Key AO3: The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories
AO3 = Social, Historical and Cultural Contextual References
AO4 (Intertextuality) = Blue
Link to The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories = Purple
Cultural
Carter maintained that fairy tales ‘make sense of events and certain occurrences
in a particular imaginative way’
- She was interested in the way stories such as Sleeping Beauty and Little
Red Riding Hood had ‘gone into the bourgeois nursery and therefore lost
their origins’
- Therefore, TBC can be read as Carter’s way of returning these well-known
stories to their less refined, brutal origins, the violence and horror of some
tales reflecting the difficult lives of our ancestors
- In his influential book, The Uses of Enchantment, Bruno Bettelheim applied
a psychological approach to a detailed analysis of well-known fairy tales
- Reading Bettelheim’s book alongside TBC reveals how Carter responds
forcefully to Freudian concepts by foregrounding female identity and
boldly depicting a range of female experiences and destinies
-
Medieval Writing
- Medieval writers were conscious of the fact that readers should be able to
hear their tale rather than just read them
- Carter is always presented as the storyteller, even when the narrative
voice is given to a character
- During the Middle Ages, illiteracy was the norm, so visual agency was very
important
- Carter is a highly visual writer and her uses of symbols, metaphors and
allegories harks back to that time
Jacques Lacan’s Mirror Theory
- In the mirror you are divided in mind and body yet divided
- It results in self-objectification, as it inverts your own image
- There is simultaneous recognition and alienation
- This was developed by Laura Mulvey, as through mirrors, people can live
out their own ‘Voyeuristic fantasy’
- For example, in TBC, the narrator says ‘I caught sight of myself in mirror,
and I saw myself suddenly as he saw me…I saw how that cruel necklace
became me
Mannerist Movement
- It was an artistic movement opposing renaissance ideals of symmetry,
balance and simplicity
, - Carter ignored traditional boundaries of clear conclusions
- She provides a sensory, aesthetic experience
Social and Historical
Carter wrote TBC as an active participant in what is often called ‘Second Wave
Feminism’
1st Wave was much earlier and focused on legal obstacles against women such
as voting and property rights. However, 2nd Wave is much broader and looks at
sexuality, reproductive rights, family and the workplace.
- Women in the 1970s began to disagree over the direction and desired
outcomes of the feminist movement
- Liberal feminism is the idea that genders are equal, so everyone has the
right to property, wealth and dignity in society (women are not raised to
be submissive, they have their own thoughts and freedom to make their
own decisions)
- For example, in The Tiger’s Bride, the narrator chooses to stay with the
Beast rather than returning to her father
- Radical feminism explores the idea of not having any feminine or
masculine traits, but removing gender binary and giving women a voice to
share stories
- For example, Carter uses female characters as narrators so story is told
from their perspective
- In The Bloody Chamber, the narrator’s mother takes on a stereotypically
‘masculine’ role such as carrying a gun and saving the damsel in distress
It is important to note that Carter was not a conformist, or traditional feminist,
instead she is described to have ‘sniped from the sidelines’
The female voice in society and the presence or absence of female sexuality
in the mainstream media are still questioned by texts such as Eve Ensler’s
The Vagina Monologues, which present a provocative challenge to the
perceived male-dominated culture of the 21st century.
- Simone De Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949), talks about male
dominance in society
- ‘One is not born but becomes a woman’
- This means that a woman has a choice whether or not to be dominated
- This is depicted by the Countess’s complete change in persona as she
chooses to be subjugated by the Count in The Snow Child
Political
- Margaret Thatcher became the first female leader of the Conservative
Party in 1975
- By the end of the 1970s, more than half of the women had jobs outside
the home, but were still paid 60% less than men
- Women were given more opportunities than ever, and more women
applied for medical and law school
AO3 = Social, Historical and Cultural Contextual References
AO4 (Intertextuality) = Blue
Link to The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories = Purple
Cultural
Carter maintained that fairy tales ‘make sense of events and certain occurrences
in a particular imaginative way’
- She was interested in the way stories such as Sleeping Beauty and Little
Red Riding Hood had ‘gone into the bourgeois nursery and therefore lost
their origins’
- Therefore, TBC can be read as Carter’s way of returning these well-known
stories to their less refined, brutal origins, the violence and horror of some
tales reflecting the difficult lives of our ancestors
- In his influential book, The Uses of Enchantment, Bruno Bettelheim applied
a psychological approach to a detailed analysis of well-known fairy tales
- Reading Bettelheim’s book alongside TBC reveals how Carter responds
forcefully to Freudian concepts by foregrounding female identity and
boldly depicting a range of female experiences and destinies
-
Medieval Writing
- Medieval writers were conscious of the fact that readers should be able to
hear their tale rather than just read them
- Carter is always presented as the storyteller, even when the narrative
voice is given to a character
- During the Middle Ages, illiteracy was the norm, so visual agency was very
important
- Carter is a highly visual writer and her uses of symbols, metaphors and
allegories harks back to that time
Jacques Lacan’s Mirror Theory
- In the mirror you are divided in mind and body yet divided
- It results in self-objectification, as it inverts your own image
- There is simultaneous recognition and alienation
- This was developed by Laura Mulvey, as through mirrors, people can live
out their own ‘Voyeuristic fantasy’
- For example, in TBC, the narrator says ‘I caught sight of myself in mirror,
and I saw myself suddenly as he saw me…I saw how that cruel necklace
became me
Mannerist Movement
- It was an artistic movement opposing renaissance ideals of symmetry,
balance and simplicity
, - Carter ignored traditional boundaries of clear conclusions
- She provides a sensory, aesthetic experience
Social and Historical
Carter wrote TBC as an active participant in what is often called ‘Second Wave
Feminism’
1st Wave was much earlier and focused on legal obstacles against women such
as voting and property rights. However, 2nd Wave is much broader and looks at
sexuality, reproductive rights, family and the workplace.
- Women in the 1970s began to disagree over the direction and desired
outcomes of the feminist movement
- Liberal feminism is the idea that genders are equal, so everyone has the
right to property, wealth and dignity in society (women are not raised to
be submissive, they have their own thoughts and freedom to make their
own decisions)
- For example, in The Tiger’s Bride, the narrator chooses to stay with the
Beast rather than returning to her father
- Radical feminism explores the idea of not having any feminine or
masculine traits, but removing gender binary and giving women a voice to
share stories
- For example, Carter uses female characters as narrators so story is told
from their perspective
- In The Bloody Chamber, the narrator’s mother takes on a stereotypically
‘masculine’ role such as carrying a gun and saving the damsel in distress
It is important to note that Carter was not a conformist, or traditional feminist,
instead she is described to have ‘sniped from the sidelines’
The female voice in society and the presence or absence of female sexuality
in the mainstream media are still questioned by texts such as Eve Ensler’s
The Vagina Monologues, which present a provocative challenge to the
perceived male-dominated culture of the 21st century.
- Simone De Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949), talks about male
dominance in society
- ‘One is not born but becomes a woman’
- This means that a woman has a choice whether or not to be dominated
- This is depicted by the Countess’s complete change in persona as she
chooses to be subjugated by the Count in The Snow Child
Political
- Margaret Thatcher became the first female leader of the Conservative
Party in 1975
- By the end of the 1970s, more than half of the women had jobs outside
the home, but were still paid 60% less than men
- Women were given more opportunities than ever, and more women
applied for medical and law school
