"The Bloody Chamber" by Angela Carter - With close reference to one of the tales, discuss how Carter draws upon and subverts conventions of the fairy tale

"The Bloody Chamber" by Angela Carter "With close reference to one of the tales, discuss how Carter draws upon and subverts conventions of the fairy tale" Usually fairy tales are told to children to teach them a moral lesson in life or as is mostly the case, help them tell the difference between good and bad. Angela Carter is someone known to take elements from fairy tales and turn them into well written, exciting, compelling complex dramas of a Gothic nature filled with sexual innuendo, a combination of different narrations (mainly first and third), strong heroic female characters and the evil villain - the male. "The Bloody Chamber" is a modern interpretation of the "Blue Beard" (character below) fairy tale which uses this very formula to create an exciting and dramatic story. In a nutshell both stories are about young women (in their late teens, on the verge of turning into womanhood) who marry a wealthy man and leave a life of modesty behind them. The young women are given a set of keys which allows them to explore every room in the house - except one (the 'bloody' chamber) , if that room is entered, dire consequences shall follow (death). Naturally the young women ignore the advice of their intimidating, menacing and much older husbands to enter the room and fall into the trap set up for them and like every disobedient child, they MUST be punished. With reading the

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 1382
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Discuss Angela Carter’s Treatment of Innocence and Sexuality In ‘the Bloody Chamber and Other Stories’.

THE BLOODY CHAMBER Discuss Angela Carter's treatment of innocence and sexuality in 'The Bloody Chamber And Other Stories'. Angela Carter's collection of short stories, The Bloody Chamber, is a modern, sensual and fantastic rewriting of familiar fairy tales and legends. Among the themes of 'feminism' and 'sexuality' the author introduces 'Magic Realism' as one of her main stylistic devices. Carter's tales are supposedly celebrations of erotic desire, but male sexuality has too long, too tenaciously been linked with power and possession, the capture, breaking and ownership of women. The explicitly erotic currents in her tales mirror these realities. All conform to recognisably male fantasies of domination, submission and possession. Heterosexual feminists have not yet invented an alternative, anti-sexist language of the erotic. Carter envisages women's sensuality simply as a response to male arousal. She has no conception of women's sexuality as autonomous desire. Here is the sexual model, which endorses the "normal" and natural sadism of the male, happily complemented by the normal and natural masochism of the female. These are themes Carter is keen to reason and portray to her reading audience. Her attitudes towards sexuality are evident in these collected short stories of heavy and rich description. In them she redefines the idea of fairy tales as stories solely for

  • Word count: 533
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Critical Analysis, Snow Child (Angela Carter). Angela Carter brings to plain sight many issues, within modern day human relationships, within the extended metaphor of The Snow Child;

The Snow Child Angela Carter Doug Turner Angela Carter brings to plain sight many issues, within modern day human relationships, within the extended metaphor of 'The Snow Child'; a story built on the basis of the classic fairy tale 'Snow White'. The story starts of with a great sense of danger, the first three words "MIDWINTER - INVINCIBLE, IMMACULATE." Create the picture of a cold, powerful and barren land. The use of capitals further enforces the image of the power of the nature surrounding the characters. Carter uses this dangerous atmosphere to aid the creation of the character of the dominatrix-esque Countess, who wore "high, black shining boots with scarlet heels", the black leather links to fetishes, and the scarlet hints to the reader of the woman's role and therefore superiority, of sexual domination and quite possible causes of pain. Angela Carter immediately forms an air of danger, merged with one of sexual desires. Almost as a hint as to what will transpire as the story progresses. In the story the count wishes for "the child of his desires", a girl "as white as snow", "as red as blood" and "as black as that [raven's] feather". The colours used in this definition are very powerful and are of great importance of the message Carter tries to project. 'White and snow' suggests that the count wants a sexually pure plaything, as white is the purist colour, also

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 1059
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

