social construction of womanhood in Angela Carters Passion of New Eve
... By analysing Eve/lyn’s transformation from Evelyn to Eve to Mrs Zero, Freud’s Castration theory in relation to the book, Evelyn’s castration and Tristessa’s role as the ‘ideal’ woman it will clearly exhibit how gender is in fact a social and historical construct. Angela Carter explores the identity of women. She makes us question as to what makes a woman and does being a woman automatically grant you the possession of womanhood. As Eve tells Sophia that “…it takes more than identifying with Raphael’s Madonna to make a real woman” ( Carter: 1982, 80). “The Passion of New Eve” challenges the fact that gender is assumed to be natural, it rather implies that it is social and historical. ... This novel with the castration of Eve/lyn brings Sigmund Freud’s castration theory into practise. ... Mother in the novel in a godlike fashion attempts to make Eve/lyn the perfect woman. Physically she triumphs in her operation but Eve/lyn herself admits that she might still think like Evelyn.