Sophie Schallmayer

La Femme N'existe Pas: Female Ways of Withdrawing From, Interacting with or Opposing the Lacanian Symbolic Order Sophie Schallmayer

This thesis revolves around the question whether Kristeva's semiotic chôra, an adaptation of Lacan's imaginary realm, can be seen as a space of female opposition to patriarchal hegemony. Thus, different ways of female interaction with patriarchy will be investigated; thereby drawing upon verbal and non-verbal texts from different centuries. Shakespeare's "Hamlet" and Angela Carter's "Bloody Chamber" will be considered as well as Pre-Raffaelite paintings.