Mohammad Amin Shirkhani - Affiliation: Research Scholar in English & cultural studies department, Panjab University. India

Conducting a comparative study of Angela Carter’s fairy tale motifs in post modern fantasies with her predecessors under Judith Butler’s theory of gender was the purpose of the present study. This study argues that Carter’s female characters are caged in a role that restricts their movement as an individual and that the feminine role Carter creates for the protagonist resembles Butler’s perception of gender in relation to norms which function as a restrictive factor rather than a liberating one. Following the analysis of the selected stories the findings of the story revealed that gender serves to impose social limitations on females in the works under the study and Carter’s work is almost the same as her predecessors in this respect under Butler’s gender theory. The present study gains significance as the findings can shed more light on an important aspect, namely gender factor in the development of relations through out the stories under the study and besides that the applicability of Butler’s gender theory to the selected stories of Angela Carter.

postmodern feminism , postmodern sexuality , gender theory