Task 1:Elements of the Bloody Chamber
Task
2: Angela Carter Research
Task 3: Charles Perrault and the Brothers
Grimm Fairy Tales Research
Task 4: Baudelaire Research
Task
5: Marquis De Sade Research
Task
6: Inter-textual References Research
Task
7: Defining Terminology
Task 8 : Basic Questions
Task 9 : Developed Questions
Task 10: Complex Questions
Task 11: Magical Realism Research
Task 9 : Developed Questions
Task 10: Complex Questions
Task 11: Magical Realism Research
Leonine: (Free Dictionary)
'a type of English verse'
However there are also other
references mentioned which show 'Leonine' as a remark
given towards something or someone with the resemblance of a
lion or particular features of a lion. This is a feature found in the Marquis
(York Notes) ;
"I could see the dark, leonine shape of his head" our narrator also more obviously relates this term.
"His curling mane was disordered, as if he had run his hands through it in his distraction".
"I could see the dark, leonine shape of his head" our narrator also more obviously relates this term.
"His curling mane was disordered, as if he had run his hands through it in his distraction".
Fugue: (Google Search definition)
1(Music): a contrapuntal
composition in which a short melody or phrase (the subject) is introduced by
one part and successively taken up by others and developed by interweaving the
parts.
2 (Psychiatry) a loss of awareness
of one's identity, often coupled with flight from one's usual environment,
associated with certain forms of hysteria and epilepsy.
Rococo: (Google Search definition)
In terms of an adjective : denoting
furniture or architecture characterized by an elaborately ornamental late
baroque style of decoration prevalent in 18th-century continental Europe, with
asymmetrical patterns involving motifs and scroll-work.
For the noun
use : style of art, decoration, or architecture.
Minimalist: Someone who associates
themselves with minimal change or reform usually described in political
matters. However being a minimalist may also link to lacking style, design or a
persona.
Chamber Music: A particular form of Classical
music composed for a small number of instruments . Due to its intimate nature
it can sometimes be described as 'the music of friends' due to the close
intimacy in which it is played.
Florid:
1. Having a red of flushed
complexion
2. Excessively intricate or
elaborate
3. Disease in manifestations
occurring in a fully developed form.
“The short story is not minimalist, it is rococo. I feel in absolute control. It is like writing chamber music rather than symphonies."- Angela Carter 1980 Interview
“The short story is not minimalist, it is rococo. I feel in absolute control. It is like writing chamber music rather than symphonies."- Angela Carter 1980 Interview
Task 2: Research Angela Carter
a.) During years was she
alive?
Angle Carter was born on the 7th of
May 1940, and died on the 16th of February 1992.
b.) Where has she lived?
Carter was born in London during
WW2 and was evacuated away to Yorkshire in response. After High School she studied
English Literature at the University of Bristol.
c.) How is Carter linked to Jane Eyre?
At the time just before her death, Carter had started work on
a sequel to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre based on the later life of Jane's
stepdaughter, Adèle Varens; unfortunately only a synopsis survived.
d.) What genres has she
written in?
Gothic fiction , Magic Realism ,
Short story sequence, postmodernist eclecticism, violence, and eroticism,
fantasy...
e.) In a list of 50 great
writers since 1945 , where did The Times rank Carter?
Angela Carter was placed 10th in
the 50 greatest writers since WW2 by The Times.
f.)
Name some of Carter's influences
Carter was
heavily influenced by Charles Perrault especially his collection of fairy tales 'Histories ou Contes du Temps
passé' published in 1697
well before her existence. The themes of The
Bloody Chamber and Other Stories are
influenced by Marquis de Sade particularly Justine , a sexually violent
writing. Isak Dinesen's 'Seven
Gothic Tales' is also claimed to be a precursor in Carter's writing
format. Angela Carter said herself that Anne's Rice 'The Vampire Chronicles' influenced her writing 'The Lady of the House of Love'.
Task 3: Research Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales
a.)During what
years was Perrault alive?
January 12 1628 -
May 16 1703
b.)What is
Perrault famous for inventing?
It is widely
claimed that Perrault laid the foundations for the fairy-tale genre.
c.)What was
his most famous book called?
Charles Perrault
wrote many famous tales including Red
Riding Hood , Cinderella , Puss in Boots , The Sleeping Beauty In the Wood
and of course Bluebeard all under the Tales of Mother Goose
d.)When and
where was this published?
1695-1697 . The first public appearance was made In Worcester , Massachusetts.
e.)What did he
use as the basis for his tales?
He actually didn't write them from scratch but based
them on the old fables and stories based on folk motifs. We should know all his
writings, including fairy tales were intended for intellectuals and nobility.
Although his views could be considered as reactionary, they were very liberal
for 17th century.
f.)How many
tales did Perrault publish within this book?
Eight tales were
written by Perrault; Cinderella
, Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty In the Wood , Bluebeard, Puss in Boots ,The
Fairies , Ricky of the tuft , Little Thumb.
g.)When and where were the Brothers Grimm Fairy
Tales published?
1812 Germany
h.)Where did the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales draw
their influence from?
"At Marburg they came under the influence of
Clemens Brentano, who awakened in both a love of folk poetry, and Friedrich
Karl von Savigny, cofounder of the historical school of jurisprudence, who
taught them a method of antiquarian investigation that formed the real basis of
all their later work. Others, too, strongly influenced the Grimms, particularly
the philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), with his ideas on folk
poetry. Essentially, they remained individuals, creating their work according
to their own principles.At that time the brothers had definitely given up
thoughts of a legal career in favour of purely literary research. In the years
to follow they lived frugally and worked steadily, laying the foundations for
their lifelong interests. Their whole thinking was rooted in the social and
political changes of their time and the challenge these changes held. Jacob and
Wilhelm had nothing in common with the fashionable “Gothic” Romanticism of the
18th and 19th centuries. Their state of mind made them more Realists than
Romantics. They investigated the distant past and saw in antiquity the
foundation of all social institutions of their days. But their efforts to
preserve these foundations did not mean that they wanted to return to the past.
From the beginning, the Grimms sought to include material from beyond their own
frontiers—from the literary traditions of Scandinavia, Spain, the Netherlands,
Ireland, Scotland, England, Serbia, and Finland”.
“They first collected folk songs and tales for their
friends Achim von Arnim and Brentano, who had collaborated on an influential
collection of folk lyrics in 1805, and the brothers examined in some critical
essays the essential difference between folk literature and other writing. To
them, folk poetry was the only true poetry, expressing the eternal joys and
sorrows, the hopes and fears of mankind". (Encyclopedia Britannica)
Task 4: Research Baudelaire
Task 4: Research Baudelaire
a.) During which years was he alive?
