Wednesday, May 22, 2019

The Bloody Chamber Notes

The notey chamber Quotes like an extraordinarily precious slit throat bright as arterial prodigal faery solitude so many mirrors as if he were stripping the leaves off an artichoke instruments of mutilation the wallsgleamed as if they were sweating with fright an armful of the same lilies with which he had fill up my bedroom the trumpets of the angels of death Characters Heroine seventeen and knew nonhing of the world the white-faced girl from Paris I was only a baby marquis dark leonine shape of his head opulent male scent dark mane waxen face Mother indomitable mother wild thing AO2 oral communication, take form and twist and how they shape kernel Language Juxtaposition lascivious tenderness Metaphor the Marquis as a beast, or as God the nerve centre of God his eye Subterranean privacy of the sleeping room likening damn chamber to Hell Form Castle is a medieval reinterpretation of the fairy narration template Reworked fairy tommyro ts Carter called them new stories not versions Short stories maximise the impact of Carters messages Novelette the slow pace of which mirrors the brief life storystyle of the pigboatine in her new life grammatical construction Long descriptive paragraphs followed by very short sentences e. g. Dead as his wives. obscure simile Longer sentences with commas increase the suspense, short sentences create a sense of fear Ellipsis also used AO3 connections between texts and assorted interpretations Child like language Baby mustnt play with grownups toys (see EK, COW) Fairy tale motifs All the better to see you links to fairy-tale form (see EK, LOTHOL) References to the modern world shrilling of the telephone (see COML) Aggressive male language pistons ceaselessly thrusting (see EK) gothic Features atmospheric condition/setting Castle is isolated, heroine sees its faery solitude how she chooses to view it, away from reality Walls of the chamber sweating with fri ght as if guilty themselves Marquis calls bloody chamber his enfer French word for Hell, subterranean privacy, like the door of Hell Carter contrasts light and dark Lights More lights Foreshadowing the necklace that prefigures your end, bright as arterial blood, like an extraordinarily precious slit throat all foreshadow the heroines decapitation Heroine escapes her fate makes her an even stronger character Dominant males Marquis likened to God and a lion/animal Passive females Heroine accepts her fate quickly Religion Marquis is placed in the manipulation of God Refers to the heroine as my lower-ranking nun, pornography referred to as prayer-books shows Marquis lack of religion Bloody chamber as Hell see setting Supernatural as if the mention itself were hurt, the bloody token stuck AO4 contextual factors and how they affect the text Angela Carter was a feminist Published in 1979 after the sexual revolution of the 1960s Carter flirts with elements of the Gothic in many of the tales S. Roberts Same for all texts The Courtship of Mr Lyon Quotes one white, perfect rose there was no living person in the hall a lion is a lion and a man is a man there was an air of exhaustion in the house her own image reflected there (in the wildcats eye) Fast as you can an attic, with a sloping roof the roseswere all dead as if, curious reversal, she frightened him Characters Beauty looked as if she had been mould out of a single pearl she smiled at herself with satisfaction Miss Lamb, spotless, sacrificial Beast some kind of sadness in his agate eyes a man with an unkempt mane of hair he was so different from herself AO2 language, form and coordinate and how they shape meaning Language spacious imagery of reversal symbolismises Beautys artlessness white and unmarked as bridal satin Personification of the house the chandelier tinkled as if emitting a pleased chuckle astragal pure, beautiful, valuable Form Reworked fa iry tales Carter called them new stories not versions Carter extracts latent content Short stories maximise the impact of Carters messages Beauty and The Beast both characters change, not just the Beast role reversal of princess in the tower Structure I hope hell be safe no speech marks, bring out Beautys lack of a voice AO3 connections between texts and different interpretations References to the modern world the snow brought down all the telephone wires (see BC, LOTHOL) Fairy tale references she reads elegant French fairy tales, Fast as you can (see BC, EK, LOTHOL) Gothic Features Weather/setting Palladian house that seemed to hide itself shyly = he constrained himself to master his shyness Thin ghost of light on the verge of extinction no signs of Spring at the Beasts house reflects what has happened to him Bloody chamber = Beasts attic he is trapped and dying, claustrophobic setting Roses intermit as the beast dies The roseswere all dead Coun try onside = place of purity and femininity, town = masculine place of corruption Foreshadowing she smiled at herself in mirrors a little too often pride comes before a go along Dominant males no longer dominant a cracked whisper of his former purr I am sick and I must die Passive females Objectification of women she is called Beauty but gets an identity at the end Mrs Lyon Supernatural Magic of the house her father can call the garage even though the phone lines are down All the natural laws of the world were held in suspension here The Tigers