Example: the way the Erl king is described with pointed teeth/green eyes. There is a lot of demonic almost vampire style description of the count in the bloody chamber. There are a lot of sibilant sounds in the BC as well 2soft consolations of the sea” which make the count snake like, (like Caliban).
Explanation: demonises and portrays the male characters in a beastly and devilish manner. Women are better; draw comparison with end of the story where the traditional male hero of the brother has been swapped with a maternal figure.
Second Paragraph: Techniques that show male superiority
Point- Males are dominant in both of the story. How does Carter create this?
Example- Imperative verb choice, Made me (BC)
- Metaphor: “ little cups so fine it shadowed the birds with which they were painted” i.e. she’s the bird, and he’s taken away her freedom with her money. (BC)
- Patronising address in the bloody chamber passage eg “ baby”, emphasized with adjectives such as mockery (BC)
- She’s valued as a possession “Newly bought dearly prised” (BC)
- Punctuation emphasises commands.; he speaks in short sentences to her. (BC)
- Adjectives such as “irrevocable hand” (EK)
- In both of the stories the women are passive sexually
- Predator prey analogies as a recurrent theme (EK)
Explanation-
Third paragraph: Sexual Predators in both of the stories
Point- Men are portrayed as sexual predators in both of the stories.
Example- there are a lot of example in both of the texts. In BC there are a lot of verbs like “Grabbed my Breast”, “imperatively on my breast”, Analogy of the picture “the knotted tales of the cat were about to descend”. Then compare with the sexual predator in the EK. Set in a forest with a lot of natural description suggests that this kind of predator is a lot more natural. Look again at the “Birds and Beast” bit at the bottom of pg 85 for quotes on his being a predator here.
Explanation- there is a great difference between the stories in their presentation of men at this point. The Erl king is less of a sexual deviant. The girl is willing to come see him, “I always go to the Erl king”, where as in the BC the girl avoids sex with the count, and the allegory of the porn picture with the “tears on her cheeks like stuck pearls”. Not quite sure Ive expressed this point well, tell me if you need me to explain it better.
Fourth: Men subjugating women in patriarchal society.
Point- men entrap women in marriage as seen in both of the stories, both of the women realise this mistake and are freed from it by the end of the story; in BC her mother rescues her from the count and in the EK she kills him to escape their relationship. this entrapment is emphasised in the passage
Example- the description of the forest with long complex sentences creates a sense of disorientation and the yellow and green colour imagery gives a sinister tone. The girl is trapped in the forrest which can be seen as an extended metapohor for her being trapped by the erl. The Erl capture rabbits like he caught her.
- in the Erl king he traps birds as well and as earlier said this is metaphorical of males taking away female freedom. If we view the baskets as a symbol of female genitalia (front bottom) through Freud’s dream theory then the females are actually trapped by their role in the reproductive system and their place in society is only determined by this.
- The is echoed in the title of the BC.
- In the EK the Erl dries the Herbs and other plants thus taking their live from them. In a similar way he does this with women caging them in baskets as the girl in the story fears he will do to her.
Explanation- Females are trapped in their role in patriarchal society.
Fifth paragraph- Sexual Deviant.
Point- this is only really seen in the BC, although you could suggest that EK is scopophiliac (new favourite word: means sexual stimulation or satisfaction from looking at naked people, most often without their knowledge). Has a link throughout between Sex and Death, in an sadomasochism sort of way.
Example- throughout the extract especially in the picture at the start, look at the titles immolation of the sultans wives and reproof of curiosity.
- Symbol of the red chocker- this is a motif seen through out the story. Red connotations of sex and also the split throat.
- “a dozen husbands impaled a dozen brides”
- The lilies are also a symbol of death filled in the room where they consecrated their marriage
Explanation- carter deliberately tries to shock as later seen in the expletive language she uses. This could be the reason why she brings up such a taboo subject. However it is also symbolic of the male power over women and in work by freud for example “seeing sadism as an excessive manifestation of inherent male aggression, and masochism as merely an exaggeration of the submissive role assigned to women”. In this manner the submissive nature of women in society and the destructive effect it has on them, all the wives die (spiritually maybe but also physically) is symbolised in presenting the male figure as sexually deviant.
Conclusion
Conclude by comparing how Carter, summarising what techniques she uses, presents the two male characters. Then use this presentation to comment on what carter is critising in patriarchal society through the two characters.
Other points you could include:
Jungian reading of the EK, where by the Erl is part of her psyche (talk about the woods being the collective unconscious, and it actually being a dream and what it is symbolic for ect). Ill include my other essay we did for Mrs Turney when I wrote about this.
You could discuss the nature of males desire for innocence vs. experience seen in all of the stories
