wise old grandmother tells her granddaughter a series of cautionary tales about the wolf that lurks within all men. Young women fall prey to heavily eye browed lotharios, babies are found inside stork eggs and all the time wolves are stalking the woods and villages.
Similarly, the werewolf of 'The Company of Wolves' (ibid, 110 - 118), when he appears as a dashing young hunter, is associated with the Narrative Tenses, but the moment of his metamorphosis, when he kills and eats Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother, is told largely in the Simple Present:
In the last two passages, the good-enough reader will have noted that there has been a change in the point of view or putative origin of the text. In both cases we switch from a point of view inside the story (the young Englishman in the first instance, the grandmother in the second) to one outside the story - the external narrator. In cinematographic terms, we draw back from close-up to long-shot. Another way of putting it would be to say that we move from the time of the tale itself back to the time of its narration.
This may help explain why the relationship between the human and the Simple Past on the one hand and the non-human and the Simple Present on the other is not fully consistent. In the passage I have just quoted, a change of point of view from the grandmother watching the werewolf strip off his clothes, preparatory to becoming a wolf, to an external narrator ('The last thing the old lady saw ...') is accompanied by a switch from the Simple Present to the Simple Past, which then changes back to the Present with a general statement about the nature of the wolf.
When the girl enters the cottage and discovers the killer - although the text is ambiguous as to whether he is at this moment fully wolf or human - the writing weaves back and forth from the Simple Past to the Simple Present, the latter being used mainly in unpunctuated conversation :
It is this weaving together of the two Tense systems which is characteristic of the writing of these tales, rather than any strict relationship - a tension between Narrative, which is characterized by the linking together of a series of events distributed in time, and what Weinrich has called Commentary, but which in the present instance is more of an epic system, outside time, a world in which archetypal characters and episodes are fixed, as it were, in amber.
2. There is a rich and compelling force of the writing of Angela Carter, which effectively suspends our disbelief in her subject matter. Discuss.
Carter was a notable promoter of magic realism, who added into it Gothic themes, violence, and eroticism. She utilized throughout her work the language and characteristic motifs of the fantasy genre. Her work represents a successful combination of post-modern literary theories and feminist politics. Within the captivating short stories in "The Bloody Chamber", Carter talks bout masculinity and femininity and the way society looks at it. She is able to combine the two together very well through fairy tales and using it as a way to explore the female identity. Carter is seen by many as "attempting to recapture the lost lands of her sex, and as writing, for herself and her fellows, a kind of archaeology of the female psyche, in which the fairy tales of the little girl, the Romances of the teenager, and then the sharper tones of the young adult, are scrutinised with the cold eye of the boudoir philosopher.
In "The Bloody Chamber", Angela Carter reworks some of the West's best-known fairy-tales, transforming them with "brilliantly baroque imagery" and from a perspective that owes almost as much to Freud as it does to feminism.
Some readers of Angela Carter's "The Bloody Chamber" have seen its narrator-protagonist as a passive young woman who makes little attempt to avoid her apparent fate. Several features of the text, however, suggest that the protagonist is rather a woman in process, a person who fluctuates between passivity and action. The features that suggest a woman in process are Carter's engagement of ideas also appearing in Susan Gubar's essay on Isak Dinesen's short story "The Blank Page"; Carter's use of mirrors to show the protagonist's emerging sense of subjectivity; and references to Richard Wagner's opera Tristan and Isolde (Notes on Revisionist Fairy Tales). In addition, the heroine's comments at the end of the story indicate that she continues to be a woman in process, relating her story as an attempt to expiate her shame. Carter's women are allowed a vigour that enables them to save themselves or rescue each other, unlike the women of the traditional fairy-tales. Angela Carters use of desperate circumstances transforms the fairy tale conventions beyond its boundaries and into the realm of gothic fantasy. She also uses sustained periods of tense feelings to create an atmosphere of pressure fear. Also by adding horrific detail and descriptive/strong references to sexuality the story no longer fits into the classic fairy tale genre. bd.
