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Articles

Volume 20, Number 1 (1995)

Escaping the Frame: Circumscribing the Narrative in The Whirlpool

  • Laura Hancu
Submitted
May 22, 2008
Published
1995-01-01

Abstract

In The Whirlpool, Jane Urquhart subverts the Arachne and Ariadne myths, associating the images of weaving with constructs of female imprisonment and death. The whirlpool, a symbol of death by drowning, and the trope of the drowned poet/demon lover also create imprisoning myths for the female characters. The protagonists, Maud and Fleda (with the aid of male catalysts, David and Patrick), escape the frame of the symbolic borders of marriage and female imprisonment and reconstruct their identities.