A Limping Mother and a Witch-whore: Monstrous Maternities in Elena Ferrante’s The Neapolitan Quartet

Motherhood has traditionally been depicted as the greatest form of love and compassion in our society, and it was believed that maternity was the ultimate step a woman could take to accomplish a fulfilled womanhood. Maternity is supposed to become a source of happiness for the mother, who sacrifices her own identity in the name of motherhood. Nonetheless, for the biological phenomenon of becoming pregnant and a mother, society has set high‑standard expectations, categorising women either as ‘good mothers’ or ‘bad mothers’, depending on whether they can fulfil unrealistic goals. This paper analyses the complexity of subversive mother characters in Elena Ferrante’s saga The Neapolitan Quartet, examining the monsterisation female characters undergo when they do not conform to conventions.