters and themes in Carter’s work.The thesis analyses how Carter uses parody strategies to successfully subvert Shakespeare’s classic characters,deconstruct patriarchal narratives,and replace traditional literary themes.The aim is to convey her writing themes,including women’s liberation from patriarchal systems,attention to their personal growth,the establishment of harmonious rather than antagonistic relationships between the two sexes,and the development of non-blood-based familial relationships.Carter attempts to break with the conservative or ‘patriarchal version’ of Shakespeare promoted by some critics.She draws on the ornate bottles of the most authoritative patriarchal discourse in traditional British society to recreate a “new wine” of feminism,with the power to burst the “old bottles”.