Mirrors

Mirrors

1. The Bloody Chamber

   • The Marquis surrounds the narrator with mirrors, turning her into a pornographic image reflected 12 times.
     • Carter emphasises the objectification of women as beautiful rather than strong.
     • when she becomes aroused by this, she realises how she is also viewing herself as only the way the Marquis sees her.
       • "I caught sight of myself in the mirror. And I saw myself, suddenly, as he saw me"
     • she looks into the mirrors and realises how she is being objectified by the Marquis

2. In the Gothic

   • mirrors are a symbol used often in the Gothic genre, often to represent:
     • sense of self
     • vanity
     • identity
     • an ethereal, ghostly other-world

3. The Courtship of Mr Lyon

   • by looking too often in the mirror, Beauty is transformed from an innocent girl to a spoilt young woman
     • she becomes obsessed with her own physical image
       • "in front of the mirror, Beauty" the adjective suggests that she is merely beautiful, objectifying herself.
     • "was learning, at the end of her adolescence, how to be a spoiled child."
     • "smiled at herself in the mirror a little too often these days"
     • Carter uses this to highlight and criticise society's view of women as vain and shallow

4. The Tiger's Bride

   • she looks into the mirror and sees her father's face rather than her own- symbolising that she is treated as the property of her father- reinforced by his losing her at cards
   • the 2nd time, she sees her father celebrating the return of his wealth, and then realises that she herself finds wealth unimportant
     • then can she be truly free from her father and society's expectations to transform into a strong, independent tigress
       • "send her back to perform the part of my father's daughter", she distances herself from society's expectations
       • Carter uses the image of the 'soubrette' contrasting with the narrator to show how the view of women weakens characters.
         • "glossy, nut-brown, rosy cheeks, blue, rolling eyes"
       • the heroine needs to accept the animal nature in herself in order to break free of the social constraints upon her.
   • the mirror represents:
     • the contrast between the heroine and the soubrette
     • the heroine's sense of self
     • transformation from a girl to a woman