Content Category
Literary Criticism
Abstract/Description
The novel Possession by A.S. Byatt tells of scholars researching the lives of two fictional poets, Randolph Ash and Christabel LaMotte. The story focuses heavily on the ideas of gender, especially the the differences and conflict between men and women. Curiously, the poetry of these fictional characters reference numerous monsters from various mythologies. In Possession, A.S. Byatt uses Norse legends to reflect how men are proactive, destructive, and possessive; through Greek creatures she emphasizes how women are unaggressive, stationary, and vulnerable; and lastly, she uses Eastern beasts like the phoenix to show that both men and women can change and improve.
Copyright and Licensing of My Content
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Origin of Submission
as part of a class
Faculty Involvement
Paul Westover
Here There Be Dragons: Monsters and Gender in Possession
The novel Possession by A.S. Byatt tells of scholars researching the lives of two fictional poets, Randolph Ash and Christabel LaMotte. The story focuses heavily on the ideas of gender, especially the the differences and conflict between men and women. Curiously, the poetry of these fictional characters reference numerous monsters from various mythologies. In Possession, A.S. Byatt uses Norse legends to reflect how men are proactive, destructive, and possessive; through Greek creatures she emphasizes how women are unaggressive, stationary, and vulnerable; and lastly, she uses Eastern beasts like the phoenix to show that both men and women can change and improve.