Bride Quotes my father lost me to The Beast in cards I boast lost my pearl the lamb must learn to run with the tigers Characters Heroine always the pretty one Christmas rose no more than than a kings ransomAO2 language, form and structure and how they shape meaning Language description of glossy, nut-brown curls and rosy cheeks is repeated to highlight the sameities between the narrator and her clockwork twin Structure Her oine is given a voice unlike Beauty in COML objectification of women in a different way Written in the old tense but changes occasionally to the present to suggest continuity The Erl King Quotes Erl-King will do you grievous harm the wood swallows you up the stark elders have an anorexic look everything in the wood is exactly as it seems easy to lose yourself What heavy(p) eyes you have Characters Erl-King an excellent housewife came alive from the zest of the woods tender butcher skin the rabbit, he says Eyes green as apples. Green as dead sea fruit AO2 language, form and structure and how they shape meaning Language Oxymorons such(prenominal) as the tender butcher and appalling succulence highlight the narrators conflict Isolated similes such as green as dead sea fruit add emphasis to the comparisons Metaphor is used to link sex to drowning e. g. his dress of water that drenches her Structure Erl-King will do you grievous harm one line paragraph to emphasi se significance Switches between tenses and points of view in order to disorient the reader, creating a Gothic sense of uncertainty, and reflecting the feelings of the protagonist AO3 connections between texts and different interpretations Fairy tale references What big eyes you have (see BC, EK) Superstition he says the Devil spits on them at Michaelmas (see W, COW) Aggressive language he could thrust me into the seed-bed (see BC) Gothic Features Weather/setting Wood is personified and isolated the wood swallows you up More fairy-tale than Gothic Bloody Chamber = Erl-Kings dwelling Idea of confinement vertical bars of a brass-coloured distillation of light look like bars of a prison/ hencoop Erl-King can tie up the winds in his handkerchief Dominant males childlike, less predatory Romantic hero, she falls in love with him Passive females none, she is mature and purposive Supernatural magic lasso of inhuman music He has a bird call Religion he says the Devi l spits on them at Michaelmas The juggle ChildQuotes midwinter invincible, immaculate the Countess hated her a feathera bloodstainand the rose It bites the whole world was white a masculine fantasy Cristina Bacchilega Characters Snow Child as white as snow as black as that birds feather as red as blood the child of his desire high, black, shining boots with scarlet heels AO2 language, form and structure and how they shape meaning Language Alliteration of invicible, immaculate exaggerates the extremity of the weather Rose is a symbol of femininity or the vagina Snow Child bleeds, symbolising menstruation Bite symbolises the suffering that accompanies being female childbirth, hymen breaking, menstruation Form Vignette a small, literary sketch Structure Written in the 3rd person but from the perspective of the Count So the girl picks a rose pricks her finger on the thorn bleeds screams falls. isolated paragraph, one sentence, uses idea of three AO3 connec tions between texts and different interpretations Gothic Features Weather/setting Bloody Chamber = Snow Childs vagina White setting and snow symbolises purity and virginity, Dominant males Masculine control of female identity Count = Marquis from BC Creates both women Countess cannot last without a Count Passive females Countess belongs to Count she is only a Countess because of him Price of being the Countess subservience and a loss of identity Neither female can exist without the Count he gives them their power One must die for the other to survive Literal objectification of women Count undresses and dresses Countess as he pleases, creates Snow Child incestuous rape she was not expected to receive pleasure in having sex, she was his sexual objectThe Lady of the House of Love Quotes Vous serez ma proie Too many roses Now you are at the place of annihilation Fee fie fo fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman A single kiss woke up the Sleeping Beauty in the W ood wisdom, death, dissolution chinoiserie escritoire this ornate and rotting place Can a birdlearn a new song? the bicycle is the intersection point of pure reason applied to motion Characters Countess her beauty is an abnormality hunger always overcomes her white lace negligee stained a little with blood the fangs and talons of a beast of prey a cave full of echoes the fragility of the skeleton of a moth Soldier pentacle of his virginity youth, strength and blonde beauty symbol of rationality (bicycle) the trenches of France AO2 language, form and structure and how they shape meaning Language Foreign words are slipped into the narrative allows reader to enter Countesss bilingual capitulum e. g. chinoiserie escritoire meaning Chinese-style desk/cabinet Form Reworked fairy tales Carter called them new stories not versions Short stories maximise the impact of Carters messages Structure Broken up by inset couplets of thoughts, either fairy tale villains fam ous lines, or menacing French phrases, which suggest this is the inner voice of her predatory nature increase