Margaret Drabble’s Fiction: Hysteria and Agency

Margaret Drabble’s The Millstone (1965) serves as a prime example of postmodern feminism, delving into the concerns of female agency within a patriarchal society in the post-war era. This article posits that the protagonist and narrator, Rosamund Stacey, embodies an autonomous female figure who challenges societal gender biases prevalent in late 20th-century London, England. Rosamund, functioning as a postmodern narrator, disrupts the conventional patriarchal notions of femininity, which depict women as inferior, fragile, reliant, and passive. By asserting her financial and educational independence, Rosamund strives for self-reliance as a single woman. However, her endeavor to live independently is met with accusations of hysteria, mirroring society’s reluctance to accept empowered women. This paper argues that Rosamund embraces her “hysteric” label, utilizing it to dismantle the patriarchal notion of women as inherently predisposed to madness based on biology. Moreover, it suggests that Rosamund embodies the archetype of the “mad” female author, who narrates her own life and thus claims agency in shaping her narrative.