Neil Gaiman Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Female monsters, whether it is the wicked witch, the blood-thirsty vampire, or the lust-driven succubus, have always been present in a significant number of short stories, novels, horror movies, and folkloric tales. The very word "monster" conjures up feelings of terror and fear, as these strange creatures are typically perverted, evil, and blood-curdling. In her brilliant work, The Monstrous Feminine, Barbara Creed argues that women are represented as monsters in regards to their reproductive and mothering functions.
This paper applies the theory of the monstrous feminine examined by Barbara Creed on four postmodern versions of “Snow White”: Angela Carter's short story titled “The Snow Child” from her collection The Bloody Chamber, Neil Gaiman's short story titled “Snow, Glass, Apples” as well as “The Sleeper and the Spindle”, and finally Robert Coover's short story “The Dead Queen”. The main goal of the research paper is to identify the main elements of the monstrous feminine in each story and to provide a clear contrast with the traditional version of the celebrated tale. This research paper also examines how Julia Kristeva’s theory of abjection ties into the concept of the monstrous feminine in terms of the previously mentioned postmodern works.
To understand the subverted postmodern world of Snow White and to demonstrate the monstrous feminine, it is mandatory to provide a brief presentation of the origin of fairy tales as exemplified by Jack Zipes, Ruth B. Bottingheimer, and Maria Tatar. Given the above, this thesis demonstrates the presence of the monstrous feminine in the works of Angela Carter, Robert Coover, and Neil Gaiman, and seeks out to compare and contrast the archetype of the pure and the wicked woman in terms of the characters of Snow White and the Queen.