Charles Baudelaire was born on the 9th of April 1821
In Paris-France, passing away on the 31st August August 1867.
b.) Where did
he live and work
“As a young man, Baudelaire studied law at the Lycée
Louis-le-Grand. Dissatisfied with his choice of profession, he began to drink
daily, hire prostitutes and run up considerable debts. Upon obtaining his
degree in 1839, Baudelaire chose not to pursue law—to his mother’s chagrin—and
turned to a career in literature instead.In 1841, Baudelaire's stepfather sent
him on a voyage to India, in an effort to redirect his stepson's energy. The
themes of the sea, sailing and exotic ports that appeared in Baudelaire's later
poetry were largely inspired by this experience. Upon his return to Paris,
Baudelaire became friends with other authors and artists. He also began a
lifelong relationship with Jeanne Duval. When his parents rejected the
coupling, a troubled Baudelaire attempted suicide. Baudelaire soon began to
publish his writing. His first published work was an 1845 art review, which attracted
immediate attention. Many of his critical opinions, including his championing
of Delacroix, were bold and prophetic. In 1846, Baudelaire wrote his second art
review, establishing himself as an advocate of Romanticism”. (Wikipedia)
Les Fleurs du mal afforded Baudelaire a degree of
notoriety; writers such as Gustave Flaubert and Victor Hugo wrote in praise of
the poems. Flaubert wrote to Baudelaire claiming, “You have found a way to
inject new life into Romanticism. You are unlike anyone else [which is the most
important quality].” Unlike earlier Romantics, Baudelaire looked to the urban
life of Paris for inspiration. He argued that art must create beauty from even
the most depraved or “non-poetic” situations.
d.) How is he
like the Romantic poets?
While describing art as dependent upon the
historical contingencies associated with artistic value, however, Baudelaire
also agrees with earlier strands of Romanticism that the artist is the gifted
creator of a timeless and abstract ideal.
Baudelaire confronts the same problem as Wordsworth:
by what standards can we judge an aesthetic object as eternal when we,
ourselves, are only human; when the artist who created it, though perhaps more
talented than ordinary human beings, is just as fallible and mortal as the rest
of us?
e.) What is
his most famous poetry collection called and when it was published?
He is most known for his scandalous work of poetry,
Les Fleurs du Mal (Flowers of Evil), (1857), his translations and commentaries
of the work of Edgar Allen Poe and his depiction of the modern artist in Le
Peintre de la Vie Moderne (The Painter of Modern Life), (1863).
f.) What are
the themes of this collection which has been called both 'putried' (by Habas)
and 'unyielding as marble' (by Flaubert)?
The
Flowers of Evil is organized in six sections, which group the poems by
themes—"Spleen and Ideal," "Parisian Scenes,"
"Wine," "Flowers of Evil," "Revolt," and
"Death." In his journal, Baudelaire once wrote: "There are in
every man at all times two simultaneous impulses — one toward God, the other
toward Satan." This contest between two impulses underlies many of the
themes in The Flowers of Evil. To some critics, this contest is a classic
Christian struggle between good and evil. To others, the poet's fascination
with sin and redemption is more closely related to his perception of a conflict
between the ideal and the actual. For Baudelaire, the goal of art was to find
redemption through beauty from the unpleasant aspects of human existence. Many
critics believe the struggles that underlie The Flowers of Evil have less to do
with religion than with the triumphs and defeats of the creative process. Baudelaire's
moral, psychological, and spiritual conflicts are particularly evident in the
three cycles of love poems included in The Flowers of Evil. He wrote poetry for
three different mistresses, traditionally identified as Apollonie Sabatier
("White Venus"), Jeanne Duval ("Black Venus"), and Marie
Daubrun ("Green Venus"). Sabatier is treated reverently, in almost
celestial terms, in poems that contrast with darker pieces about the other
women. The latter works are more sexually explicit, and they contain elements
of sadism. Collectively, the love poems provide an important and, to some,
frightening commentary on Baudelaire's conflicting feelings about women, whom
he appears to have alternately worshiped and loathed. Camille Paglia argues
that Baudelaire demonstrates an aversion to women's sexuality—particularly
their fertility.
g.) Find out
two more interesting facts about Baudelaire.
Baudelaire did
actually attempt suicide before not long before his stepfather's death in 1857.
Charles also took part in the 1848 Revolutions writing a revolutionary
newspaper.
Task 5: Research Marquis de Sade
a.) What books did he write?
Sade's fiction has been tagged under many different
titles, including pornography, Gothic, and baroque. Sade’s most famous books
are often classified not as Gothic but as libertine novels, and include the
novels Justine, or the Misfortunes of Virtue; Juliette; The 120 Days of Sodom;
and Philosophy in the Bedroom.
b.) What were his views on sexual preference?
Sade was very famous for his libertine sexuality. A libertine is one devoid of most moral restraints, which are seen as unnecessary or undesirable, especially one who ignores or even spurns accepted morals and forms of behaviour sanctified by the larger society. Libertines put value on physical pleasures, meaning those experienced through the senses.The first major scandal for Sade was on Easter Sunday in 1768, in which Sade procured the sexual services of a woman, Rose Keller;whether she was a prostitute or not is widely disputed. He was accused of taking her to his chateau at Arcueil,imprisoning her there and sexually and physically abusing her. She escaped by climbing out of a second-floor window and running away.
Sade was very famous for his libertine sexuality. A libertine is one devoid of most moral restraints, which are seen as unnecessary or undesirable, especially one who ignores or even spurns accepted morals and forms of behaviour sanctified by the larger society. Libertines put value on physical pleasures, meaning those experienced through the senses.The first major scandal for Sade was on Easter Sunday in 1768, in which Sade procured the sexual services of a woman, Rose Keller;whether she was a prostitute or not is widely disputed. He was accused of taking her to his chateau at Arcueil,imprisoning her there and sexually and physically abusing her. She escaped by climbing out of a second-floor window and running away.
Sade later hid at Lacoste,where he re-joined his
wife, who became an accomplice in his subsequent endeavours. He kept a group of
young employees at Lacoste,most of who complained about sexual mistreatment
and quickly left his service. Sade began a sexual relationship with 14-year-old
Madeleine LeClerc.This affair lasted some 4 years, until his death in 1814. Numerous
writers and artists, especially those concerned with sexuality, have been both
repelled and fascinated by Sade. The eponym of the psychological and
subcultural term sadism, his name is used variously to evoke sexual violence,
licentiousness and freedom of speech. In modern culture his works are
simultaneously viewed as masterful analyses of how power and economics work,
and as erotica. De Sade's sexually explicit works were a medium for the
articulation of the corrupt and hypocritical values of the elite in his
society, which caused him to become imprisoned.
These works challenge perceptions of sexuality,
religion, law, age, and gender in ways that Sade would argue are incompatible
with the supernatural. The issues of sexual violence, sadomasochism, and paedophilia
stunned even those contemporaries of Sade who were quite familiar with the dark
themes of the Gothic novel during its popularity in the late 18th century.
Suffering is the primary rule, as in these novels one must often decide between
sympathizing with the torturer or the victim. While these works focus on the
dark side of human nature, the magic and phantasmagoria that dominates the
Gothic is noticeably absent and is the primary reason these works are not considered
to fit the genre.
Task 6: The Bloody Chamber Inter-textual
References
a.) Bluebeard
- The Myth
Bluebeard is the villain in a European folktale made
famous by Charles Perrault in his tale Barbe bleue. According to the story,
Bluebeard married several women, one after the other, and murdered each of
them. He threw their bodies in a special room inside his castle. He married yet
again and gave his new bride the keys to the castle, telling her that she might
go anywhere in the castle except for that one room. While Bluebeard was away,
however, his young wife's curiosity got the better of her and she opened the
door to the forbidden room. There she discovered the remains of Bluebeard's
previous wives. When Bluebeard returned, he realized that his wife had found
out his secret and told her that she must prepare to die.
The story has several different endings. In one
version, the young wife killed Bluebeard with his own sword. The feminist critique of fairy tale may be carried out most powerfully by women writers retelling the tale they know.
b.) Perrault's
original tale of Bluebeard
In another ending , her brothers came to her rescue and killed him. The theme of the story of Bluebeard—the penalty for being too curious—appears in the folktales of many countries.