'Wise Children' What do you find interesting in the way Dora tells her story

What do you find interesting in the way Dora tells her story 'Wise Children' tells the story of the trials and tribulations of Dora and Nora Chance. The story is a first person account from Dora, the often outspoken, flamboyant and open narrator. There are many aspects of Dora story-telling which I find interesting, in particular the way she engages the reader into the text by directly addressing the reader and withholding information. I also find Dora's speech interesting as she appears to possess a lack of restraint as she is often enthusiastic, crude and open to the readers. Dora's narration also conforms the novel to magic realism as she often creates absurd, unrealistic and surreal imagery which she than applies to realistic situations. From the very beginning of the novel Dora directly addresses the reader 'Good morning! let me introduce myself, my name is Dora Chance'. Dora immediately confronts the reader introducing herself, the reader can already establish that Dora is enthusiastic by the use of 'Good morning!', the exclamation mark adds to the effect that Dora is confrontation but also eccentric and flamboyant. Dora continues to engage the reader in the first extract of the novel with lines such as 'Give us a minute, puss, let's have a look out of the window'. The use of 'us' and 'let's' are very effective as the give the reader the feeling that they are in the

  • Word count: 762
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Angela Carter essay

Critics have often disagreed about whether The Bloody Chmaber and Other Stories is a rewriting of the Gothic with fairy-tale elements or a rewriting of the Fairy Tale with Gothic elements. In contrast to the French tradition, Carter's attitude towards defining the fairy-tale is inclusive, recalling the Grimm's practice. Her position is stated explicitly in the introduction to her first edited volume of tales, the Old Wives' Fairy Tale Book. There she defuses terminologyby labelling 'fairy tale' as a 'figure of speech' , and thus allowing her to the bri Carter is widely known for her feminist rewriting of fairy tales; the Bloody Chamber can be viewed as a midway between the disquietingly savage analyses of Gothicism and patriarchy and the revolutionary novels of the 1980's and 1990's. The violence in the events of earlier Gothic novel, for instance (the rapes, the physical and mental abuse of women) are used to mock and explode the constrictive cultural stereotypes, and in celebrating the sheer ability of the female protagonist to survive, unscathed by the sexist ideologies. The tales in the Bloody Chamber contain a great deal of what is means to be Gothic; the hidden themes of excess, social transgression , taboo, and forbidden sexualities, but the narrative itself provides a rewriting of the fairy tales that actively engages the reader in a feminist deconstruction. Gothic

  • Word count: 1618
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

"The Company of Wolves" by Angela Carter

Commentary "The Company of Wolves" by Angela Carter is a moralistic fairytale that retells the story of "Little Red Riding Hood". It uses the wolves as a metaphor for men who would try to take a girl's virginity. The denouement of the story is the girl finally giving in to the pressure of the wolves, but she feels empowered and in control of her actions. The structure of the story firstly shows how a woman is a victim of the wolves, then shows how Red Riding Hood could be a victim of the wolves, and finally ends up that she is in control and has the power in the relationship. This demonstrates the view that women should not accept the ways of men but should dictate how they behave themselves. During the first two parts of the story where women are victims the wolves are described as "beasts", but in the final part of the story where the woman is in control the wolf is described as "tender" as if the female being more dominant has tamed the wild "beast". "A Boy Who Cried to a Wolf" is also a moralistic fairytale and uses ideas from "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" to tell the story of how a family do not trust and do not listen to their son so he gets revenge on them by striking up a friendship with a wolf. The structure of the story is that the boy goes from mild mannered and polite to deranged and overwhelmed with revenge on his family. The figurative language used in "The Company

  • Word count: 806
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

CONSIDER THE WAYS IN WHICH CARTER BLENDS ANIMAL AND HUMAN CHARACTERISTICS IN THE BLOODY CHAMBER. HOW DOES THIS CONTRIBUTE TO THE DESTINATION OF THE STORIES/COLLECTION?

CONSIDER THE WAYS IN WHICH CARTER BLENDS ANIMAL AND HUMAN CHARACTERISTICS IN 'THE BLOODY CHAMBER'. HOW DOES THIS CONTRIBUTE TO THE DESTINATION OF THE STORIES/COLLECTION? In 'The Bloody Chamber', Angela Carter uses the blurring of boundaries between animal and human qualities, usually through characters which are 'liminal beings', to overtly direct readers towards a destination concerning identity. In many of the individual stories, the concept of liminality is used to show how tortured and unsure creatures (be they animals or women) come to embrace their identity. In addition to these journeys of self-discovery in individual stories, the balance and degrees of liminality shift as the whole collection progresses, again leading to an overarching destination concerning identity, as the collection goes from a simple and negative liminality to more affirming and complex liminality. The 'simple and negative' liminality occurs in the very first story of the collection: 'The Bloody Chamber'. Here, the Marquis de Sade is portrayed as a sadistic animal (as his name suggests) parading as a connoisseur, a man of sophistication. Indeed, the female narrator identifies his bestiality before she discovers his violent sadism, with constant references to his lion-like physique ("dark leonine shape of his head", "as if all his shoes had soles of velvet", "There were pure streaks of silver in

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 1236
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

"The Company of Wolves" Comprehension.

