To what extent is gender stereotypes reinforced or challenged in your chosen story from Carter’s ‘The Bloody Chamber’.

Angela Carter deconstructs and transforms the core elements of traditional tales and motifs. She does this by dismantling the long established depictions of women within the fairy tale genre (which are perceived to be ‘frail’ and ‘helpless’). By re-telling the stories of well-known fairy tales in her collection, she exposes ‘societal ideals within the original tales which were used to perpetuate Christian patriarchal concepts as a means of maintaining the gender hierarchy’¹- this is an issue which was previously identified by Bettelheim. However, Carter re-shapes these tales by inverting their traditional narrative structure and draws them out of their conventional fairy tale format, separating them from conventional child stories or folk tale, and into a dark, erotic exposure or gender and sexuality. This is made clear through her innovative use of the Gothic, which allows Carter to marginalise the norm and occupy a more central cultural place- this method is used to transgress the limits of what is commonly accepted of a gender. The definition of gender stereotypes is ‘[not] how females (and males) really are, but the way that a given culture or sub-culture sees them, how they are culturally constructed.’² this definition means that gender identity is determined by a patriarchal society. Carter however aims to deconstruct the traditional structures in order to direct the reader’s attention to contemporary problems, mostly related to her feminist viewpoint.

Gender stereotypes are challenged in The Bloody Chamber (TBC) by the Mother figure, who inverts the typical female Gothic stock character. Originally in the tale of Blue Beard (BB) the story TBC is based upon, it is the brother who saves the protagonist as in traditional Gothic structures, the mother would be presented as a passive figure, but Carter alternatively deconstructs this profile and presents the reader with a ‘complex’³ and ‘forceful’⁴ feminist vision of an ‘avenging angel’⁵. This gives her the ability to strip the Marquis of his masculine superiority and make him ‘impotent at last’⁶. To overcome the Marquis the Mother uses her husbands ‘service revolver’⁷ to kill him ‘without a moment’s hesitation’⁸- Carter said she did this to ‘decolonis[e]… our habits of thought’⁹.  One interpretation of this ending can be seen as Carter showing a synonymous relationship between man and woman, as one cannot overcome an obstacle without the other, or Carter could be presenting the idea that women have the potential to surpass the stereotypical limitations through opportunities that transgress the norm, as once the ‘[Marquis] is vanquished by the mother and daughter [the] victimisation of women is overturned’¹⁰. This remodels the outcome of the stereotypical story-as female autonomy becomes the happy ending rather than female subservience to males. On the other hand, another translation may be Carter displaying female emancipation which is only possible through the symbol of male power- the ‘service revolver’¹¹ (used to kill the Marquis) is symbolic of a phallus- this is because in the contextual time period the tale is set, women believed they needed male power to overcome obstacles. However in later tales of Carter’s collection, such as The Erl King (TEK) or The Lady of the House of Love (TLOTHOL), the heroines use their own female power to be liberated from male subservience. This is symbolic as the first story in the collection (TBC) shows females depending on the power of males but the last tale in the collection Wolf Alice (WA), it shows an equilibrium of power between both sexes- therefore Carter’s collection of tales significantly tracks feminism through the ages.