In another ending , her brothers came to her rescue and killed him. The theme of the story of Bluebeard—the penalty for being too curious—appears in the folktales of many countries.
The Bloody Chamber is based on the fairy-tale
Bluebeard. Through doing this Cater recognizes the power of fairy-tales. She
provides a modern adjustment to these as a yaw of emphasising themes. The
changes she include are; a female narrator and a female saviour. Carter intended
to highlight the strong relationship between mother and daughter.
c.) Mark of Cain
I first came across the Mark of Cain when watching television series 'Supernatural' during season 9 one of the two protagonists 'Dean Winchester' has the mark of Cain transferred onto his arm by Cain son of Adam and Eve and murderer of brother Abel. Obviously this also comes from the bible Old Testament not Supernatural! But the Mark of Cain in Supernatural triggers Dean to possess strong rage in order to kill Metatron (an archangel who in the plot attempts to take over Heaven in a corrupt fashion) Later on Dean turns into a demon as a result of the mark a demonstration of what evil it may symbolize... However the Old Testament story is as follows:
After history's first murder, God put a curse on
Cain: "When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to
you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth" (Genesis:4:12).
Cain, instead of thanking God for not taking his life, complained that this
punishment was "greater than I can bear!...[A]nd it will happen that
anyone who finds me will kill me" (Genesis:4:13-14). God in His mercy responded by placing a mark on
Cain "lest anyone finding him should kill him" (Genesis:4:15). Speculations abound about this mark, ranging from
the practical to the absurd. Among the practical suggestions is the idea that
God gave Cain a distinguishing characteristic that would warn people not to
harm him. Others believe that the "mark" was a sign to Cain alone of
a promise of God's protection and not a warning to others at all. The Hebrew word for "mark" is 'owth. Both
meanings are possible—a warning to anyone who would harm Cain, as well as a
banner or sign from God to Cain. The Bible does not clearly distinguish how we
are to understand 'owth in this context. It is clear that God did not exact the
death penalty that Cain deserved for murdering his brother Abel. However, the
Bible does not say when or how Cain died. Some believe that the wording of Genesis:4:23-24 implies that
Lamech eventually murdered him. If that is true, whatever the mark of Cain was,
God removed His protection. Perhaps He limited it to keeping someone from
murdering Cain in revenge for the murder of Abel—but did not prevent anyone
from killing him for some other reason.
In the Bloody Chamber The mark left on the narrator’s head represents the
mark of Cain. This is a Biblical reference to the mark of the first murder as
an outcast. Transfers the stain from the key to her forehead for
her to be marked by forever - "like the caste mark of brahim woman. Or the
mark of Cain". It remains a reminder of her shame, perhaps not so
much for seeking knowledge, but for surrendering her innocence and being
debased by the marquis. The crime for her trespassing is death by beheading,
and the marquis gives her time to say her prayers before he decapitates her
with his own ceremonial great sword.The mark of Cain at the end-her shame/a reminder
that it is all to easy for women to allow themselves to be subjugated by men
and male attitudes and society in general. She wears it as a badge to remind
herself of what she almost lost.
d.) Catherine De Medici
Italian-born French queen, regent and mother of
three kings of France. She was a powerful influence in 16th century France,
particularly during the Wars of Religion. He shares with her his mansion, all
the money, and jewels but she takes his name, belongs to his religion, his
class, his circle, his family. She wears the expensive ring of his family:
"but this opal has been his own mother´s ring, and his grandmother´s and
his mother´s before that, given to an ancestor by Catherine de Medici"
(pg.9).
e.) Croesus
Croesus was the king of Lydia from 560 to 547 BC
until his defeat by the Persians.
Croesus was the king of Lydia from 560 to 547 BC
until his defeat by the Persians.
f.) Tristan
and Isolde (opera)
Tristan and Isolde “fall in love under the sign of
death… and they live their stage lives obsessed with death as much as with
love” (Hutcheon 270). Wagner develops an interconnection between the two
concepts that deeply penetrates the essence of the play, having two lovers find
unification in both death and romance. Carter, in “The Bloody Chamber,” seeks
to endorse the opposite, urging women to not die for love, to avoid the
affection of men. Moreover, she seeks for women to alienate themselves entirely
from male dependence, and she elucidates her point by employing the arts as a
vehicle of her beliefs. By doing so, Carter seeks to add her own comment within
the feminist movement, attempting to reduce male power in a patriarchal
society.
Carter uses the opera Tristan Und Isolde recurrently
throughout “The Bloody Chamber” to act as a foil and basis of contrast for the
narrator’s development. Tristan is a story of love and infidelity: the princess
Isolde is to be married to King Marke, but instead falls in love with his
knight Tristan. When conflict arises, Tristan ends up dying in Isolde’s arms,
and appears transfigured upon his dead body.
In “The Bloody Chamber,” the Marquis’ first wife, the “diva,” was an
actress who played Isolde. She wanted to die for love of her husband, as Isolde
did. In her love letters to the Marquis, “the diva had sent him a page of the
score of Tristan, the Liebestod, with the single, cryptic word: ‘Until…’
scrawled across it” (Carter 25). The Liebestod, being the final aria of the
opera, translates from German as “love death,” and coincides with Tristan’s
death; Isolde sings over his dead body before lying down herself. The diva’s
“Until…” can be extrapolated to mean “Until death,” as she seeks death to
consummate her love, as Isolde’s sought with Tristan. Her murder is mutually
consented to, and this is confirmed by the manner of her dead body: “The opera
singer lay, quite naked, under a thin sheet of very rare and precious linen… On
her throat I could see the blue imprint of his strangler’s fingers… The worst
thing was, the dead lips smiled” (Carter 29). Her smile suggests her execution
was welcome. She, as a woman, completely devoted herself to her man, so much so
that she offered her life to effectuate her love. The fact that neither Isolde
nor Tristan murdered one another does not affect the connection between the
woman’s death in “The Bloody Chamber” and the opera: they both advocate love
through sacrifice. Renowned author and philosopher Roger Scruton remarks. Liebestod: A musical love theme from the opera,
Tristan and Isolde.
g.) Felicien
Rops (artist) :
Carter describes a theme common in Rops’s etchings, a naked woman examined by a suited man. While the exact piece cannot be identified, it is certainly similar to many of his graphic pieces, see Qui aime bien châtie bien as an example. The piece described and that Rops depicts are sexually invasive, degrading, and sexist. Men are the clothed and civilized while women remain the object of attention or action while nude and weak. In fact, the image is so repeated in his work, by many types of men. He has a fashion designer , a masseuse , a soldier ; all examining a naked woman. The repeated image by so many men would seem to imply this idea as a consistent truth for all varieties of men. By vividly describing the girl’s objectification, using explicit imagery such as a man who “examined her limb by limb,” Carter using Rops’s artwork to draw attention to the inequality between men and women, and how men seem to universally operate women, rendering them powerless. To greater illustrate the savagery with which she seeks to depict men; she even invents artwork more violent and brutal then Rops ever actually created:
“And when nothing but my scarlet, palpitating core remained, I saw, in the mirror, the living image of an etching by Rops from the collection he had shown me when our engagement permitted us to be alone together… the child with her stick-like limbs, naked… and the old, monocle lecher who examined her limb by limb. He in his London tailoring; she, bare as a lamb chop” (Carter 11-12).
“When [the Marquis] showed me the Rops, newly bought, dearly prized, had he not hinted that he was a connoisseur of such things? Yet I had not bargained for this, the girl with tears hanging on her cheeks like stuck pearls, her cunt a split fig below the great globes of her buttocks on which the knotted tails of the cat were about to descend, while a man in a black mask fingered with his free hand his prick, that curved upwards like the scimitar he held” (Carter 13). Carter remarks how it resembles one of the pornographic etchings of the Belgian artist Felicien Rops, and after the stripping, which was only to whet his appetite; the protagonist finds his collection of bondage art hidden in his office.
h.) Huysmans
La-Bas (novel)
QUOTE FROM TBC:
"A lectern, carved like a spread eagle, that held open upon it an edition of Huysmans's Là-bas, from some over-exquisite private press; it had been bound like a missal, in brass, with gems of coloured glass."
(Taken from the moment the narrator is in the Marquis' library. )
QUOTE FROM TBC:
"A lectern, carved like a spread eagle, that held open upon it an edition of Huysmans's Là-bas, from some over-exquisite private press; it had been bound like a missal, in brass, with gems of coloured glass."
(Taken from the moment the narrator is in the Marquis' library. )
Grand guignol:
QUOTE FROM TBC:
"But the strangest of all these love letters was a postcard with a view of a village graveyard, among mountains, where some black-coated ghoul enthusiastically dug at a grave; this little scene, executed with the lurid exuberance of Grand Guignol, was captioned: 'Typical Transylvanian Scene--Midnight, All Hallows.' And, on the other side, the message: 'On the occasion of this marriage to the descendant of Dracula--always remember, "the supreme and unique pleasure of love is the certainty that one is doing evil". Toutes amitiés, C."
QUOTE FROM TBC:
"But the strangest of all these love letters was a postcard with a view of a village graveyard, among mountains, where some black-coated ghoul enthusiastically dug at a grave; this little scene, executed with the lurid exuberance of Grand Guignol, was captioned: 'Typical Transylvanian Scene--Midnight, All Hallows.' And, on the other side, the message: 'On the occasion of this marriage to the descendant of Dracula--always remember, "the supreme and unique pleasure of love is the certainty that one is doing evil". Toutes amitiés, C."
A play established
in Pigalle in 1897 - in an abandoned church, no less - it specialised in
amoral, highly naturalistic horror shows.
This evolved out of some Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre, Titus
Andronicus being a famous example. Its
founder was Oscar Méténier, a writer and director, who wanted to produce plays
exploring the darkest themes and characters of society. This developed into horror by the early 20th
Century. Up to six plays would be shown in one sitting; in a small, 293-seat
theatre, the effects of such onstage gore were legendary. Audience members frequently fainted, and comedies
were often included in the repertoire to provide some relief. The
theatre closed in 1962. Its gradual
decline in attendance has been blamed on the emotional and psychological
effects of World War Two. As its last director,
Charles Nonon said, "Before the war, everyone felt that what was happening
onstage was impossible. Now we know that
these things, and worse, are possible in reality".
QUOTE FROM TBC:
"The flame picked out, here, the head of a man, there, the rich breast of a woman spilling through a rent in her dress--the Rape of the Sabines, perhaps? The naked swords and immolated horses suggested some grisly mythological subject. The corridor wound downwards; there was an almost imperceptible ramp to the thickly carpeted floor. The heavy hangings on the wall muffled my footsteps, even my breathing. For some reason, it grew very warm; the sweat sprang out in beads on my brow. I could no longer hear the sound of the sea".
The Story: The Rape of the Sabine Women is an event described
in Classical legend, when the first generation of Roman men 'acquired' wives
from the nearby Sabine tribe. Although
the word 'rape' is said to mean 'abduction' in this sense, the notion of forced
marriage surely by its very nature denotes sexual violation. Livy disputed this; when he described the
event he said that the women were guaranteed civic and property rights. Outrage at the abduction nonetheless resulted
in war against the Romans and their leader, Romulus. When the Sabines gained a foothold into Rome
during battle it was their women who intervened to stop the bloodshed and force
reconciliation. Following this, one
nation was formed. Many artists
throughout the centuries have found inspiration in these brave muses, including
the painters Rubens, Poussin and Picasso, and the sculptor Giambologna.
j.) St.Cecilia QUOTES FROM TBC:
"There was a Bechstein for me in the music room and, on the wall, another wedding present--an early Flemish primitive of Saint Cecilia at her celestial organ"
"I looked at the picture of Saint Cecilia with a faint dread; what had been the nature of her martyrdom?"
"Shall I come up to heaven to fetch you down, Saint Cecilia? You wicked woman, do you wish me to compound my crimes by desecrating the marriage bed?"
"There was a Bechstein for me in the music room and, on the wall, another wedding present--an early Flemish primitive of Saint Cecilia at her celestial organ"
"I looked at the picture of Saint Cecilia with a faint dread; what had been the nature of her martyrdom?"
"Shall I come up to heaven to fetch you down, Saint Cecilia? You wicked woman, do you wish me to compound my crimes by desecrating the marriage bed?"
Famous
elements of her story include her instructions that her home be kept as a church,
as she left to go and face her death.
Attempts by officials to execute Cecilia all subsequently failed; they
attempted to decapitate her three times.
She was severely wounded, and survived for another three days before
passing away. The decapitation is an
obvious link and foreshadowing to the methods of the Marquis’ planned murder of
our narrator.
k.) Pandora's Box QUOTES FROM TBC:
"The
Secret of Pandora's Box, and yawned. Nothing, here, to detain a
seventeen-year-old girl waiting for her first embrace. I should have
liked, best of all, a novel in yellow paper; I wanted to curl up on the
rug before the blazing fire, lose myself in a cheap novel, munch sticky
liqueur chocolates. If I rang for them, a maid would bring me
chocolates."
"The secret of Pandora's box; but he had given me the box, himself, knowing I must learn the secret. I had played a game in which every move was governed by a destiny as oppressive and omnipotent as himself, since that destiny was himself; and I had lost. Lost at that charade of innocence and vice in which he had engaged me. Lost, as the victim loses to the executioner."
"The
Secret of Pandora's Box, and yawned. Nothing, here, to detain a
seventeen-year-old girl waiting for her first embrace. I should have
liked, best of all, a novel in yellow paper; I wanted to curl up on the
rug before the blazing fire, lose myself in a cheap novel, munch sticky
liqueur chocolates. If I rang for them, a maid would bring me
chocolates.""The secret of Pandora's box; but he had given me the box, himself, knowing I must learn the secret. I had played a game in which every move was governed by a destiny as oppressive and omnipotent as himself, since that destiny was himself; and I had lost. Lost at that charade of innocence and vice in which he had engaged me. Lost, as the victim loses to the executioner."
