'In The Bloody Chamber, childhood fairytales become the stuff of adult nightmares.' How far do you agree with this statement.

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In The Bloody Chamber, childhood fairytales become the stuff of adult nightmares.’

It is instantly evident that the stories in The Bloody Chamber have been written by Carter in order to shock the reader, as they do contain many elements which are widely associated with fear and nightmares. The stories in The Bloody Chamber are re-workings of traditional fairytales, but it should not always be assumed that the original ‘childhood’ fairytales did not possess any themes or dark imagery related to what may be related to an adult nightmare. In fact, it can be argued that many of the childhood fairytales did contain controversial elements, such as an exploration of sexuality, but they were masked by seemingly innocent characters and morals.

Every individual story in The Bloody Chamber does deal with issues which may be considered the stuff of adult nightmares; the themes explored, symbols incorporated and even the language used creates an eerie aura which are likely to affect the adult mind, and in this respect they can be compared to an adult nightmare. A nightmare can be defined as ‘A dream arousing feelings of intense fear, horror, and distress.’, and The Bloody Chamber includes all of these. Fear is felt by the reader as a result of the intense descriptions present and language used throughout the stories; the settings are described to minute details, creating an atmospheric and vivid image in the mind of the reader. In most cases, the eerie setting provides for an insight to the events which will occur as each story progresses. The first half of ‘The Company of Wolves’ outlines the various wolf attributes, such as being “carnivore incarnate” whilst creating a bleak setting. An example of this is where Carter uses second person address, “You are always in danger in the forest....for if you stray from the path for one instant, the wolves will eat you”, to create the feeling that we are experiencing what the heroine is. Including the reader in such a manner allows the story to resemble a nightmare as a nightmare typically includes the involvement of the person dreaming.

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In ‘The Snow Child’, which is arguable the most nightmarish story in the collection, the language used is also shocking. Carter describes the Countess as ‘”bare as a bone” and how the Count “thrusts his virile member into the dead girl”. Using such shocking descriptions allows for the explicit themes to be present, such as necrophilia, rape and paedophilia – all of which are present in ‘The Snow Child’. The young girl in the story is portrayed as being helpless, and simply an object of the Count’s desires; she is used solely for his sexual pleasure, which may be considered ...

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