Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber

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Fairytale is a genre commonly associated with books for children, yet quite a few writers created more daring versions of these “bedtime stories”. One of them was Angela Carter, who has written The Bloody Chamber, which is a collection of ten rewritten fairy tales. Her portrayal of heroines like Little Red Riding Hood or Snow White clearly contrasts traditional one, moreover, the content is controversial and moral is not always easy to find. The author has a feminist approach and brings up number of issues that makes her rewriting thought-provoking and fascinating for adult reader. One of the recurring themes in Bloody Chamber is the sacred concept of virginity and maidenhood, which is present in almost all stories. The author presents young,…show more content…
In Tiger’s Bride mother of the main character “soon died of his gaming, his whoring, his agonizing repentances”. Not only he failed as a partner, but also as a father, who was so focused on becoming rich that his daughter was sold to The Beast. One of the most disgusting moments in the whole collection is the part in the Snow Child where the Countess watches her spouse having sex, or rather raping a dead body of the naked girl they met in the forest. She is jealous, but she can’t do anything than to get the girl killed, since her husband is not paying any attention to her. Puss in Boots, which is more comedic and not as dark as the rest is basically about getting rid of tyrannical husband, who has his wife locked in the room almost all the time. Concept of keeping your loved ones kept away from others is also present in the Erl-king. Titular character locks his lovers in the…show more content…
All of them are young (aside from the vampires from The Lady of The House of Love, who only looks young, and Countess from Snow Child) and attractive. Another trait they share is curiosity. They wander to unsafe places and discover unpleasant truth. They also explore their sexuality and have their first sexual encounters. The recurring theme of coming of age and passage of time makes Carter’s stories more mature from their original counterpart. Menstruation marks the start of adulthood for these characters and they indeed feel the desire for the men they meet. Heroines seek excitement and in the moments of fear remain strong, even in the grave danger, and do not expect that the hero will save them. And actually, there’s is no traditional hero to come and rescue them, however, in Bloody Chamber protagonist’s mother resembles one, arriving on the horse in the eleventh hour and killing the villain. Still, in most cases the girls have to deal with their struggles on their own, and not all of the stories have the happy end – and in the ones that do have it, it is questionable and requires a sacrifice of sorts. Furthermore, the atmosphere in these fairytales (excluding Puss-in-boots) is grim, and majority of the stories is set in the castle or in the forest and have Gothic elements like “claustrophobia and confinement, (...) eroticism and fetishism, sadism, lycanthropy and vampirism, occultism, occluded
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