Butler, Misery, and failure within "the system"

I promised an exciting blog post last Monday, so I suppose I'd better actually write one.

I enjoyed the ending of Misfortune - despite it being entirely predictable - because all of the codes and hieroglyphics come to mean something. Using a code to obscure something and then making that something apparent again through said code got me thinking about Butler's concept of agency derived from The System (sorry, couldn't resist).

That is, Rose is coded by society's binary concept of man/woman, but ultimately comes to "uncode" his/her identity through that particular dialectic. This is in part an example of a failure in the binary system (which Butler says is inevitable and through which the system is demonstrated to be problematic and/or inadequate). It doesn't really need to be argued that Rose is an example of the failure of the system, but let's do this anyway, just for fun: (s)he doesn't identify exclusively with one gender or the other, his/her appearance is a mixture of the feminine and the masculine... and actually, the latter is notable because it isn't a matter of a man feeling feminine or identifying as a woman, because Rose isn't physically male and dressing exclusively female (that is, that's not the extent of the division, as though Rose were male but choosing deliberately to identify as or perform "female"), but rather has feminine and masculine physical qualities (male anatomy, feminine gestures, etc.) and also feminine and masculine qualities in her aesthetic appearance (i.e. what she has control over): (s)he wears a dress but has deliberate facial hair.

What's particularly interesting here is that Rose's use of this agency isn't passive; rather, she derives significant power from his/her gender identity (or, perhaps to some extent, her lack thereof). We saw this early on when (s)he was able to exert power over Edmond, and soon after her inability to exert this power over Prudence when she was dressed, and was performing, as a man.

Another notable encounter, though perhaps less direct, is Rose's inability to be comfortable with sexuality during her encounter with Franny until (s)he puts on the dress. It's particularly interesting because this can almost be viewed as a form of impotence, yet it is the addition of the dress into the equation that renders Rose able to act again. Clearly there is a power (s)he is able to exert over others, a power that is drawn, at least in part, from this dual gender identity.

As a closing note, I should also mention the final confrontation with the Osberns and Rakeleighs at Love Hall, where Rose is able to command a striking amount of a attention and influence over her adversaries simply through her dual-gendered appearance/performance; the curtsey (s)he issues (without making it a deliberate action, no less) is a great example of this. (And of course, this can be contrasted with her previous encounter with the extended family at Love Hall, in which (s)he was obligated to perform as a male and was effectively impotent - indeed, there is direct reference to Rose having been "pruned by Prudence." There's a lot of imagery, phallic and otherwise, to wrestle with there.)