However, gender stereotypes are reinforced in TBC through Carter’s use of Gothic conventions such as: characters, settings and plot developments. An example of Carter’s Gothic conventions can be identified in the heroine, as she embodies the two stereotypical versions of gothic women- the innocent virgin and the seductress. For instance a key moment when the virginal heroine displays characteristics of naivety and innocence, commonly associated with women, is when the heroine is at the opera performance of ‘Tristan’¹²- used as a device to foreshadow the love triangle which occurs later in the tale. It is there, as she catches herself in the mirror, she sees herself through the eyes of the Marquis who watched her with the ‘assessing eye of a connoisseur’¹³, a gaze which implies his carnal desire to consume and feed off of her purity. She sees the ‘sinuous shift of white muslin tied with a silk string under the breasts…[,] his wedding gift…a choker of rubies… clasped around [her] throat…[and] sensed in [her]self a potentiality for corruption.’¹⁴ This image further foreshadows the Marquis’ wish to decapitate the heroine as the choker previously belonged to his Grandmother who wore it to show she had ‘escaped the guillotine’¹⁵ at the time of the French Revolution. Nonetheless, it is not until after he had corrupted her chastity that she came to realise it was her ‘innocence that captivated him’¹⁶, Schanoes believed this was Carter ‘highlighting the social construction of female masochism and sexual passivity’¹⁷, as the Marquis’ attraction to innocence and naivety could be a reflection of mankind as a collective. This attitude was common in previous times (such as the Victorian era) as women were brought up to be innocent and sexually ignorant- as it could impede on their families honour. Not only does the  predatory Marquis represent the male sex as a collective, but the heroine is representative of the female collection, this can be seen after the heroines lost her ‘virginity’¹⁸ in the Marquis’ bedroom she believes that at that moment there are ‘a dozen husbands impal[ing] a dozen brides’¹⁹. This insinuates a history of women who have been victims of violent abuse or unhappy marriages which she identifies herself a part of, it is E. B. Manley who argues that 'the mirror scenes establish the protagonist as oscillating between girlhood and womanhood, between a patriarchal view and her own definition of herself'²⁰. Likewise in WA, mirrors play a vital role as it enlightens the protagonist to her own power, once she realises her reflection is her shadow her perspective shifts from animal objectivity to human subjectivity, changing the female stereotype. This may be Carter signifying a universal need to alter the way society understands female sexuality and identity.

Alternatively, the heroine embodies the seductress. After recognising her innocent image was one that had been produced through the social conditioning of a phallocentric culture (which desired the domination over the female object) it helped her to gain female independence-along with her increased knowledge of sexuality and violence, partly due to her experience of the bloody chamber. Carter uses the symbol of bloody chamber within all her tales, as it is through this that her protagonists gain enlightenment which allows them to metamorphosis and escape the binds of their sexual oppression. The heroine almost succeeds in seducing her husband, by using his male desire of innocence against him, ‘If he had come to me in bed, I would have strangled him’²¹, through the reality of her death after seeing his past wives perversely ‘strung up’²², ‘disembodied’²³ and ‘denuded of flesh’²⁴ -which was created through female submission- she is no longer naive. This may be Carter making a feminist statement through her exploration of gender and female sexuality. Carter may have been influenced by the different contested positions feminism had debated such as: pornography, sexuality, violence and the representation of women. These issues intensified in the late 1970’s and 80’s, which may have significantly influenced Carter’s work. Carter uses issues such as pornography to disprove feminist ideas that they reflect ‘a sort of distilled essence of the entrenched binaries of patriarchal gender relations, the conflict revolved around the extent to which pornographic representations could be appropriated’²⁵ Carter instead suggests an alternative that can empower women. This is seen in her other tales such as In the Company of Wolves (ITCOW) where the protagonist refuses to be a victim and when presented with the inevitable rape conforms to her own ideals instead of the conventional.

The concept of gender stereotype is constructed, inverted and transformed in TBC through Carter’s use of deconstruction to the core elements in traditional tales. This may be to force the reader to radically question their beliefs surrounding cultural construction and thus gender stereotype and gender sexuality. This is reinforced through the use of Gothic stock characters, which display the cultural stereotype in which she deconstructs and transforms the characters to present the reader with a different aspect to women in the fairy tale genre and sexuality to encourage change. By deconstructing the fairy tale form, Carter highlights the societal ideals (such as patriarchy) within the original tales, and reveals its corrupt purpose-which is to maintain the gender hierarchy which ensures women remain submissive to a phallocentric culture. In particular she condemns the female characteristic of passivity and nativity. She shows this through the bloody chamber which displays a fatal consequence to previous submissive female characters. This is symbolic of an endless cycle which is caused by a patriarchal society which warrants the objectification and possession of women to a male dominance.

