Revisiting the Madwoman: Portrayals of Female Madness in 2020s Feminist Literature

Goldau, Anna Sofie Stensgaard

4. term

English, Master

2026

2026-06-01

This thesis examines four recent novels—The Eyes Are the Best Part (2024), Bat Eater (2025), Mexican Gothic (2020), and A Study in Drowning (2023)—that reimagine what Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar called the “Madwoman.” In The Madwoman in the Attic (1979), they argued that such figures emerged as literary responses to women’s oppression, focusing mainly on white women. Contemporary fiction is more diverse and shows how gender, race, and other identities intersect. The thesis therefore extends the original theory with intersectionality to understand what produces the madness depicted and how it can also function as resistance. In line with Scheherazade Khan’s The Intersectional Madwoman Outside the Attic (2021), it emphasizes that more attention should be paid to intersectional identities and that “madness” is not inherently negative but can open space for resistance. Each novel illustrates how specific forms of oppression ignite and shape madness: The Eyes Are the Best Part follows Korean American Ji-won, who develops violent fantasies about killing her mother’s new white boyfriend and eating his blue eyes in response to his objectification and sexualization of her and her younger sister. Consuming the blue eyes is symbolic: Ji-won takes in men’s objectifying gaze so it can no longer be used to measure women’s worth. Bat Eater is set during COVID-19 and follows Cora, a Chinese American crime-scene cleaner, who faces a surge in anti-Asian hate crimes as well as a serial killer targeting Asian women. The pandemic’s intensified oppression pushes Cora toward madness and a quest for revenge on behalf of those harmed by the violence. In Mexican Gothic, set in 1950s Mexico, Noemí visits her cousin living with her husband and his white, English family. She discovers that the family’s oldest patriarch built the house on the body of a woman he buried alive to extend his own life. Her body has decayed beneath the crypt, but her mind remains alive in pain, affecting everyone in the house—including Noemí and her cousin—and driving people mad to seek revenge and end her suffering. Here, madness stems from centuries of oppression, repression, and abuse. A Study in Drowning takes place in the fictional world of Caer-Isel and follows Effy, labeled mad because she can see the mythical Fairy King that no one else can. The novel returns to themes of sexual abuse and the limits of consent between a younger woman or girl and an older man. These experiences intensify Effy’s madness, yet she also uses this perceived madness to resist the Fairy King. Across all four works, readers spend time with the protagonists as they descend into madness, which makes their motives legible. Within the story, they may be seen as mad, but the narrative simultaneously deconstructs that label for the reader. The thesis thus shows that madness is not simply literal illness but often a reaction to—and a reply against—intersecting forms of oppression.

Dette speciale undersøger fire nyere romaner – The Eyes Are the Best Part (2024), Bat Eater (2025), Mexican Gothic (2020) og A Study in Drowning (2023) – som lader kvindelige hovedpersoner genfortolke det, som Sandra Gilbert og Susan Gubar kaldte “den gale kvinde” (Madwoman). I The Madwoman in the Attic (1979) argumenterede de for, at figuren opstod som en litterær reaktion på kvindeundertrykkelse, men deres analyse handlede primært om hvide kvinder. Nyere fiktion er mere mangfoldig og viser, hvordan undertrykkelse på tværs af køn, race og andre identiteter overlapper. Derfor udvider specialet den oprindelige teori med intersektionalitet for bedre at forstå, hvad der driver den fremstillede galskab, og hvordan den også kan fungere som modstand. I tråd med Scheherazade Khans The Intersectional Madwoman Outside the Attic (2021) betones, at der bør være større fokus på intersektionelle identiteter, og at “vanvid” ikke nødvendigvis er entydigt negativt, men kan åbne et rum for modstand. Romanernes individuelle forløb viser, hvordan undertrykkelse antænder og former galskaben: The Eyes Are the Best Part følger den koreansk-amerikanske Ji-won, der får voldelige fantasier om at dræbe sin mors nye, hvide kæreste og spise hans blå øjne. Fantasierne udspringer af hans objektificering og seksualisering af hende og hendes lillesøster. Det at “spise” de blå øjne er symbolsk: Ji-won indtager mænds objektiverende blik, så det ikke længere kan bruges til at definere kvinders værdi. Bat Eater foregår under COVID-19 og følger Cora, en kinesisk-amerikansk rensemedarbejder på gerningssteder, som oplever en stigning i anti-asiatiske hadforbrydelser samtidig med, at en seriemorder går efter asiatiske kvinder. Pandemiens nye niveau af undertrykkelse driver Cora ud i galskab og et hævnprojekt på vegne af dem, der rammes af volden. I Mexican Gothic sendes Noemí i 1950’ernes Mexico for at se til sin kusine, der bor sammen med sin mand og hans hvide, engelske familie. Noemí opdager, at familiens ældste forfader byggede huset oven på en kvinde, han levende begravede for at forlænge sit eget liv. Hendes krop rådner under krypten, men hendes bevidsthed forbliver i smerte og påvirker alle i huset, inklusive Noemí og kusinen, og driver dem til vanvid i et forsøg på at få hævn og stoppe hendes lidelser. Her er galskaben et resultat af århundreders undertrykkelse, fortrængning og overgreb. A Study in Drowning foregår i den fiktive verden Caer-Isel og følger Effy, der stemples som “sindssyg”, fordi hun kan se den mytiske Fairy King, som ingen andre ser. Romanen kredser om seksuelle overgreb og grænser for samtykke mellem en yngre kvinde/pige og en ældre mand. Disse erfaringer forværrer Effys galskab, men hun bruger samtidig dette påklistrede vanvid som modstand mod Fairy King. På tværs af de fire værker får læseren tid til at lære de “gale” kvinder at kende gennem deres gradvise sammenbrud, så deres motiver bliver forståelige. Inden for fortællingerne kan de opfattes som vanvittige, men over for læseren nedbrydes og nuanceres mærkaten. Specialet viser dermed, at galskaben ikke blot er bogstavelig sygdom, men ofte en reaktion på – og et svar imod – intersektionel undertrykkelse.

[This abstract has been rewritten with the help of AI based on the project's original abstract]

Madwoman trope ; Feministisk litteratur ; Intersektionalitet

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