Final essay question

Question 1) "Angela Carter does not only suggest the deconstruction and redefinition of femininity but also masculinity"

Using ideas from the critical anthology to what extent does Carters 'The Bloody Chamber' agree with this?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Gothic elements and features of 'The Tigers Bride', 'The Courtship of Mr Lyon' and 'The Erl King'

Elements of a gothic novel

• One element of a Gothic novel is the setting of an isolated castle. An example of this in The Bloody Chamber is in The Courtship of Mr Lyon, however in a different way. At the start of the short story, the lions 'perfect palladian house' is spotless and filled with treasures. Whereas, further on in the story Beauty forgets about the lion and when she returns to his home, the door opens into 'perfect darkness', which reflects on the idea of isolation because no one else is around and the space is unaware of Beauty's return. Furthermore, Carter emphasizes the ruin of his home when she describes the 'arabesque of cobwebs'. This portrays the loneliness that he has been subjected to by the isolation of his home.
• Another element of a Gothic novel is one where the plot of the story blurs fantasy and reality. This idea can be seen throughout The Courtship of Mr Lyon and The Tigers Bride as the main male characters are both hybrids of male and creature. The stories are of course an alternative to the typical 'fairy tale' therefore what would one of her stories be without a fantasy element? 
• One of the main aspects of the plot running throughout The Erl King is entrapment. In the sense that the main male character, the Erl king, 'keeps the sweetest singers in cages' referring to the birds in the forest. Although, further on in the novel the female protagonist realizes that the birds are not actually birds, but were once girls like her. 
• In Gothic novels, men are usually in a position of power, and this is seen in all 3 of the short stories. In both The Tigers Bride and The Courtship of Mr Lyon the male characters, or 'beasts', both are suggested to be high up in authority as their houses are described as substantially big and isolated from the rest of society. In The Courtship of Mr Lyon, this is emphasized as every character in the story refers to the beast as 'master'. Similarly in The Tigers Bride, the female protagonist is surrounded by staff that the Beast employs, such as his 'valet'. This suggests wealth and class. Unlike in these 2 stories however, in The Erl King, the male character actually has a named title and actually has real obvious power over many things, i.e. the forest.
• Women are written to be victims, or some sort of subordinate to the male characters in many of Carters short stories. In The Erl King, the female protagonist is a victim of his eyes which are described as a 'black vortex' which suggests entrapment. In The Tigers Bride, she is a victim of her fathers mistreatment of her as he treats her as a possession, something to be 'lost' in a game. Similarly, in The Courtship of Mr Lyon, she finds his difference to her 'intolerable' which suggests that she is uncomfortable by his presence and almost victimised by the fact his physical presence is inhumane. Whereas, nearer the end of the story beauty forgets about the beast and becomes 'mysteriously joyful' to return to him and when she does return, she realizes her undying love for him.
• Fear is a prominent theme running throughout Gothic novels and this is emphasized in Carters The Bloody Chamber, in particular in The Courtship of Mr Lyon. Despite the fact that she soon realizes her love for him, at the start she still 'shudders' at his touch which suggests that she in fact is fearful of him because he is different to her, because he is not human but beast.

The Snow Child questions

1) In what ways does the tale allude to other stories or fairy tales?

The snow child contains one of the main elements of a fairy tale, an evil matriarch. In the story the count wishes for a child with "white skin, red mouth, black hair" which relates to the very famous tale of Snow white. These particular features are seen as ideal in this time period and this angers the countess. Additionally, as in other fairy tales, women are seen as an object of affection, nothing more than something that is pleasant for the eye. Both females in this short story experience and understand the "bite" which unites them in the way that they have both suffered from male dominance and violence. 

2) How does this story link to other stories in The Bloody Chamber collection? 

Carters 'The snow child' also relates to 'The bloody chamber' in the way that Carter has used her body as a symbol for this. She is given no voice and is there as an object of violence and sexual desire. She is seen to be suffering to the subjugation of men through not being given a voice and seen to be powerless after she dies and he "thrusts his virile member into the dead girl". Therefore, as well as being influenced by other existing fairy tales, she is also being influenced by her own writing. This story also links to 'The tigers bride' in the sense that both female protagonists are objectified and controlled by men. This is suggested when Beauty's father "loses me to the beast at cards", similarly in the snow child when he "wishes" for a girl to appear. 

3) The girl melts at the end. Why do you think this is the case? What do you think Carter is trying to communicate?

In this story, the girl exists on account of being wished to be alive, i think she melts at the end to present the lack of control she possesses with the count. Furthermore, i also believe that Carter writes her to melt at the end of their sexual experience because he has no use for her anymore, and this results in a reinforced ideology of patriarchy. 

4) What do you think it means when the Countess says "It bites!" at the end?  What is "it"?

At the end of The Snow Child, the rose is returned to the countess and she says "it bites!". On the one hand, Carter could be showing the countess in a position of power as the phrase could refer to the idea that she is rejecting the rose from him and therefore transcending the stereotypical gender roles, however on the other hand Carter could be suggesting that she too is understanding and being on the receiving end of the patriarchy and the oppressiveness of the count.

