Killing the Angel in the House，a Mutual Motif of Good Night Desdemona and Gender Failure

王子越

As Virginia Woolf put it， “Killing the angel in the house was part of the occupation of a woman writer” （Woolf 240）. It is a commonplace for woman in Woolfs age to allow her angle of vision to be limited by what is expected of her from the public. The widely coveted female figure could be symbolized as the angel in the house. She holds women back from expressing their unique and to some extent shocking insights. The point I am trying to make in this essay is that the authors of Gender Failure and the heroine of Good Night Desdemona have all been through a battle with the “angel in the house”， and they have successfully killed it.

The authors of Gender Failure， Spoon and Coyote， and the heroine of Good Night Desdemona， Constance， do not fall in line with their peers or co-workers. They are unique in an unpopular way and are in a sense socially marginalized. Spoon and Coyote dont conform to the social perception of women； they refer to themselves as gender-neutral. Constance doesnt live up to the expectation of a successful academic. She is used by her supervisor， whom she is in un-requited love with. Meanwhile， she is despised by her students. People who suffered from depression always concede after the trauma that depression has given them a distinct angle of observing the world. Likewise， I would argue that it is the state of isolation from the main stream that has helped foster their distinguished talents. Spoon and Coyote are accomplished musicians who are known for their distinctive style of performance. Similarly， Constance is the first one who questions the tragic nature of Shakespeares two famous plays.

Both Spoon and Constance have been at the stage where their identity seems obscure to them. For Spoons part it is reflected in their perpetual story-telling experience. For example， “There was always a vetting period where I wasnt sure if the person I was romantically involved with really believed the story I told about my gender” （Spoon & Coyote 240）. From this line we can see in them a lack of certainty of the gender role they was playing. For Constance， there is a noteworthy line in Goodnight Desdemona that reflects how Constance perceived herself， “Im not the least bit special， Im， Im just one flawed and isolated fragment of a perfect infinite mind like anybody else” （Macdonald 16）. Because she wanted so desperately to be a common good girl that she failed to see her specialty.

Spoon and Constance have grown tremendously from their identity-searching journey. As Spoon states in Gender Failure， “It was then I started to gave up on changing my own body， presentations， or behavior to match either side of the gender binary. I took the responsibility of earning acceptance off myself and stopped trying to convince people that I was male or female” （Spoon & Coyote 241）. They finally liberates themselves from the gender norm and obtain a genuine self-recognition. For Constance， the journey towards finding her true self constitutes a rebirth. As Constance cries by the end of the play， “Thats me， Im the author” （Macdonald 87）； she finally takes stage and claims sovereignty over the territory she predominates. It is not only a breakthrough for their personal development but also symbolizes a triumph over “the angel in the house”. In a broader sense the triumph enables female writers to have a mind of their own， not just a room.

However， the forces leading to their triumph are not the same with respect to their relationship with other people. For Spoon， the unique identity they finally come to is derived from the immunity to other peoples projections and speculations on their gender， whereas for Constance， her remarkable evolution is contingent on the combination with other figures， Desdemona and Juliet. “Where two plus one adds up to one， not three” （Macdonald 87）. Desdemonas independence helps steer Constance of her self-abandonment to male-dominance， whereas Juliets tenaciousness in love affairs arouses Constances desire to fall madly love in love again.

References：

[1]Woolf，Virginia.“Professions for women.”The death of the moth and other essays（1942）：235-42.

[2]Macdonald，Ann-Marie.Goodnight Desdemona（Good Morning Juliet）.Toronto：Vintage Canada，1998.

[3]Spoon，Rae，and Ivan Coyote.Gender Failure.Vancouver：Arsenal Pulp Press，2014.