When describing Marquis, Carter uses a lot of heavy descriptions, giving every word and ominous meaning and thus leaving us with disturbing images of his character. When telling us of the heroine's first opera visit, Carter highlights the perversity of their age difference through very subtle and tactful ways. She does not give us figures, but situations that show the girl's premature ness and Marquis' maturity. For example the first time the protagonist goes to the opera is when she was a mere child, yet Marquis was already married to his opera singer wife at that time.
When describing the gift Marquis gave his naïve, infantile wife; the ruby chocker, Carter uses many similes/imageries linking to blood and flesh. In doing so, she is able to create an extremely pervert and extraordinary environment for us, conveying a sense of terror within the readers. Her reference to "the Terror" brings blood and gore to our minds, as we remember the aristocrats being guillotined. The dark, red, black images we are presented with bring us back to the Gothic genre, breaking fairy tale boundaries. Carter does not always use blood to signify terror, but she uses it to show innocence and naivety; when "the blood rushed to her face again", the blood rises here out of shyness.
Many find it difficult to read Carter's work as a feminist story, but at times as an anti-feminist one. The protagonist seems to pathetic, childish and so weak that she allows herself to get corrupted. There are many moments when she lets herself be infantilised by Marquis, through the way he talks to her, "pets" her and even looks at her. Carter is able to correct these readers' misconception by introducing the mother who possess masculine characteristics as the protagonist's saviour, "knight in shining armour". The grand entrance of the mother on her horse has a lot of classical imagery, making it very powerful; allowing the mother to break the binary system between victim and victor.
Angela Carter makes good use of narrative, plots, imagery and language to create scenes in horrific detail that helps to capture the reader's attention.
Angela Carter Weber theorised gemini2003's marxism .
Angela Carter believed in the importance of style, as well as ideas. At times this can look 'floral' and she said herself some of her writing did not always succeed as well as she wanted- I think she had doubts about the 'Sadeian Woman'. But at its best it is clear, striking, allusive and powerfully direct: The Bloody Chamber?
Angela loved daring stylists such as Ronald Firbank and Peter Greenaway. OK, they can lapse into pretentiousness at worst, but most other art is boring and predictable.
Angela's prose is wonderfully fresh and defiantly exhibitionist Marx suppressed gemini2003's marxism hypothesis.
think you have misinterpreted Carter's unique and often disturbing mastery of language. She is not flowery, elaborate, or extravagant, but fearless and direct in her ability to examine feminist politics and human malice in fairy tales, in relationships, in the world. I question how much you have read of Carter. Do you think it is enough to warrant this assertion against her? Perhaps an example of what you believe to be floral language (with some sort of explication) might help Carter fans at least appreciate and consider your opinon. This coursework from www.coursework.info
"The Bloody Chamber", as much for the macabre content as the fact that she massacred our beloved fairytales. However, I can see how a student of English (as I am) could get frustrated by the seeming lack of soul these characters have. Carter takes black and white fairytale characters and attempts to express them in modern, human terms. It doesn't quite work and we are left with the feeling of having read some naughty stories for Adults, based on stories for kids. gemini2003, please do not redistribute this hypothesis. We work very hard to create this website, and we trust our visitors to respect it for the good of other students. Please, do not circulate this hypothesis elsewhere on the internet. Anybody found doing so will be permanently banned.
Well, maybe tha's the point...
Maybe she wanted us to think about it:
what's a character?
What do you mean when you say a
character has soul or psychological
depth or consistency?
And what about people? Could some people
be as two-dimensional as fairy-tales
characters? For example, because they
just play the role everybody expects
them to play, without even being aware
of it?
If this isn't clear, think of Stephen
(if I remember his name correctly - the
guy who started this dicussion), he is
the perfect example of a
stock-character. He makes me feel like
I've known him all my life,
unfortunately...