Taken
from Masaryk University- Jana Mártonová
“Another
secret area present in this story is the count’s library, which is to some
extend a forerunner of the already mentioned “bloody” chamber. The library offers
an insight into count’s enigmatic nature. It is equipped with numerous rows of
calf-bound books, among which the main heroine finds, as if by coincidence,
volumes such as The Initiation, The Key of Mysteries, The Secret of Pandora’s
Box. The Secret of Pandora’s Box is then linked to the process of entering and exploring
the “bloody” chamber which was forbidden – such as the opening of the Pandora’s
Box originally was. Mary Kaiser actually says, that “the rooms of the whole
castle are deliberately planned as stages for symbolic action”[2] – gradual
opening of The Pandora’s Box. Realizing that she is gradually collecting
information about her husband makes the nameless heroine wanting to know more
and her curiosity makes her go to the forbidden chamber. The “bloody” chamber
itself is forbidden to the main heroine with the explanation that it is “only a
study, a hideaway, a den … where (the count) can go on those infrequent yet
inevitable occasions when the yoke of marriage seems to weigh too heavily on my
(the count’s) shoulders”. (BC, 21) It is the already mentioned Pandora’s Box, a
room “designed to desecration, … a torture chamber, … a little museum of
perversity” (28), a “private slaughterhouse” (30), the “kingdom of the unimaginable”
(36) the heroine was not supposed to enter, yet it was predestined for her to
open it, in order to learn the truth about her husband and, perhaps, to change
herself. The chamber with walls of naked rock contained many instruments of
mutilation, such as a great wheel and the rack, and also funerary urns, one at
each corner of the chamber, and remains of the count’s last three wives
“displayed as grandly as if they were items of statuary“ (28). Seeing all this
made her realize that she is supposed to become another exhibit in her husband’s
collection. She reveals the secret of Pandora’s Box.”
Just
like Eve and Pandora’s drive to discover forbidden knowledge, our heroine faces
a similar circumstance as she is tempted by this apple/box/key to discover the
true nature of her master closeness with God? This has the connection to the
Garden of Eden that it is the women that cause the problems because they are
the ones that transgress.
"And I had on a Poiret dress. He had prevailed upon my reluctant mother to let him buy my trousseau; what would I have gone to him in, otherwise? Twice-darned underwear, faded gingham, serge skirts, hand-me-downs. So, for the opera, I wore a sinuous shift of white muslin tied with a silk string under the breasts. And everyone stared at me. And at his wedding gift".
"This ring, the bloody bandage of rubies, the wardrobe of clothes from Poiret and Worth, his scent of Russian leather--all had conspired to seduce me so utterly that I could not say I felt one single twinge of regret for the world of tar-tines and maman that now receded from me as if drawn away on a string, like a child's toy..."
"He had made me change into that chaste little Poiret shift of white muslin; he seemed especially fond of it, my breasts showed through the flimsy stuff, he said, like little soft white doves that sleep, each one, with a pink eye open. But he would not let me take off my ruby choker, although it was growing very uncomfortable, nor fasten up my descending hair, the sign of a virginity so recently ruptured that still remained a wounded presence between us".
"She made a moue of disdain when I laughed to hear that, she was far more the lady than I. But, imagine--to dress up in one of my Poiret extravaganzas..."
Task 7: Terminology
Aesthete:
a person who is appreciative of and sensitive to art and beauty.
Aigrette:
Avarice:
Baroque:
Bier : a movable frame on
which a coffin or a corpse is placed before burial or cremation or on which
they are carried to the grave.
Billets-doux: a love letter.
Carillon :
Carnal:
Catafalque :
Chthonic :
Dolorous :
Eldritch : weird and sinister or
ghostly.
Enfer : French for Hell
Gourmand:
Immolated:
Importunate : persistent, especially
to the point of annoyance.
Interdiction :
Jinn:
Lisle: a fine, smooth cotton
thread used especially for stockings.
Loge: a private box or
enclosure in a theatre.
Loquacity:
Lustratory :
Missal :
Nacreous :
Parure : a set of jewels
intended to be worn together.
Rictus : a fixed grimace or
grin.
Sacerdotal :relating to or denoting
a doctrine which ascribes sacrificial functions and spiritual or supernatural
powers to ordained priests.
Sadomasochistic :
Sardonic:
Trousseau: the clothes, linen, and
other belongings collected by a bride for her marriage.
Vellum :
Vicuna :
Viscera :
Voluptuary : devotion to luxury and
sensual pleasure.
Task 8: Basic
Questions
Question 1 : Describe the way Carter presents the ruby choker on page 11. Write a paragraph to practice word level analysis, ensuring you can examine a word or phrase in graphic detail.
Question 1 : Describe the way Carter presents the ruby choker on page 11. Write a paragraph to practice word level analysis, ensuring you can examine a word or phrase in graphic detail.
Quote:
"But he would not let me take off my ruby choker, although it was growing
very uncomfortable, nor fasten up my descending hair, the sign of a virginity
so recently ruptured that still remained a wounded presence between us".
Angela Carter presents the 'ruby choker' as a gift to which our narrator shouldn't lose possession of as the Marquis 'would not let' her take off the choker , despite the 'uncomfortable' nature of the object.
The ruby
choker, or "the bloody bandage of rubies", is also an interesting
symbol in the story. The "flashing crimson jewels round her throat”
perhaps represents the narrator's oppression and the Marquis's ownership,
whilst also foreshadowing the means in which the Marquis intends to murder her.
The simile "bright as arterial blood" is not a coincidence - the
"red ribbon like the memory of a wound" deliberately looks like a
slit throat. Carter refers to it as "an extraordinarily precious slit
throat". Later, as the narrator fears her imminent execution, she refers
to the choker as being "coiled like a snake about to strike" -
another possible reference to the serpent in the Garden of Eden, leading to
connotations of evil and sin. The Marquis is made more frightening by his
family history: they are generations of murderers possibly a sense of a vampire
figure about him – note the choker bites her neck (but this seems far-fetched).
From the start of their relationship, the Marquis is in a position of total
power over the heroine – he is rich, she is poor; he is experienced, she is
innocent; he is older, she is young.
In the French Revolution many aristocrats
were beheaded, so the ruby choker mocks this past. It also shows the Marquis’
penchant for violence and beauty, and prefigures the heroine’s eventual fate. Later
on the Marquis has a ritual for his murder, and it is clear that the heroine’s
outfit he likes most – the white dress of innocence and the ruby choker of
violence – was foreshadowing the whole time, and he knew from the start how he
would kill the heroine. She was an innocent “lamb” that the bestial Marquis has
been readying for slaughter. One argument raised from another blogger on The
Bloody Chamber is that ; “A character
who holds significance to the relation of the ruby choker is the Marquis’
Grandmother. She wore her “ruby choker” as a symbol to represent her escape
from the guillotine. As the action of removing a head resembles Freud’s
castration theory, it may be interpreted that the Grandmother is wearing the
choker in “luxurious defiance” of her femininity.
Question 2: On page 12, the narrator describes herself as an ‘exile’ once married. What does this suggest?
Question 2: On page 12, the narrator describes herself as an ‘exile’ once married. What does this suggest?
Quote: “All the paraphernalia of the
everyday world from which I, with my stunning marriage, had exiled myself. Into
marriage, into exile; I sensed it, I knew it--that, henceforth, I would always
be lonely”.
The
heroine feels instinctively that the Marquis's desire for her is tied with a
love of destruction. The heroine also equates her marriage to the Marquis with
banishment when she states, "into
marriage, into exile." Instead of feeling as though she is escaping
poverty, she considers her marriage a forced isolation. With these words, the
heroine indicates that by getting married, she is not gaining but surrendering
power. As we know, her ‘enlightenment’ is brief and destructive; she cannot
survive in a world of reason, so for her, "the end of exile is the end of
being."
Question 3: On page 23, what seems to give the girl confidence and power once more?
With the Marquis having given the young girl the keys , which unlock every door to this grand castle, the opportunity to learn about her husband and become enlightened is huge. Carter builds up her discoveries with some panic as she refuses to eat and make do with the structure of the day run the servants. However It all congregates towards the ultimate 'bloody chamber'. This knowledge which appeared previously forbidden is now available to her . But with power she is not supposed to abuse it , which in this case she does in line with the Marquis' requirements to not unlock that door.