Tuesday, 03 December 2002 Jad Salfiti A2 English Literature "The Company of Wolves" Comprehension 'The Company of Wolves' is the retelling of the classic tale of Little Red Riding Hood. Carter's divergence from the original story represents their transformation from girl to women and the wildness within all of us; our connection with nature and the innate biological desires we all have. The story criticises men and their perceptions and makes a critique on their ideas in regard to women. A great theme within 'The Company of Wolves' is the progression from girl to woman. The use of winter acts as an atmospheric device "It is winter and cold weather" in addition the narrator provides a strong sense of location "Step between the portals of the great pine" the world we are entering is a surreal hybrid of everyday reality and a fairy-tale; the story has a bizarre theatrical elements in it. The boundaries between dream, imagination and reality are blurred, just as they are in the mind of the pubescent child. We are told children "do not stay young for long in this savage country". Little Red Riding Hood, being the youngest of her family had been "indulged by her mother and grandmother", who that day had knitted her a red shawl. The two oldest generations of her family are introducing the youngest generation into womanhood, the shawl represents a desire to keep her safe as

  • Word count: 1939
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

How does Angela Carter reinterpret Gothic Conventions in The Tigers Bride, and The Courtship of Mr Lyon?

How does Angela Carter reinterpret Gothic Conventions in ‘The Tigers Bride,’ and ‘The Courtship of Mr Lyon’? Angela Carter reinterprets Gothic Conventions in both ‘The Tigers Bride’, and ‘The Courtship of Mr Lyon.’ These reinterpreted gothic conventions are not merely used by Angela Carter to shock the reader, (typical of the Gothic), but additionally to add a sub-genre. This is clearly the case in both ‘The Tigers Bride’ and ‘Courtship of Mr Lyon’ as the feminist and Marxist message is provided by the subversion of the genre. For instance, in a conventional gothic novel the female is stereotypically either the “trembling victim” or “predator.” In other cases, women remain absent from the Gothic novel all together. However, in both of these short stories from Angela Carters collection ‘The Bloody Chamber,’ this gender role is subverted so the male becomes the victim. This is particularly evident in ‘The Courtship of Mr Lyon’ where Mr Lyon takes the role of the desperate women locked away, needing to be saved. Mr Lyon claims to be “dying” because Beauty left “because you left me.” The state of the lion is covered in the description with imagery of death and decay; “dead” flowers, “groaning” hinges, and “drifting cobwebs.” Beauty therefore takes the role of the male protagonist. There is a mention of otherness as

  • Word count: 741
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

How does Carter portray power throughout the novel Wise Children?

The novel Wise Children, written by Angela Carter, is the memoirs of two song and dance girls, Nora and Dora Chance, following both their trials and tribulations, but also parts of their families. Carter wrote Wise Children once she had discovered she was dying of cancer and suddenly the power to control her life had been taken out of her hands. Throughout the novel, Carter displays the use of power to change the readers perspective on certain things in life, such as when Nora loses her virginity. It is in a back alley with a married man and so could appear seedy and inappropriate, however, Nora chooses this situation, having made clear decisions about how and who with she wants to lose her virginity to, ‘she would have him.’ Nora has the power in this situation, and it is exactly what she wants. This makes it more acceptable, ‘He was the one she wanted, warts and all.’ Nora is not taken advantage of or made to do anything she doesn’t want to, and because she has the power and control at the time, what she is doing does not seem as unacceptable as it would if Nora did not seem to entirely understand what she was doing. Dora wants to be in charge of her own identity and her own opinions, and in control of her own life. Irish, who Dora meets in Hollywood, wants to change Dora to what he thinks is right, ‘he kept on insisting on forgiving me when there was nothing

  • Word count: 1035
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay