| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 外國語文學研究所 === 96 === This thesis examines how Margaret Atwood’s Lady Oracle critically employs Gothic conventions to discuss a female artist’s traumatic relationship with her mother and her quest for her own multiple identities through unconventional Gothic writings. As an Atwoodian anti-Gothic novel, Lady Oracle focuses on female body, identity, and complicated mother-daughter relationship. By appropriating Sigmund Freud’s concept of the uncanny and theory of trauma, I argue that Atwood explores a female artist’s traumatic experiences in her childhood and adolescence, highlights her dilemma between desire for artistic career and for fulfilling ideal femininity, and finally investigates the artist’s reconciliation with her dead mother and acceptance of her multiple selves. Chapter One examines Atwood’s appropriation of Gothic elements and her revision of three fairy tales, including “The Bluebeard,” “The Red Shoes,” and “The Little Mermaid.” Chapter Two analyzes the protagonist’s traumatic experiences and repetition compulsion as well as her maternal legacy. Chapter Three illuminates the protagonist’s psychical journeys to communicate with her mother and her past selves. The last chapter discusses the ambiguous ending of this novel.
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