Question 4: On page 38, how is the usual ‘hero’ structure altered?
Instead of acting passive, such as Jean-Yves who is unable to help her, she attempts to hide her new knowledge. Jean-Yves demands to stay with her but she sends him away knowing she must speak 'alone' to the Marquis. When the Marquis comes in she takes her salvation into her own hands and starts 'mimicking the new bride' by embracing him and playing innocent.
The
Marquis’ appears to uphold a view of women that they only appear to hold any
power when their virginity is maintained whilst maintaining a sexual and
perverse view. The chamber itself obviously brands the idea that they are objectified,
areas of art more over than ‘equal human beings’. The collection of paintings
he owns perpetuates that the female body is for admiration and open viewing,
which is explicit not just in his collection but the experiences with the
narrator having her stand naked ‘in broad daylight’ This gives the impression
to the reader that he is an animal like perverse hunter who preys on the pure.
Giving the narrator’s mother a black dress at the beginning may symbolise how
he feels about women and their virginity, those who have not ‘bled’ are more exceptional
and acute for his desires. Perhaps a Marxist
literary reading may perceive that he simply reifies his women. The clothing he
chooses for our narrator to wear always seems to show her body ‘thin’ ‘fine’ materials
which show her ‘off’ in comparison to her older clothing which she feels more
comfortable in. Women are merely possessions
for his pleasure, he has complete control of the relationship with the narrator
and in the bloody chamber he reifies his dead wives.
Question 3: On page 23, what seems to give the girl confidence and power once more?
With the Marquis having given the young girl the keys , which unlock every door to this grand castle, the opportunity to learn about her husband and become enlightened is huge. Carter builds up her discoveries with some panic as she refuses to eat and make do with the structure of the day run the servants. However It all congregates towards the ultimate 'bloody chamber'. This knowledge which appeared previously forbidden is now available to her . But with power she is not supposed to abuse it , which in this case she does in line with the Marquis' requirements to not unlock that door.
Question 4: On page 38, how is the usual ‘hero’ structure altered?
Instead of acting passive, such as Jean-Yves who is unable to help her, she attempts to hide her new knowledge. Jean-Yves demands to stay with her but she sends him away knowing she must speak 'alone' to the Marquis. When the Marquis comes in she takes her salvation into her own hands and starts 'mimicking the new bride' by embracing him and playing innocent.
Question 5: What is the Duke's view of women?
Task 9: Developed
questions
Question 1:On page 15, is the description of their first sexual encounter pleasurable, erotic, disgusting, uncomfortable, and pornographic or something else? Explain your answer with well-chosen quotations.
The
description of the Marquis' and the woman's first sexual encounter is erotic
and violent taking a very blunt tone, as the woman herself describes there as
being no 'finesse about it'. This shows that there is no romance included in
this encounter as the way it is described when he 'stripped (the woman),
gourmand that he was' suggests he is only after pleasure rather than a relationship
which is not single handily sexually driven. There is no romantic language involved and seems
more violent, the act was likened to 'fighting' and a 'one sided struggle'.
This suggests that it is not as romantic or as fluid as perceived but awkward
and raw. The 'one sided struggle' emphasizes the power and control he has over
her. The negative mood of the description shows that now the narrator has lost
some of her power to him by submitting to his will and admits to feeling
'disheveled' by the loss of virginity as well as comparing it to being
'impaled' showing that for her it was not a pleasurable experience. The word
'gourmand' links with the idea of violence and erotica as it shows the reader
he is hungry for sexual gratification. He strips her as if ‘he was stripping
the leaves of an artichoke' suggests that he was brutal in the way he touched
her, with little gentleness about him. She describes herself as 'scarlet,' and
'palpitating' during the encounter, which indicates that she was red and
flushed from the embarrassment of the act, but also was feeling urges of
desire. Thus the encounter can be seen to be pornographic, and uncomfortable
yet erotic.
Question 2: On pages 16 and 17, what can you say about the language used to describe the discovered painting – and what does that painting symbolise?
‘First
wife’ ‘sacrificial victim’ ‘imprint of lacelike chains’, taking off her clothes
for him for the first time’. These various descriptions consistently relate
back to the narrator’s experiences at this point and later on in the story.
Torture in the chamber and the ‘chains’ symbolise the instruments the Marquis
will use. The woman she depicts being a ‘first wife’ is perhaps a warning to
the narrator that this is merely a repetition to come later on with the Marquis
having had 3 wives before her. The ‘reddened’ body perhaps most obviously symbolises
the blood of the chamber but also the nature of human embarrassment at revealing
yourself to an audience. Overall the
painting seems merely a re-creation of TBC story and the experiences within it.
Question 3: On page 16, jot down all the colours used by Carter and summarise their effect.
(Taken from another student)
"On Page
15 there are many colours used by Carter to describe differing things within
The Marquis Castle, examples of some of the colours used on Page 15 are; “acrid
black coffee”, “purple velvet”, “soft white doves” and “pink eye open”. In my
opinion this may link to the idea that the colour within The Narrator’s life is
about to vanish- as she is given the keys to The Marquis Castle, moreover she
is given the key to The Bloody Chamber. In a Feminist’s view this could link to
The Marquis taking away The Narrator’s true vision of life, as his own view of
life is obscured through murder and an inherent desire for power, that although
it may take a Man like The Marquis to give a Woman a more affluent life, it
also takes a Man to take away a Woman’s life through greed and lust.
Furthermore, the use of the differing colours by Carter may foreshadow the idea
that The Narrator will be cared for/ loved by a Man who has no sense of colour/
his surroundings in Jean-Yves- linking to the idea that if you cannot see you cannot
control (The Male Gaze) - therefore making it safer for The Narrator to love
Jean-Yves as he cannot control her whilst he is blind".
Question 4: On page 17, the husband wants to make love in the bright light of day and says, ‘All the better to see you’. Where does this phrase come from and why is it used here?
This
particular phrase comes from ‘Red Riding Hood’ a fairy-tale written originally
by Charles Perrault. It is perhaps used to re-emphasize the open viewing that the broad-day light has of her naked body. However using this phrase at this point provides the re-emerging theme on the importance of appearance and narrowing her down a 'piece' of his with the choker maintaining its control. "With trembling fingers, I fastened the thing about my neck" it imitates the fear to which was experienced in the tale of the Red Riding Hood but with of course the sexual sinister appearance to this story.
Question 5: What is the duke's view of women?
The intertextuality which Carter includes in TBC provides the reader and the narrator as she discovers it , the character and true personality of the Marquis. We can research those items/paintings/ideas referenced and understand the 'deeper' behavior and interests providing the narrator with not an enlightenment as this occurs in the chamber itself , but possibilities to learn about this character and her own situation.
Question 5: What is the duke's view of women?
The intertextuality which Carter includes in TBC provides the reader and the narrator as she discovers it , the character and true personality of the Marquis. We can research those items/paintings/ideas referenced and understand the 'deeper' behavior and interests providing the narrator with not an enlightenment as this occurs in the chamber itself , but possibilities to learn about this character and her own situation.
Having found another student's work I particularly liked their view of florid prose;
"Carter's
use of intertexuality is a very subtle way of connecting to the different
contexts within the story. She relates the stories directly back to original
fairy tales; 'all the better to see you with' and 'Bluebeard', in order to keep
to the gothic fairy tale genre and to expose the more sinister aspects. While
fairy tales are meant for children some inter-textual references connect to the
more adult reader as well as specific classes such as the opera 'Tristan and
Isodole' or the paintings and the music. From a Marxist perspective this could
suggest a certain cultural capital expressed by Carter. The florid prose used
also suggests the narrator herself is of more middle stature as she has the
ability and education to express herself".
