In 'The Tiger's Bride', the tiger merely wishes to see Beauty naked in order to satisfy his desires however, after Beauty's response to 'put a bag' on her head and 'pull up her skirt', the Beast feels pity towards her conditioned way of thinking. The girl has been conditioned to view the loss of her virginity as a forced, inevitable act and because of this, the Beast forms 'a single tear' in sadness for her. This is Gothic duality as the Beast in the story possesses human qualities, perhaps more so than the humans themselves, so this creates a sense of irony. Carter has chosen to present the Beast in this way to show how society is losing the grasp on humanity and becoming desensitised.
Lack of humanity is highlighted clearly in Carter's sinister adaption of 'Little Red Riding Hood'; 'The Snow Child'. The count is conveyed as predatory in this story and after conjuring up the snow child, she shortly dies. In despair, the Count 'thrusts his virile member into the dead girl'. This act of necrophilia is deeply shocking to both the original and modern readership as it shows the animistic nature. To be 'human' is usually being composed and civilised however the Count is being relentless. This contrasts to the Beast in 'The Tiger's Bride' as here, the human feels no sympathy to his female victim whereas the Beast seemed to possess the human qualities of pity.
In 'The Werewolf', the Beast is the Wolf. On discovering the Wolf, the girl 'cuts off his paw' without hesitation. Carter may have chosen to use numb, detached narration here to show how children have become desensitised by fear. The villagers, at the end of the story 'stone her (the grandmother) to death' in suspicion that she was a witch because of the 'witch's nipple' on her hand. This ruthless killing demonstrates the power of superstition and this is shocking to the modern day readership because today's society doesn't maintain superstitious beliefs and so this way of life displayed in 'The Werewolf' comes across as inhumane. The Wolf turns out to be a human therefore the other humans response to it can be seen as ironic.
Moving back to 'The Tiger's Bride', the beast is represented as an equal to the humans, so much so that Beauty grows fond of him. This is transgression in that the supernatural is being accepted in to the real world, it could be said to conform to Baudrillard's theory of hyper reality as the character of the Tiger is played so 'straight' that the reader doesn't question why a Beast is living alongside humans. At the end of the story, Beauty allows the Beast to 'lick the skin off' her and becomes a tiger too. Arguably she chooses to let the Tiger do this as she recognises that animals possess more humane qualities than humans so by completing the Gothic element of metamorphosis, she can live a more civilised lifestyle. A psychoanalytical critic might comment on the idea that Beauty identifies that she must leave behind her humanity in order to become more humane, this is ironic in that the reader would expect their roles to be reversed and that it should be the Beast who needs humanity.
The Marquis in 'The Bloody Chamber' holds many inhumane qualities. The girl discovers one of his wives in his chamber 'pierced by hundreds of spikes... newly dead'. This shocking imagery gives the implication that the Marquis possesses vampiristic qualities and finds pleasure in torturing his wives. By providing him with elements of sado-masochism, Carter is presenting him as inhumane, he is a predator obsessed with killing. This takes the idea of a patriarchal society to the extremes. This act conforms to Gothic excess, displaying how women are seen merely as objects of pleasure, easily disposable and quickly replaced. Using hyperbolic language, Carter is hinting at the potential for corruption and the possibility of a complete loss of humanity.
In conclusion, in the majority of the stories from 'The Bloody Chamber', Beasts are quite often presented as being more humane than the humans. Human characters are nearly always presented as corrupt or having the potential to be corrupted. They are shown as predatory, emotionless and desensitised; it is the Beasts that posses feeling and emotion, they have a firmer hod on humanity than the humans themselves.
Band 5/30 marks.
