ENG LIT - The Bloody Chamber AO3

When was TBC written?

1979 by Angela Carter

What is important about its publishing date?

• Margaret Thatcher came into power 1979

• Many didn’t like her but she was the first female PM

• Advertised that women should be able to work and be mothers at the same time

Why was war at the forefront of Carter’s mind when writing the collection?

• Carter grew up amongst the Cold War and Vietnam War, making this a particular concern for her

• She wanted to challenge our perception of fear, asking us to look at the bigger picture

• Fears of transgressions and abnormality were silly in comparison to the conflict occurring at the time

Which movement was prevalent in 1979 influencing Carter’s work?

• 2nd wave of feminism

• People fighting for reproductive rights like the pill and the right to an abortion

When was marital rape legal until?

1991

What was Commedia dell’arte and which story incorporates it?

• Early form of theatre 16th-18th century

• Characters usually rep fixed social types eg silly old men

• Characters = exaggerated

• Often ironic and makes comment on politics

• “Puss-in-boots” uses this

What period is the titular story set in?

• Fin de siecle France

• Was very corrupt, shown in the Marquis’ opulence and belief that he is superior to the protagonist

What form does Carter use and subvert?

• Fairy tales

• She uses the revisionist approach which is to take a story and add to it, making it serve a different purpose

• This allows her to be intertextual in her writing

What is the male gaze?

The act of depicting women from a masculine heterosexual perspective, presenting women as sexual objects as opposed to human and autonomous

What is Carter doing with her short story “The Lady of the House of Love”?

• Using parody

• She parodies the story of Dracula by giving her a vampiric appearance yet she is sympathetically presented because of her desire to be human

When did Margaret Thatcher become prime minister? What did this mean?

• 1979

• This meant people’s fear of women in power was exploited further

• Carter publishing her collection in the same year may reflect these concerns

Name some of the authors of the fairy tales that Carter was influenced by

• Charles Perrault who wrote Bluebeard (Influenced titular story), Little Red Riding Hood and Puss in Boots

• Brothers Grimm

Who wrote the poem that the Erl King was based on?

• Goethe

• The erl-king steals the soul of a boy riding in the forest

• Carter changes it so a girl is drawn into the forest again and again by her lover

• She eventually kills him

What was the difference between the first and second wave of feminism?

• First wave was focused on getting women the vote

• Second wave was over their discontent of traditional roles and was closely tied to the Civil Rights movement

Who wrote “The Feminine Mystique” and what was it?

• Betty Friedan

Where did Carter’s Lion stories derive from?

Beauty and the Beast

Why does Carter use fairy tales?

• In these imaginary worlds that don’t fit with the real world we live, taboos can be explored and challenged in a more palatable manner

• As it is not the real world, the limits to human behaviour are not real, the characters can do as they wish and exercise a certain freedom