Word Count :1507

Bibliography

¹ http://hilo.hawaii.edu/academics/hohonu/documents/Vol07x07HappilyEverAfter.pdf

²  The Critical Anthology Article 4

³ Kari E. Lokke ‘Bluebeard and The Bloody Chamber: The Grotesque of Self-Parody and Self-Assertio’

⁴ Kari E. Lokke ‘Bluebeard and The Bloody Chamber: The Grotesque of Self-Parody and Self-Assertio’

⁵ Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber, Vintage 2012, Page 39

⁶ Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber, Vintage 2012, Page

⁷ Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber, Vintage 2012, Page 40

⁸Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber, Vintage 2012, Page 41

9Angela Carter, Feminist Review: Issue 42: Feminist Fictions, https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hNWNPSSPnOMC&pg=PT35&dq=%27attempts+to+decolonise+our+habits+of+thought%27&hl=en&sa=X&ei=dqMqVenmAczxaO6qgKgL&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q='attempts%20to%20decolonise%20our%20habits%20of%20thought'&f=false

¹⁰ Old Wine in New Bottles (the analysis of cultural constructions of femininity in A.Carter’s “The Bloody Chamber”, Page 123, file:///C:/Users/Elizabeth/Downloads/Mik_2012_15_1_23%20(1).pdf

¹¹ Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber, Vintage 2012, Page 40

¹² Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber, Vintage 2012, Page 3

¹³ Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber, Vintage 2012, Page 6

¹⁴ Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber, Vintage 2012, Page 6

¹⁵ Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber, Vintage 2012, Page 6

¹⁶ Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber, Vintage 2012, Page 16

¹⁷ Professor Veronica L Schanoes, Fairy Tales, Myth, and Psychoanalytic Theory: Feminism and Retelling the Tale, https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=wlqUBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA89&lpg=PA89&dq=%E2%80%98highlighting+the+social+construction+of+female+masochism+and+sexual+passivity%E2%80%99&source=bl&ots=Df_XWggpUC&sig=JwXubfJT_VnLuBYhuNUUEYXvm-s&hl=en&sa=X&ei=b7cqVaGMEYfXapelgeAM&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%98highlighting%20the%20social%20construction%20of%20female%20masochism%20and%20sexual%20passivity%E2%80%99&f=false

¹⁸ Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber, Vintage 2012, Page 14

¹⁹ Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber, Vintage 2012, Page 14

²⁰Danielle Marie Roemer and Cristina Bacchilega, “Angela Carter and the Fairy Tale”, P87, https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=mcLy81hgirIC&pg=PA87&lpg=PA87&dq=%27the+mirror+scenes+establish+the+protagonist+as+oscillating+between+girlhood+and+womanhood,+between+a+patriarchal+view+and+her+own+definition+of+herself%27&source=bl&ots=zyjE1QpYP3&sig=KHM-sOqkvht4Vwj--L7OcchrKEE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YrkqVeecAoP6aJzDgdgK&ved=0CCIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q='the%20mirror%20scenes%20establish%20the%20protagonist%20as%20oscillating%20between%20girlhood%20and%20womanhood%2C%20between%20a%20patriarchal%20view%20and%20her%20own%20definition%20of%20herself'&f=false

²¹ Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber, Vintage 2012, Page 34

²² Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber, Vintage 2012, Page 27

²³ Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber, Vintage 2012, Page 27

²⁴ Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber, Vintage 2012, Page 27

²⁵ Danielle Marie Roemer and Cristina Bacchilega, “Angela Carter and the Fairy Tale”, P37, https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=mcLy81hgirIC&pg=PA37&lpg=PA37&dq=%E2%80%98reflected+a+sort+of+distilled+essence+of+the+entrenched+binaries+of+patriarchal+gender+relations,+the+conflict+revolved+around+the+extent+to+which+pornographic+representations+could+be+appropriated%E2%80%99&source=bl&ots=zyjE1QnZRc&sig=H7yCb-bwaux4B7v4i02qsVN6qSc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ErIqVY7zOdjnaq_3gYgI&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%98reflected%20a%20sort%20of%20distilled%20essence%20of%20the%20entrenched%20binaries%20of%20patriarchal%20gender%20relations%2C%20the%20conflict%20revolved%20around%20the%20extent%20to%20which%20pornographic%20representations%20could%20be%20appropriated%E2%80%99&f=false