The Snow Child - The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter

Summary

- A count and countess go riding in the forest

- The count wishes for a girl with white skin, red lips and black hair to fulfil his desires

- The girl appears naked on the side of the road, the Count looks after her and Countess is jealous

- The Countess attempts to get rid of her but fails, only throwing away her expensive belongings and clothing the girl

- The Countess asks the girl to pick a rose, the Count does not object and the girl dies pricking her finger

- The sad count has intercourse with the dead girl in a last attempt to fulfil his lustful wishes

- The girl melts and the Count offers the Countess the rose

- The Countess is stung by the rose

"She wrapped in the glittering pelts of black foxes;"

She is glamorous, cared for and looked after by her rich husband

"The whole world was white"

An ominous clean slate on which anything can be created

"I wish I had a girl as white as snow" "I wish I had a girl as red as blood" "I wish I had a girl as black as that bird's feather"

Reference to Brothers Grimm Snow White, the mother wishes for a girl with white skin red lips and black hair, dies giving birth to the girl and an evil stepmother tries to kill her out of jealousy.

Introduces themes of jealousy between females and that female rivalry is created out of attention from men

Feminist pov: the male gaze is pressuring women to feel as though they need to look good / sexy for men, creating tensions and rivalries between women who should look out for each other

Freudian pov: Freud says that jealousy is an uncontrollable and therefore subconscious emotion, reinforcing the use of the Caeter's magical realism

"stark naked; she was the child of his desires and the Countess hated her"

The fact that the Count would conjure such a sexual image in front of his wife could show a disregard for her now that he has created an imaginary persona that can fulfil his sexual desires rather than romantic ones provided by the Countess, fuelling and justifying the Countess' jealousy while also commenting on the male gaze and that once a woman ages and becomes less conventionally attractive they can be thrown away or replaced, that men treat women as expendable and therefore as inferior.

"At that, the furs sprang off of the Countess's shoulders and twined round the naked girl ... then her boots left off the Countess's feet and onto the girl's legs."

At each attempt to get rid of the girl, the Count dismisses the Countess and holds her in lower and lower interest to the point where he is more likely to provide and care for the girl than his wife. This is shown as the clothes that the Count provided for the Countess are now warming the girl, demonstrating his shift in focus.

"Now the Countess was bare as bone and girl furred and booted"

The Countess being "bare as bone" could symbolise her newfound vulnerability. The fact that she now has nothing to cover her leaves her unable to fend against the cold world which surrounds her and more likely to be injured.

Since magical realism is also employed in the text, the expression could be taken more literally, and that the character has literally been stripped of everything covering her including skin and muscle. This could insinuate the fact that even the Countess' body belonged to the Count and that he has taken further ownership and control of her by literally taking her body so as a reaction to her rebellion against the girl.

The plosive alliteration of "bare as bone" referring to the Countess being similar to "booted" referring tot the girl may also highlight the contrast between each character and how they are treated by the Count as a result of each other.

"pricks her finger on the thorn; bleeds; screams; falls."

The girl is fragile due to the fact that she has been created by the Count (and therefore not real) for his own lustful desires. She does not have the emotional strength for genuine romantic relationships

"Weeping... and thrust his virile member into the girl"

The Count is saddened due to the fact that his creation has not lasted, and has intercourse with the girl in order to try and have a last chance at fulfilling his desires with his imaginary ideal girl.

"Then the girl began to melt"

The Count has not been able to find satisfaction with his creation and realised that a superficial lustrous desire is intangible and impossible compared to the true romantic relationship that he has with the Countess which is much more valuable despite its imperfections

"With her long hand, she stroked her furs"

The Countess has recognised the fact that she now has the Count's attention and devotion again, demonstrated by the fact that she acknowledges the glamorous clothes he's gotten back

"The Count picked up the rose, bowed and handed it to his wife"

The Count attempts to apologise by offering the rose which she originally demanded and that ended his relationship with the girl he was unfaithful with

" 'It bites!' " She said

Despite her husband's attempts at reconciliation, the fact that he betrayed her after having conjured an imaginary girl for his sexual desires will still damage her emotionally, hence why the rose 'bites'. Although, it is shown that she is much more resilient than the girl because she was merely stung while the girl died.

Conclusion

Carter has attempted to convey that female rivalry is rooted in the male gaze, and that even after a man has recognised a woman's worth, this recognition and apology is not enough to take away the emotional pain that this causes to women in general after the culture of replacing women and fantasising to fulfil sexual desires in a crude way is normalised.