"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
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
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
Consider how and to what purpose Angela Carter uses a folk story in any two or three short stories from "The Bloody Chamber"
Consider how and to what purpose Angela Carter uses a folk story in any two or three short stories from "The Bloody Chamber" The purpose of this essay is to explore how Angela Carter uses the stories in "The Bloody Chamber" to make comment on feminism by using well known folk and fairy stories which are almost always male dominated. Although Angela Carter has said "My intention was not to do 'versions' or, as the American version of the book said, horribly, 'adult' fairy tales, but to extract the latent content from the traditional stories and to use it as the beginnings of new stories." (#1) Having said that, it appears there are more similarities than just in the beginning of the stories. If we consider "The Bloody Chamber" which is based on the folk story "The Blue Beard" taken from Charles Perrault's "Tales of Past Times" published in 1729. There are many similarities between the two stories; Firstly in Angela Carter's story there is the Marquis, who like Blue Beard is incredibly wealthy, and has been married several times, with the wives disappearing in unusual circumstances. The male characters both give their new wives the keys to the household, making sure to point to the key to the forbidden room that they must not under any circumstances enter. Angela Carter has brought the story forward in time. So it is modern, but not so far that it is contempory. It is set
Critical Analysis of Tigers Bride, paying particular attention to feminist views.
Critical Analysis of 'Tiger's Bride', paying particular attention to feminist views. In the Tiger's Bride, Carter produces a very feminist view of men's apparent role in human relationships. She suggests to us that men live materialistic lives, and care more about possessions and social status than their partners. Carter also portrays the world that we read about, as very saturated with femininity in the way she often describes elements of the house, or emotions, with links to menstruation, or original sin. Finally, although Beauty is at first, in repulse of the sheer masculine power of the beast, Carter slowly titrates the tone of beauty feelings towards sympathy and love for the animalistic master. Angela Carter expresses an opinion of men in the tiger's bride. She implies that men care more for their social status, and their material goods, than their relationships and loved-ones. "My father's circumstances had changed already; well-shaven, neatly barbered, smart new clothes [...] The beast had clearly paid cash on the nail for his glimpse of my bosom, and paid up promptly, as if it had not been a sight I might have died showing. Then I saw my father's trunks were packed, ready for departure. Could he so easily me here?" Here, Carter expresses how both Beauty's father, and the Beast, care more for satisfying their desires than for the dignity and safety of Beauty, "and
Explore the narrative techniques used by Angela Carter to subvert, reverse and challenge the reader's expectations and assumptions, in 'The Bloody Chamber', 'The Company Of Wolves' and 'The Courtship Of Mr.Lyon'.
AS English Essay on 'The Bloody Chamber' by Angela Carter. Explore the narrative techniques used by Angela Carter to subvert, reverse and challenge the reader's expectations and assumptions, in 'The Bloody Chamber', 'The Company Of Wolves' and 'The Courtship Of Mr.Lyon'. 'The Bloody Chamber', 'The Company Of Wolves' and 'The Courtship Of Mr.Lyon' are stories based on fairy tales that would usually have been read to young children. In each story Angela Carter has managed to twist the once innocent fairy tales into short stories with endings and other twists and dramatic turns that are certainly not expected. She challenges the literary structure of the original fairy tale in such a way that it makes the reader think, it leaves you on a cliffhanger. The stories leave you wondering what might happen. Angela Carter subverts, reverses and challenges the reader's expectations and assumptions in each of the three stories. The storyline in each of Angela Carters stories is very much like the original fairytale it is taken from. The endings of each story have been changed; also there are elements of surprise throughout the stories that are varied from the path we as a reader would normally expect the story to take. Because of the fact that the three stories are based on other stories we expect Angela Carter's version to take a more similar path to the story line. There are
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
'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
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
"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