Money in Magic

Money & Nights at the Circus

The humorous nature in which Amis juxtaposes a variety of images to emphasis money in relation to the self, Angela Carter in “Nights at the Circus” uses a variety of juxtaposed images that operate through the same technique. In a passage where Feevers tells Wesler she was sold to a man under the fake name of ‘Mr.Rosencretuz’ she reflects, " I am an honest woman. And the poor old bugger had put his cash down on the nail, hadn’t he, even if I’d pocketed none of it so far.” (81)

Carter emphasizes a duality of Feevers/Sophia: money vs. religion. She uses a repetition of certain images and thematic concepts throughout the course of Rosencretuz rebirth ritual. The man who payed a fortunate to Madam Shreck for her virginity lives in a “mansion in the Gothic style” that is “ivied all over, and, above the turrets, floated a fingernail moon with a star in its arms.” Throughout the course of Rozencretuz's 'metaphysical' self-proclamation there is a constant mentioning of bottles of cabret being opened; Feevers even reflects during the course of his divine rant “the least he could do was crack another bottle of claret. Half the profit from this bizarre transaction but he was temporarily blind and deaf to the world, harkening only to the invisible angels shouting in his ears.” (80)

He assures her not to run away with the “idea there’s anything fleshly indecent or even remotely corporeal about [the] meeting of this night of all nights, when the shining star lies in the moon’s chaste embrace above this very house, signifying the divine post-diluvian Remission and Reconciliation of the Terrible.”

Here, Carter has used the image of the moon and the star to represent a reoccurring concept of “Remission and Reconciliation.” ‘Mr. Rozencrantz’ proclaims to Feevers that she is a “creature half of earth and half of air, virgin and whore, reconciler of fundament and firmament, ambivalent body, reconciler of the grand opposites of death and life” and that she will “come to him neither naked nor clothed, but wait with [him] for the hour when it is neither dark nor light.” (81) Feevers focus on the wine, which Carter uses as a symbol of wealth, highlights one of the novels main contradiction: money vs. the metaphysical. She reflects, “That’s rich!” I thought considering the amounts of money changing hands.” (81) Fevvers does not know how to feel the magic of her own being without the view of dirty money attached to it.