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.