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| Question | Answer |
| The Snow Child Quotes: ". . . glistening pelts of black foxes . . ." | Carter's use of anthropomorphic imagery during her descriptions of the Countess aims to associate foxes with cunning or sly qualities and emphasises her female sexuality. She is deliberately characterised to be attractive, yet enigmatic and cold, heartless almost, in order to highlight the reader's sympathy for the child. Carter employs a Gothic use of colour symbolism through the repeated use of "black", referencing death, and "red" referencing blood, love and sexuality. |
| The Snow Child Quotes: ". . . she was the child of his desire . . ." and ". . . the Count felt sorry for his wife." | Bearing in mind Carter's standpoint on feminism, this phrase suggests that patriarchy shapes women in the image of male sexual desire; there is emphasis on the pronoun "his", clearly defining that the child belongs to the Count, not the Countess. She, instead, is presented as unloving and jealous of the child, juxtaposing the innate nature of motherhood, as she longs for the attention of her husband. The Countess is left with her husband's pity, rather than his fleeting attraction. |
| The Snow Child Quotes: ". . . pricks her finger; bleeds; screams; falls." | Carter's use of references to the classic fairytale of Snow White symbolises the pains of loving; due to the infamous moral of this tale, this is more effective in creating sympathy for the child, in both the time at which the story was written and in the modern day. The structure of this quote creates a staccato rhythm, emphasising the harsh nature of the child's actions; she has no choice. This is effective in highlighting the pain of the child, as it is not buried beneath complex description and is emotionally moving in its simplicity. |
| The Snow Child Quotes: ". . . thrusts his virile member into the dead girl." | Carter's use of imagery in this instance is particularly shocking, due to the simple, emotionless nature with which the Count conducts himself. The child's innocence is juxtaposed by the Count's disgraceful act of necrophilia as the archetype of the gothic villian; she dies after fulfillung her role as a sexual object for the pure intent of androgenic pleasure. |
| The Bloody Chamber Quotes: "It bites!" | As the last line of the novel, the Countess' dialogue leaves the reader wondering about the possible interpretation of this ambiguous statement: the Countess might have been hurt by the rose, due to her rejection of the pain of love, or, from a feminist viewpoint, this could show that in killing another woman she has only hurt herself. The structure of this dialogue as a single sentence paragraph emphasises the significance of the story's conclusion; it fails to tie together the loose ends of the story, yet is effective in making the reader consider the underlying moral message. |
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