A personality undergoing a constant process of divisibility and the unending crossing of borders which characterise the Gothic genre helps us understand the role of narrators in Weldon´s narrative. There are some raconteurs who are also characters and take active part in the development of the plot. Likewise, they represent a double or extension of the heroine in the sense that they suffer physically from the psychic illness which ails the protagonist. Others are intrusive presences, whose existences aren´t fictitiously explained in the novels and, thus, may be interpreted as deconstructions of the entity of narrators. In some of her most recent novels their voices end up by being an unending mirroring game resulting from a multiplication of alter-egos of the author in a Postmodern process of deferral and postponement where the limits between reality and fiction become suppressed. As a result of this abolition of borders, breaches are produced in what would be otherwise considered as hermetic entities. This is in line with the only sustainable ethical attitude: that which denies the existence of ultimate meanings.
A Gothic or semi-Gothic atmosphere is the background offered to confer theatricality to the inner and outer conflicts which Weldon´s heroines will have to confront so as to reach a rich and fulfilled life. Accordingly, in her literary production Weldon is always faithful to Jane Austen´s principle of equating the moral with the personal or the emotional. To this end, a Gothic perspective is projected over the humdrum existence of some housewives in her first novels. In some of the later ones this same spirit stresses the contrast between their successful professional lives and their disastrous private ones on account of their naivety or insecurity. The end-result is invariably a mock-gothic effect.
Therefore in this pseudo-gothic or Gothic world created by Weldon, her characters and narrators are perpetually drawn to the limit. The fascination for all that is melodramatic and lurid of the Gothic genre finds here expression in the black humour prevailing in her novels. This black humour is the mirror through which extreme circumstances are reflected and it will force Weldon´s heroines to react and take the reins of their lives in the face of adversity. The choice of a genre fascinated with extremes and exaggerations is easily understandable. It is the perfect vehicle to make heroines confront their unsolved atavistic conflicts or even accept their physicality.
Weldon´s narrative represents a mock confrontation with the “abysmal” or undefined, with all that which produces terror and this is done through a satirical exercise aimed at destroying those perturbing elements which are in the way of personal fulfillment. Turmoil and confusion are let loose and those typical characteristic protagonist-cum-narrators in Weldon´s novels, along with their readers, go through a spell of irrationality in which their worst fears are allowed to surface. Conflicts are solved, thus liberating the pent-up tensions of all concerned, the moment Weldon´s characters become aware of the absurd nature of their problems and of the fears which are in the way of a happy life. This moment of awakening, this confrontation with the 'abysmal' can be described in Gothic terms as the horrific sublime. Accordingly, thanks to those mechanisms established by the Gothic genre, such as the existence of affective narrators who usually take part in the development of the story, Weldon´s novels entail process of growth from which their readers can benefit in a vicarious fashion.
NARRATORS