"I mean, I'm an arty person. OK, I write overblown, purple, self-indulgent prose. So fucking what"? - AC
Task 10: More complex Question
- How is appearance important in this story? Consider both looks and clothing.
Here I have analysed
particular quotes taken from TBC story and attempted to provide some basic
analysis
"Are you sure, she'd said when they delivered the gigantic box that held the wedding dress he'd bought me, wrapped up in tissue paper and red ribbon like a Christmas gift of crystallized fruit. Are you sure you love him? There was a dress for her, too; black silk, with the dull, prismatic sheen of oil on water, finer than anything she'd worn since that adventurous girlhood in Indo-China".
Here at the beginning of TBC we can see the Marquis’ has focused on clothing in order to treat his to be wife and her mother. The contrast of her white wedding dress and the ‘black silk’ ‘dull’ dress that her mother has been given is perhaps a reflection or possible symbolisation of the 2 characters at this point. The narrator a young virgin who has not experienced any secrecy , darkness or enlightenment, the mother a caring but ‘experienced’ woman who feels for her daughter. She is a hunter: “shot a man-eating tiger with her own hand and all before she was as old as I”. However in terms of a Marxist view we can understand that the pair come from a less wealthy area as the Marquis provides a dress “finer than anything she’d worn…” Maybe through her mother’s questioning she is less than convinced about the Marquis and the dresses fail to impress her perhaps as much as they do her daughter.
“My satin nightdress had just been shaken from its wrappings; it had slipped over my young girl's pointed breasts and shoulders, supple as a garment of heavy water, and now teasingly caressed me, egregious, insinuating, nudging between my thighs as I shifted restlessly in my narrow berth. His kiss, his kiss with tongue and teeth in it and a rasp of beard, had hinted to me, though with the same exquisite tact as this nightdress”.
Here the nightdress ‘teasingly caressed’ her as she is ‘shifted restlessly’. It’s unsurprising that at this moment her clothing is becoming personified to provide a sexual action. The idea of caressing relates to a desire of touching and embracing but using ‘caress’ Carter perhaps emulates the Marquis’ teasing and manipulating this ‘young girl’.
"When I saw him look at me with lust, I dropped my eyes but, in glancing away from him, I caught sight of myself in the mirror. And I saw myself, suddenly, as he saw me, my pale face, the way the muscles in my neck stuck out like thin wire. I saw how much that cruel necklace became me. And, for the first time in my innocent and confined life, I sensed in myself a potentiality for corruption that took my breath away".
Here the narrator takes note on how ‘that cruel necklace became me’ as if it has morphed as part of her. It seems its perhaps holding her as the Marquis wishes for her to wear it. Obviously it provides a foreshadowing but it also demonstrates his control over her without the narrator even noticing it, just remarking it ‘cruel’ and ‘uncomfortable’ opinionative adjectives which perhaps sum up the chamber she discovers later on altogether. “And I saw myself suddenly as her saw me , my pale face … the muscles in my neck tuck out like thin wire’. It all seems to pick up on frail or weak characteristics. Seeing herself as ‘he sees’ her is an interesting act as it is rare to be able to truly understand how one may view you . Ideas of the ‘male gaze’ can be introduced here as she managers to see herself ‘from another angle’ as it were. It’s interesting that having seen herself through the Marquis that she then remarks how she ‘sensed a potentiality for corruption’. Is this a realisation of her situation or merely the effects of being around a corrupt man?
"When the maid told me that, I sprang out of bed and pulled on my old serge skirt and flannel blouse, costume of a student, in which I felt far more at ease with myself than in any of my fine new clothes".
Feeling far more at ease with herself with the usual skirt and blouse is not just for the comfort but more as a way to perhaps to connect with her old environment/world that she misses. It therefore provides an opportunity to escape the bounds of her Marquis. In a Marxist reading it may be argued that this is an example of anti-elitism or how overwhelming the higher class culture/fashion is on the lower classes , it is favoured by the narrator to wear these clothes rather than the ‘fine new clothes’- perhaps this is farfetched though.
"for the opera, I wore a sinuous shift of white muslin tied with a silk string under the breasts. And everyone stared at me".
Wearing white as mentioned has it various connotations with virginity and purity but attending the opera with the Marquis perhaps leads to the ‘staring’. It’s noticeable that throughout TBC the narrator also remarks how they fit her body, for example often mentioning breasts. This is perhaps to emphasise the parts of the body that the Marquis picks on himself and its starting to rub off on her mind-set when viewing her own body, an example of male manipulation perhaps.
“After the Terror, in the early days of the Directory, the aristos who'd escaped the guillotine had an ironic fad of tying a red ribbon round their necks at just the point where the blade would have sliced it through, a red ribbon like the memory of a wound. And his grandmother, taken with the notion, had her ribbon made up in rubies; such a gesture of luxurious defiance! That night at the opera comes back to me even now ... the white dress; the frail child within it; and the flashing crimson jewels round her throat, bright as arterial blood.
Decapitation,' he whispered, almost voluptuously. 'Go and bathe yourself; put on that white dress you wore to hear Tristan and the necklace that prefigures your end. And I shall take myself off to the armoury, my dear, to sharpen my great-grandfather's ceremonial sword.'…
And, once again, of my apparel I must retain only my gems; the sharp blade ripped my dress in two and it fell from me”.
(all quotes taken at different times relating to the choker/white dress)
Here it’s almost as if her purity or at least what the Marquis saw favorable her virginity and its power has been lost , and the white dressing being ripped off obviously provides some sexual symbolisation to this. Wearing the white dress along with the necklace seems important to the Marquis and of course the removal of the dress before he was going to decapitate her , is again a symbolisation of losing her ‘purity’ and then having nothing only the crimson jewels remaining which earlier on are described as ‘bright as arterial blood’.
"Are you sure, she'd said when they delivered the gigantic box that held the wedding dress he'd bought me, wrapped up in tissue paper and red ribbon like a Christmas gift of crystallized fruit. Are you sure you love him? There was a dress for her, too; black silk, with the dull, prismatic sheen of oil on water, finer than anything she'd worn since that adventurous girlhood in Indo-China".
Here at the beginning of TBC we can see the Marquis’ has focused on clothing in order to treat his to be wife and her mother. The contrast of her white wedding dress and the ‘black silk’ ‘dull’ dress that her mother has been given is perhaps a reflection or possible symbolisation of the 2 characters at this point. The narrator a young virgin who has not experienced any secrecy , darkness or enlightenment, the mother a caring but ‘experienced’ woman who feels for her daughter. She is a hunter: “shot a man-eating tiger with her own hand and all before she was as old as I”. However in terms of a Marxist view we can understand that the pair come from a less wealthy area as the Marquis provides a dress “finer than anything she’d worn…” Maybe through her mother’s questioning she is less than convinced about the Marquis and the dresses fail to impress her perhaps as much as they do her daughter.
“My satin nightdress had just been shaken from its wrappings; it had slipped over my young girl's pointed breasts and shoulders, supple as a garment of heavy water, and now teasingly caressed me, egregious, insinuating, nudging between my thighs as I shifted restlessly in my narrow berth. His kiss, his kiss with tongue and teeth in it and a rasp of beard, had hinted to me, though with the same exquisite tact as this nightdress”.