I think Angela Carter did not only aim
at being "naughty" (or do you actually
mean "a pervert"?) when she wrote The
Bloody Chamber, I think she wanted to
shock the reader into realizing that
what we call reality is not given, but
shaped by ideas that are forced on us,
from the cradle, and presented to us as
"truth", even through fairy-tales.
ex: "stories for kids" ? Do you mean
innocent stories, as opposed to
"naughty" ones? How come these innocent
stories have so much violence in them?
But then again, I'm not saying Angela
Carter had all the answers . At least,
she asked the questions... no wonder
people who take their own superiority
for granted don't like her writing !
(hello, Stephen, this is for you, even
if I'm pretty sure youcoaa aar seaaaaw oraa aak inaa foaa aa.
I am a (female) teacher of English Lit. At a university which shall remain nameless and I am in agreement with Stephen that she is over-rated. A dislike of one contemporary feminist author does not make a person a snob or anti-feminist, and an irritation at the pretentious verbosity of Carter's prose doesn't mean he is illiterate. Did anyone else notice that the guy who criticised S's spelling wrote 'at lease', by the way? I merely ask. COdsAlUX from COdsAlUX coursewrok COdsAlUX work COdsAlUX info COdsAlUX
Hey stephen. I too thought that Angela Carter was feminist drivel that was until I read it! I mean, she makes her cases perfectly clear - all she wants is for this male-dominated world to wake up and realise women do have power, are able to use it and are not all pink and flowery. Her writing isn't flowery and neither are her morals! .info
Hey, Stephen,
I'm also a student of English (at AS level) and I was warned by friends in years above me that Angela Carter was boring flowery weird drivel.
And I believed it, even after the first time I'd read the bloody chamber.
But I suggest that if you still think this, you should be having serious thoughts about getting extra help from your English teacher.
Carter's style of writing is called 'opaque' writing - it means the way in which she conveys her meaning is very important, as well as the actual meaning. Her use of words not found in most people's vocabulary are not to challenge or demean her readers but to allow her to say *exactly* what she means (for example, Prothalamion). She uses the language she does not because she is over-decorative or hiding a gap in her narrative ability, but because it is important to her how her message is conveyed.
I think, anyway...coee eer seeeeew oree eek inee foee ee!
Like everyone else in the West, I grew up with them: the tales of curious virgins, mysterious heroes, vampires, witches and werewolves. We heard them as fairytales in our childhood, saw them again as the vampire films of the l950s, but I thought I had mainly forgotten them until I picked up a remarkable book. Marx obfuscated gemini2003's structuralism theory.
In The Bloody Chamber Angela Carter reworks some of the West's best known fairy- tales, transforming them with brilliantly baroque imagery and from a perspective that owes almost as much to Freud as it does to feminism.cobg bgr sebgbgw orbg bgk inbg fobg bg.
In the first and the longest story of the collection - The Bloody Chamber - the virgin protagonist is transported in a tender, delicious ecstasy of excitement, 'into the unguessable country of marriage'. It's a familiar tale - that of Bluebeard's Castle - and one which could be taking place at any time in history or anywhere throughout the world where the woman marries into a strong patriarchy and gives herself up to powerlessness.coba bar sebabaw orba bak inba foba ba.
