Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Bloody Chamber: "It is
ironic that the beasts are
often more humane than
the humans"
- Relevant Context
- Carter had a
non-conventional childhood,
which lead to a
non-conventional view of the
world
- Carter's feminism
- she explores the social
gender roles imposed
upon women and men
- critiquing what 'beast' means in the Gothic
- Implies animalistic behaviour
and lacking in a civilised
manner
- Aesthetically implies something ugly or
gruesome
- 'Beast' is a metaphor for
breaking out of an alloted role,
particularly in order to find a
place of equality between the
sexes
- Gothic often blurs
the boundaries
between beast and
human
- Interchangeable
human qualities
- Fear of otherness
- THE TIGER'S BRIDE
- "My father lost me to the beast at cards"
- The girl is viewed as a possession
- Women are objectified
- Image of the flower withering
- The beast gives her back her
identity which is symbolised by
the rose
- Beauty chooses to be a
tiger rather than human.
- Beauty is overtly critical of her father
- "mask if too
perfect to be
human"
- WOLF-ALICE
- Humans reject her (the nuns)
- Blurred boundaries
- Alice is human in looks and
body, but her manners and
mindset is that of a beast
- She doesn't
realise her
humanness
until she gets a
sense of
herself
(menstraution,
reflection)
- She retains
empathy to the Duke
- We reject what we see/find as 'other'
- THE BLOODY CHAMBER
- Human is beastly
- Marquis is dark, distorted and sadistic
- Olfactory language (description of
smells) associated with leather
- "odour of leather"
- Marquis has a carnal appetite
- The girl becomes his "prey"
- Animalistic imagery
used to convey his
barbarism
- THE COURTSHIP OF MR LYON
- Criticises the father figure
- His daughter is payment to
the beast for the rose
- The lion is a gentle creature
- He turns out to be
gentle as opposed
to the first
description of her
entering the castle
- "the final emphahic,
reverberating' clang of
the gates
- She recognises his otherness,
then becomes closer and sees
more of his humanity