Here the nightdress ‘teasingly caressed’ her as she is ‘shifted restlessly’. It’s unsurprising that at this moment her clothing is becoming personified to provide a sexual action. The idea of caressing relates to a desire of touching and embracing but using ‘caress’ Carter perhaps emulates the Marquis’ teasing and manipulating this ‘young girl’.
"When I saw him look at me with lust, I dropped my eyes but, in glancing away from him, I caught sight of myself in the mirror. And I saw myself, suddenly, as he saw me, my pale face, the way the muscles in my neck stuck out like thin wire. I saw how much that cruel necklace became me. And, for the first time in my innocent and confined life, I sensed in myself a potentiality for corruption that took my breath away".
Here the narrator takes note on how ‘that cruel necklace became me’ as if it has morphed as part of her. It seems its perhaps holding her as the Marquis wishes for her to wear it. Obviously it provides a foreshadowing but it also demonstrates his control over her without the narrator even noticing it, just remarking it ‘cruel’ and ‘uncomfortable’ opinionative adjectives which perhaps sum up the chamber she discovers later on altogether. “And I saw myself suddenly as her saw me , my pale face … the muscles in my neck tuck out like thin wire’. It all seems to pick up on frail or weak characteristics. Seeing herself as ‘he sees’ her is an interesting act as it is rare to be able to truly understand how one may view you . Ideas of the ‘male gaze’ can be introduced here as she managers to see herself ‘from another angle’ as it were. It’s interesting that having seen herself through the Marquis that she then remarks how she ‘sensed a potentiality for corruption’. Is this a realisation of her situation or merely the effects of being around a corrupt man?
"When the maid told me that, I sprang out of bed and pulled on my old serge skirt and flannel blouse, costume of a student, in which I felt far more at ease with myself than in any of my fine new clothes".
Feeling far more at ease with herself with the usual skirt and blouse is not just for the comfort but more as a way to perhaps to connect with her old environment/world that she misses. It therefore provides an opportunity to escape the bounds of her Marquis. In a Marxist reading it may be argued that this is an example of anti-elitism or how overwhelming the higher class culture/fashion is on the lower classes , it is favoured by the narrator to wear these clothes rather than the ‘fine new clothes’- perhaps this is farfetched though.
"for the opera, I wore a sinuous shift of white muslin tied with a silk string under the breasts. And everyone stared at me".
Wearing white as mentioned has it various connotations with virginity and purity but attending the opera with the Marquis perhaps leads to the ‘staring’. It’s noticeable that throughout TBC the narrator also remarks how they fit her body, for example often mentioning breasts. This is perhaps to emphasise the parts of the body that the Marquis picks on himself and its starting to rub off on her mind-set when viewing her own body, an example of male manipulation perhaps.
“After the Terror, in the early days of the Directory, the aristos who'd escaped the guillotine had an ironic fad of tying a red ribbon round their necks at just the point where the blade would have sliced it through, a red ribbon like the memory of a wound. And his grandmother, taken with the notion, had her ribbon made up in rubies; such a gesture of luxurious defiance! That night at the opera comes back to me even now ... the white dress; the frail child within it; and the flashing crimson jewels round her throat, bright as arterial blood.
Decapitation,' he whispered, almost voluptuously. 'Go and bathe yourself; put on that white dress you wore to hear Tristan and the necklace that prefigures your end. And I shall take myself off to the armoury, my dear, to sharpen my great-grandfather's ceremonial sword.'…
And, once again, of my apparel I must retain only my gems; the sharp blade ripped my dress in two and it fell from me”.
(all quotes taken at different times relating to the choker/white dress)
Here it’s almost as if her purity or at least what the Marquis saw favorable her virginity and its power has been lost , and the white dressing being ripped off obviously provides some sexual symbolisation to this. Wearing the white dress along with the necklace seems important to the Marquis and of course the removal of the dress before he was going to decapitate her , is again a symbolisation of losing her ‘purity’ and then having nothing only the crimson jewels remaining which earlier on are described as ‘bright as arterial blood’.
Task 11: Part of the
Form of the Bloody Chamber
- Research magical realism (All this information is not my own work)
What is it?
- "a literary or artistic genre in which realistic narrative and naturalistic technique are combined with surreal elements of dream or fantasy"Magic realism or magical realism is an aesthetic style or genre of fiction in which magical elements are blended into a realistic atmosphere in order to access a deeper understanding of reality. These magical elements are explained like normal occurrences that are presented in a straightforward manner which allows the "real" and the "fantastic" to be accepted in the same stream of thought. It has been widely considered a literary and visual art genre; creative fields that exhibit less significant signs of magic realism include film and music.As used today, the term is broadly descriptive rather than critically rigorous: Matthew Strecher has defined magic realism as "what happens when a highly detailed, realistic setting is invaded by something 'too strange to believe'". However, it may be that this critical perspective towards magical realism stems from the Western reader's disassociation with mythology, a root of magical realism more easily understood by non-Western cultures.Magical realism is a distinctive form of fiction that aims to produce the experience of a non-objective world view. Its techniques are particular to that world view, and while they may at first look something like the techniques of sophisticated fantasy, magical realism is trying to do more than play with reality's rules. It is conveying realities that other people really do experience, or once experienced.As a tool, magical realism can be used to explore the realities of characters or communities who are outside of the objective mainstream of our culture. It's not just South Americans, Indians, or African slaves who may offer these alternative views. Religious believers for whom the numinous is always present and miracles are right around the corner, believers to whom angels really do appear and to whom God reveals Himself directly, they too inhabit a magical realist reality.Hybridity: Magical realists incorporate many techniques that have been linked to post-colonialism, with hybridity being a primary feature. Specifically, magical realism is illustrated in the inharmonious arenas of such opposites as urban and rural and Western and indigenous. The plots of magical realist works involve issues of borders, mixing, and change. Authors establish these plots to reveal a crucial purpose of magical realism: a more deep and true reality than conventional realist techniques would illustrate.
- ThemesThe idea of terror overwhelms the possibility of rejuvenation in magical realism. Several prominent authoritarian figures, such as soldiers, police, and sadists all have the power to torture and kill. Time is another conspicuous theme, which is frequently displayed as cyclical instead of linear. What happens once is destined to happen again. Characters rarely, if ever, realize the promise of a better life. As a result, irony and paradox stay rooted in recurring social and political aspirations. Another particularly complex theme in magical realism is the carnivalesque. The carnivalesque is carnival’s reflection in literature. The concept of carnival celebrates the body, the senses, and the relations between humans. “Carnival” refers to cultural manifestations that take place in different related forms in North and South America, Europe, and the Caribbean, often including particular language and dress, as well as the presence of a madman, fool, or clown. In addition, people organize and participate in dance, music, or theater. Latin American magical realists, for instance, explore the bright life-affirming side of the carnivalesque. The reality of revolution, and continual political upheaval in certain parts of the world, also relates to magical realism. Specifically, South America is characterized by the endless struggle for a political ideal.Characteristics of magical realism include five primary traits:· An "irreducible" magic which cannot be explained by typical notions of natural law.· A realist description that stresses normal, common, every-day phenomena, which is then revised or "refelt" by the marvelous. Extreme or amplified states of mind or setting are often used to accomplish this. (This distinguishes the genre from pure myth or fantasy.)· It causes the reader to be drawn between the two views of reality.· These two visions or realms nearly merge or intersect.·Time is both history and the timeless; space is often challenged; identity is broken down at times.