As a child the Bluebeard tale left me with the moral that 'nasty things would happen to girls who were too curious'. In Carter's reworking things happen rather differently. The new bride unlocks the secret chamber and finds the bodies of Bluebeard's earlier wives. As she puts it: 'I only did what he knew I would'. And as the story unfolds she knows that her impending doom is not merely a punishment for disobedience: the castle is stuffed with the trappings of power turning into sadism, and tales of the ancestral family's murderous woman-hunts are whispered through the neighbourhood. Our protagonist knows that she is in the hands of a psychopath and she is saved because she is crafty enough to play for time and because her mother tucks up her skirts, gallops up and rescues her. It's a fine feminist departure from the traditional tale in which the vulnerable damsel is saved by some burly male. Carter's women are allowed a vigour that enables them to save themselves or rescue each other. k 852Nehk82 work 852Nehk82 info 852Nehk82
They also experience sexual desire. The central character of The Bloody Chamber realizes that the Bluebeard character was drawn to marry her because 'I sensed in myself a potentiality for corruption that took my breath away'. Carter explores the tale's inherent sadomasochism. In her husband's secret drawer the bride finds a note from a murdered wife proclaiming: 'The supreme and unique pleasure of love is the certainty that one is doing evil'. As soon as this patriarch persuades his wives to join in the fun he punishes them with death. This hypothesis from www.coursework.info
In the world in which we grow up, women are currency: 'My father lost me to The Beast at cards' begins The Tiger's Bride. When she rides out with the beasts, she notes: 'The six of us - mounts and riders, both - could boast amongst us not one soul... since all the best religions in the world state categorically that not beasts nor women were equipped with the flimsy, insubstantial things'. Small wonder then that she chooses to become a beast herself, sending back to her father the obedient clockwork maid 'to perform the part of my father's daughter'. PD9InOEI Visit
In this collection, questions of women's sexuality come up time and time again. At times Carter's work seems to come close to pornography. Published in 1979, this book looks more closely at women's sexual liberation and orgasm than most writers do today.
So what can a woman's life and her sexuality be? With Carter it is not always clear. Take the case of her Little Red Riding Hood, pubescent and as fearless as the handsome werewolf she longs to kiss. This tantalizing tale ends at its climax, and I still don't know what the moral of it is. But perhaps the wish to find a 'moral' is suspect. Perhaps, in the relatively liberated late twentieth century we should be reading the old tales quite differently. Angela Carter gives us a chance to do so.
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 of Wolves" to describe the wolves or their incarnations as human men is often evil or menacing, "forest assassins" and "Carnivore incarnate," this is saying the wolf lives solely to eat meat and is particularly vicious. Other figurative language is used to describe Red Riding Hood succumbing and losing her innocence, "The thin muslin went flaring up the chimney like a magic bird." The muslin is a pure and natural material and its disappearing up the chimney could symbolize her abandoning her innocence. Figurative language in "The Boy Who Cried to a Wolf" is less common but when William is in his "cherished place" the adjectives used are more pleasant "hazy sunshine".
The conventions of fairytales are that there is a happy ending, the strong male figure usually saves the day and the villain is killed or sent far away from the Heroes, this is true in "Little Red Riding Hood" where the woodcutter kills the wolf and saves Red Riding Hood. In "The Company of Wolves" the conventions have been subverted and the heroin ends up losing her innocence but has power and control over her actions. "The Boy Who Cried to a Wolf" is similarly subverted from the conventions of fairy tales where the main protagonist, William Hallwater befriends the wolf and they plot to kill William's parents.
In "The Company of Wolves" Angela Carter uses more complex sentence types as the story is full of vivid descriptions and it portrays emotions and feelings. This is complemented well by the complex use of lexis. "The Boy Who Cried to a Wolf" also uses complex sentence types. The very nature of the story means that there are strong independent main clauses as well as subordinate clauses. The lexical choice in "The Boy Who Cried to a Wolf" is simpler than that of "The Company of Wolves" but it sticks closer to the lexical conventions of a fairytale.
"The Company of Wolves" uses the symbolism of wolves as men who hunt girls and try to take their innocence in a cunning crafty way like a wolf. Red Riding Hood taking control and having the power is a symbol of changing in women's roles in society and shows a change from timid and obedient to dominant and equal. "The Boy Who Cried to a Wolf" uses William's parents to symbolize everything that stops you getting on in life and arrogance. The wolf symbolizes free spirit and free will, which is what William requires.