The Erl King Questions

1) How is The Erl King presented?

In Angela Carters short story, The Erl King, she presents the main male character in the story to be monster-like and have predatory features such as "White, pointed teeth". This image that Carter presents in the first instance is carried throughout the story through the way he entraps "the sweetest singers in cages", this presents his controlling and predatory nature. In a patriarchal society, women would be allowed no sense of individualism because they are prominently controlled by males. This is shown when Carter describes the 2 of them to be "enclosed in the same integument". The quote suggests that she isn't her own person, but that she's him. Whereas, this imagery is contradicted when the male is characterized as "an excellent housewife". This is one example out of many where Carter has subverted the typical gender roles of the female being centered in the domestic sphere, whereas in the Erl King, it is the male who is shown to be domesticated. Another view of this quote is that it contradicts the very nature that Carter created him to be in the first place. At first he is described as a monster, as a threat, however as suggested by this description of him being an excellent housewife, it takes away any thought of him being a threat and turns him from being active, to passive, which transcends the binary oppositions.

2) How is the narrator presented?

The narrator is a very self-conflicting character within the story. She is bound to him, as if she is under a magic spell to follow him everywhere he goes and in that sense, she is weak and her actions subject her to the stereotypical behavior during the time the book was written. This is suggested when "he whistles out of an elder twig" and "all the birds come". The female protagonist is presented as an animal and this conveys the idea that she is controlled by the erl king because as a woman, she is lead by her emotions even into some that will do her "grievous harm". However, conflicting this idea that she follows him, she isn't "afraid of him", which in fact suggests that she is very strong in her activeness in the novel, which Carter uses to break down the binary oppositions that women are bound by in society during this time period.

3) How does Carter use symbols in this narrative?

In a patriarchal society, women are submissive and second best as a gender to men, this is presented continuously throughout this story through bird imagery. Carter uses the animal to represent a woman's place in society. The Erl King is very controlling through the way he "keeps the sweetest singers in cages". This represents women as a whole in society who are trapped by men due to their authority and power over them. The female protagonist is more so effected by his entrapment and controlling nature as she herself goes "back and back to him" which suggests that she has no control over her feelings. Similarly, the oxymoron used when she admits "he both consoles and devastates me" portrays that she is unsure of him and unsure of her feelings because she is contradicting her words and suggesting multiple ideas. which emphasizes the idea that women are lead by emotion, and are irrational in their behavior and in their thought.

4) How does Carter use allusion to tell the story?

Carter refers to multiple stories throughout the one telling of The Erl King, such as the green eyed monster from othello and "the light is sufficient to itself" by Emily Dickinson. The fact that Carter used allusion throughout her tale gives her spin on a fairy tale a whole different meaning and idea to "normal" fairy tales.

Possible essay questions for "The Tigers Bride".

Question 1) "Angela Carter doesn't only suggest the deconstruction and redefinition of femininity but also masculinity"

Using ideas from the critical anthology and Angela Carters "The Tigers Bride" to what extent do you agree with this view?

Question 2) "Carter explores the themes of psychic transformation, liberating her protagonists from conventional gender roles"

Using ideas from the critical anthology and Angela Carters"The Tigers Bride" to what extent do you agree with this view?

Question 3) "Carters goal is the elimination of gender differences, proposing the model of androgyny, with men and women adopting a combination of masculine and feminine attributes"

Using ideas from the critical anthology and Angela Carters "The Tigers Bride" to what extent do you believe she achieves this?

Overall analysis of the courtship of Mr Lyon and The tigers bride - Professor M.A Meyre Ivone Santana Da Silva

Task 1 - Questions about the essay

• What is psychic transformation?
• What does Intertextuality mean?
• At what point in either "The courtship of Mr Lyon" and "The Tigers Bride" does Carter refer to the biblical reference of The Garden of Eden?

Task 2 - Reducing it down

5 sentences -

• "What is beautiful cannot be beastly and what is beastly cannot be beautiful"
• Carter deconstructs some familiar polarities using fantasy and grotesque, as in the representation of a metamorphosis of the woman into beast, or a beast that is transformed into a man but remains with scraps of beast.
• Defloration is linked with female destruction, it causes abjection and the woman's sexuality is denied.
• Carter presents the female as a creation of the patriarchal society. The female is seen as a social construct, a simulacrum that satisfies the male needs.
• Language is seen as an ideological construction that empowers man and inspires dominance and control.

5 words -

• Defloration
• Metamorphosis
• Patriarchy
• Dominance
• Social construct

One key idea -

• Metamorphosis

Summary

The whole essay is showing that Carter is a feminist writer who breaks females out of the social conventions that they are bound by, being female in a patriarchal society. The essay notes that in both The Tigers Bride and The Courtship of Mr Lyon, Carter demonstrates the breaking down of polar opposites slowly as the novel goes on. In The Courtship of Mr Lyon the narrator is aware of her submissive role in society, similarly in The Tigers Bride where the female protagonist is subjected to being a prize given away in a game by her father, as a possession to be lost. The essay shows this and explains the way that Carter subverts the binary opposites and gives females power in a way that they can't in daily life.