equivocalness Story is divided in two first half is present tense, second half is past tense more fairy-tale like AO3 connections between texts and different interpretations References to the modern world the trenches of France (see BC) Humour you will be led by hand to the Countesss larder (see PIB, COW) Gothic Features Weather/setting cracked mirrors the Countess does not bear a reflection Too many roses roses are beautiful and dangerous like her Bird in the cage symbolises her entrapment in her vampiric body she likes to perk up it announce how it cannot escape Predatory females the fangs and talons of a beast of prey yet she evokes sympathy as she tries to change her fate Fee Fie Fo Fum places her in the role of the villain, Sleeping Beauty places her in the role of the victim Supernatural Soldier does not believe in supernatural this lack of imagina tion gives heroism to the hero Foreshadowing The Tarot cards change for the first time ever The Were skirt chaser Quotes they have cold weather, they have cold hearts supernumerary knocker Harsh, brief, poor lives. she prospered they stone her to death Characters Child good child coat of sheepskin Wolf grizzled chops less brave than they seem AO2 language, form and structure and how they shape meaning Language Very unemotional in places they stone her to death, she prospered detached narrator Tricolons emphasise repetition and simplicity of their lives harsh, brief, poor lives Extensive description of superstitions highlights their importance also seen in Company of Wolves Pathetic fallacy cold weather cold hearts setting mirrors personalities of inhabitants Very simple language fairy tale language, childlike, simple to understand Structure Isolated paragraph with one sentence Winter and cold weather. AO3 connections between texts and different interp retations Superstition wreaths of ail on the doors (see COW, EK, LOHOL) Gothic Features Weather/setting Pathetic fallacy Supernatural Superstitions wolves, witches, devil Foreshadowing Descriptions of superstitions at the beginning The Company of Wolves Quotes you are always in danger in the forest a man who vanished clear away on her wedding shadow the forest closed upon her like a correspond of jaws they are grey as famine you will suffer we try and try blood on snow Quack, quack went the duck Characters Heroine she is an unbroken pelt she knew she was nobodys meat she has just started her womans bleeding so pretty Wolf the tender wolf fear and flee the wolf AO2 language, form and structure and how they shape meaning Language Narrator addresses the reader you are always in danger, you will suffer, we try and try Written as if to recreate the oral tradition of fairytales Quack, quack went the duck hurl your Bible at him, call on Christbut it wont do you any good, It is Christmas Day, the werewolves birthday, canticles of the wolves undermining religion (canticle = short song/hymn) The forest closed on her like a pair of jaws isolated simile, only sentence in paragraph, highlight isolated setting typically Gothic (see Dead as his wives simile in BC = isolated) Fairytale What big eyes you have, All the better to see you with (All the better to see you = BC) Metaphor night and forest has come into the kitchen Structure Lengthy entree highlights importance of superstitions and wolves in the lives of the people Opens readers mind to the supernatural it is common here No speech marks increase the strangeness of the story also, there would be no speech marks in oral tradition AO3 connections between texts and different interpretations Fairy tale motifs (see BC, EK, LOTHOL) Personification of the woods (see EK) Gothic Features Religion you must run as if the Devil were after you Weather/setting Personification of t he forest like a pair of jaws, also simile, similar to EK Night time setting typically Gothic, increases ambiguity Dominant male wolf Non-passive female she laughs at him, she knew she was nobodys meat Wolf Alice Quotes the corners of his bloody chamber room of clothes where Dukes prey live it showed us what we could have been her pace is not our pace the wise child who leads them all Characters Duke his eyes see only appetite he is white as leprosy Wolf Alice not wolf or woman AO2 language, form and structure and how they shape meaning Language Carter quickly allies herself with the reader and separates Wolf-Alice her pace is not our pace Religious reference to Garden of Eden wise child who leads them all Duke is confound into the role of the corpse-eater not the whole truth? She could not put her finger on finger in italics, reminds us she is human AO3 connections between texts and different interpretations Gothic Features Weather/setting Dukes castle Gothic reinterpretation of the fairytale castle Moony metamorphic weather setting mirrors Duke Presence of the moon time, menstruation, Gothic night time, when the Duke is awake Graveyard settings Dominant males Duke not a real man, doesnt cast a reflection, doesnt have a soul, does have physical strength, doesnt talk to her separate solitudes Passive females Wolf-Alice is a strong female, physically, and becomes intellectually stronger throughout the story Supernatural Duke is a werewolf/vampire Superstition/religion adolescent husband fills a church with silver bullets, holy water, bells, books and candles

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.