The audience for "The Company of Wolves" would probably be older than the audience for "The Boy Who Cried to a Wolf" because although both a fairly easy to read it may be harder to pick up on some of the connotations in "The Company of Wolves".
I originally wrote the story in first person but I found that this limited the story so I wrote it again in third person intrusive as then I could write with a less biased view of my characters behaviour. I was also going to stick closer to the original fairytale but the ending already had a sharp twist and it would have meant changing the direction of the story half way through to reach a original and moralistic denouement.
The Company of Wolves is a reworking of the traditional story of Little Red Riding Hood as envisaged by Angela Carter. The film depicts the dreams of an adolescent girl and the influences of her sometimes-sinister grandmother. The film also features some remarkable special effects used to depict the transformation from human to beast.
The Company Of Wolves bears many startling similarities to the fairy tale it was based on - a traditional form of story telling that is surreally allegorical and rich in imagery. It draws upon the subconscious, breaks free of reason, exists on its symbolism, and contains layer upon layer of hidden meaning. But to describe it as a fairy tale is also a misnomer, for it is frightening in its violence, and peopled by ambiguous evil characters inhabiting a dangerous world. And it is also a dream. At least there are strong indications that it is a dream, but at its close the 'real world' is violated by the dreamscape, just as Little Red Riding Hood is violated by the wolf. And throughout the film the boundaries between dream, imagination and reality are blurred, just as they are in the mind of the pubescent child.
The Company Of Wolves is pure fable. It says one thing, yet means another. It is a simple tale that seeks by constant repetition to express a universal moral, taking the form of old wives tales and folklore. Rosaleen is at an age that makes her ripe for temptation. Her innocence is fragile and she would see it lost, but the village boys are clowns. She stands flanked by her grandmother, the voice of superstition - "Beware the wolf that is hairy on the inside", and her mother, the voice of reason - "If there is a beast in men, it meets its match in woman". Throughout the film there is a deliberate intention to communicate a secondary meaning. There is criticism of and comment on the effect of social, sexual and religious taboos on women's place in the world.
The iconography of the film firmly reasserts the passing childhood and innocence of Rosaleen. The toys are the images of the nursery become threatening as Rosaleen's sister is pursued through the toyroom-become-forest. The forest is no longer the twee world inhabited by friendly nursery rhyme animals but one where nature as tooth and claw is a threatening fight for survival. Into this world come the grandmother, not the friendly cherished one of myth but a folkloric witch-like figure who despises the religion of men as much as she despises men themselves, and the wolves of the title, attractive dark strangers who offer the unknown qualities of sex, but whose eyebrows meet in the middle and who are hairy on the inside. Rosaleen's immanent initiation into womanhood is signified by a pot of red lipgloss stolen from her elder sister and used as a repeated reference at important moments in the film. Its use as an icon is reflected in the red shawl knitted for her by her grandmother and later significantly discarded upon instructions from her wolf.
The cinematography of The Company Of Wolves continues a theme of red in the lighting and symbolism. The face of the full moon is suffused by red light, a severed head taints a bowl of milk with blood, the petals of a white flower slowly change to red, and a few drops of blood fall onto a drift of snow. Red as a colour is a code for danger, passion and sex, three themes and threads
contained within the film. Red, too, is associated not only with blood, but by association with menstruation and the passage into womanhood, itself linked with the moon. Significantly, the full moon is also the key, through lycanthropy, to the werewolf myths that also lie at the heart of the film.
Thus the film challenges the conventional view of little girls growing up and emphasises the estrangement that occurs at this traumatic time of life. Rosaleen is withdrawn from family life and her dream begins with the shocking death of her sister, effectively cutting herself off from what she is soon to become - a young woman. Sibling jealousy may be involved but it is her own distorted view of the world which distances her. These distortions are sown in her dream mind by her grandmother and fertilised by the supernatural tales she regales her with. But, unlike the fairy tales we all know from childhood, there are no happy endings in this dreamworld, as there are none in real life. It is a lesson we all learn as adults.
The film does not have a traditional narrative structure, rather it consists of stories layered within dreamworld layered within reality. There are no clear boundaries, the film is episodic within a framework. And the boundaries between reality and dream are blurred, and with the entry of the wolves into the real world there is dilemma rather than restoration at the end of the film.
Angela Carter makes good use of dismal situations in both ‘The Bloody Chamber´ to gain control of the readers attention.
Angela Carter makes good use of dismal situations in both 'The Bloody Chamber´ to gain control of the readers attention.
The major sense of desperation arises when the heroine enters the bloody chamber in her newly wedded husbands castle. The impact of this moment is powerful because up to now the bride is portrayed as a naïve blushing bride. At this point it can be sensed that death awaits her. Once she passes the ill-lit corridor she crosses the boundary into the realm of death, mutilation, blood and horror. The passage leading up to this point has been thoroughly described by Carter. Angela Carter goes as far as to personify the chamber walls, "they gleamed as if they were sweating with fright."cofc fcr sefcfcw orfc fck infc fofc fc.
Initially the narrative begins in an excited garbled state, but as the description becomes detailed it invokes a sense of immediacy. At the height of suspense we are led to the dead corpse with, "the dead lips smiled" making the situation even more drastic. Carter then strangely begins to describe the surroundings with elegant imagery, "yet the skull was still so beautiful, had shapes with sheer planes…."
As the bride becomes familiar with her surroundings there is a growing sense of tension and when she finally comes face to face with the previous bride she is overwhelmed and is forced to escape the horrors. The imagery used at this point is particularly gruesome and highlights the use of dismal situations by Angela Carter, "She was pierced, not by one but by one hundred spikes."
Angela Carters use of desperate circumstances transforms the fairy tale conventions beyond its boundaries and into the realm of gothic fantasy. Carter also uses sustained periods of tense feelings to create an atmosphere of pressure fear. Also by adding horrific detail and descriptive references to sexuality the story no longer fits into the classic fairy tale genre.
Angela Carter makes good use of narrative, plots, imagery and language to create scenes in horrific detail that helps to capture the reader's attention.
Angela Carter also uses unpromising situations in 'The Tigers Bride´ to capture the audience. The Tigers Bride is a reworking of beauty and the Beast. Angela Carter tries to engage the reader by using language and imagery; in fact the daughter is not disgusted by the tiger but by his mask. Carter also uses alliteration with the soft sound of s making the description of the beast sound comforting where in reality he is far from it, "He must bathe himself in scent, soak his shirt…."
The heroines´ reaction to the beasts´ situation is pity and she confronts her fear by exposing herself to the beast as well. The actual moment of the tiger's nakedness has a powerful impact on beauty. This can be supported by, "The annihilating vehemence of his eyes, like twin suns." Beauty's response to the beast's naked form is, "I felt my breast's ripped apart as if I suffered a marvellous wound."
The final transformation occurs when Beauty joins the tiger in his own environment, where the laws of the material world have no meaning. This is a key point where all the disturbed emotions become resolved. This can be proven when beauty says,
I, white, shaking, raw approaching him as if offering, in myself, the key to a peaceable kingdom in which his appetite need not be my extinction.
Carters use of a desperate situation where the heroine is not a victim but a character that is strong and in control, takes this story away from the traditional convention of fairytales. Also Beauty's transformation takes this genre into the realm of fantasy. The strong references to sexuality also go against the conventions of fairy tales.
In the climax of the story where the situation seems to become desperate and hopeless, Carter empowers beauty. Consequently beauty is able to control her desires. I believe by doing this Carter can manipulate the structure and rules of the genre. Carters´ use of desperate situations and emotional instability totally contradicts the fairy
Carters´ use of the above techniques takes apart the readers expectations of this genre, leaving them open minded to almost anything. Ultimately Carter thus keeps the reader interested and intrigued