Topical???...
http://www.thefader.com/2013/10/14/miley-cyrus-sinead-o-connor-female-se/

Lady of the House of Love - Critical Extract F

[Carter believed that] the Gothic should be placed and was beginning to be placed, she concluded, in relation to reals in literature ad the visual arts and at the sae time associated with fantasy and the fantastic with the realms of imagination ad desire: novels needn't deal with domestic everyday life experience after all' their truth could lie elsewhere. The genre may have started life with Horace Walpole and neo-medivalism - a haunted castled, giant pieces of armour, an avenging ghost, a disputed inheritance - but the Gothic had since turned into something more pervasive: an aesthetic. This aesthetic had strong links with the realist-sentimental novels of Abbe Prevost, Samuel Richardson and Jean-Jacques Rousseau which preceded it […] but it was beginning to be seen as standing in stark opposition to 'safe' literary realism. Angela Carter was delighted to see, as she put it, that 'fin in this particular siecle was beginning rather earlier than usual. For, as she added, 'we live in gothic times…'

Christopher Frayling, 'Introduction', in The Gothic Reader - A Critical Anthology. (Tate, 2006).

Carter's 'Lady of The House of Love' derives from classic fairy tales Jack and the Beanstalk and also Sleeping Beauty to portray how enlightenment and death are two inseparables for the 'unhealthy beauty' of the Countess. This is evident as one kiss was sufficient to awaken Sleeping Beauty, and we are reminded that the Countess, like the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk, is the natural antagonist of mankind. Ultimately, these elements of 'fantasy and the fantastic' with 'realms of imagination' contribute to the gothic convention of 'blurring of reality' as it is difficult to decipher, as the reader, the metaphysical state of the Countess. 

Frayling describes how people may dismiss the gothic as it is not representative of the life in which we live - 'novels needn't deal with the domestic life and everyday experience' as the as the fact that the gothic doesn't need to be realistic to communicate a message, which in this story can be said to be true. This is because whilst the story is set in a conventional gothic castle, the story is revenant to todays society, as Carter wished ('we live in Gothic times'), by the incorporation of 'the soldier'. 

Nevertheless, the fact that Carter has described 'we live in Gothic times' is evident throughout the collection of stories in 'The Bloody Chamber' as disparity between men and women. 'The Lady of the House of Love' is a prime example of this disparity. The gothic 'entrapment' of the vampire is caused by the Countess' 'unhealthy beauty' and eventually leads to her eternal sadness. Moreover, her eternal sadness is consequential of her 'unhealthy beauty' and the fact that men only objectify her - not fall in love with her. 

Fairy Tales and The Existential Predicament

Bettelheim argues that fairy tales ass new dimensions to a child's imagination, which are unreachable through their own ability, as well as the fact that they provide a structure upon which a child can base their daydreams to 'provide better direction to their life'. He also argues that some parents believe that their children should only be presented with the 'sunny side in life', and to disregard 'nameless anxieties and violent fantisies' as subconsciously, fairytales also offer an element of darkness. In the text, it is suggested that when children are not always good, they prefer not to be, which makes them believe they are a 'monster', meaning that whilst these repressed unconscious thoughts remain unspoken, they are not typically 'bad thoughts' but can be seen as natural. 

Bettelheim believes that fairy tales present to a child that life offers 'unavoidable' difficulties and it is part of human exisistence and overcoming these 'hardships' well created a well-rounded character. It is argued that whilst many modern forms of fictional child literature avoids 'death' and 'eternal life', fairy tales confront these issues with the basic 'human predicaments'. Fairy tales offer evil as an omnipresent force, as good and dil are represented by a body in a figure by their actions. This offers the duality life battle of what you should do or what you want to do. The fairy tale characters are not 'ambivalent' being good or bad at the same time as in real life neither are we. Bettelheim argues that whilst polarisation is active inn the child's mind, enabling the child to see the direct opposites between two characters enables the child to distinguish the difference between the two characteristics. A conclusion can be drawn that therefore, the child has to be able to relate to the good character portrayed in a fairy tale. 

1. How might Bettelheim's ideas help us to understand the purpose of fairy tales? 
The argument provided by Bettelheim enables the adult mind to understand how a child interprets a fairy tale. The purpose of fairy tales, to Bettelheim, is to present the child with the complexities of life so their subconscious is exposed to both the good and the bad, through the polarisation of two specific character and therefore the child is able to draw its own conclusions between the differences of the 'good' character and the 'bad character', as it is more likely to be able to relate to the 'good' character. 

2.How do Bettelheim's ideas help us to understand the purposes of the gothic?
Bettelheim's ideas can be transferred to the gothic through the fact that the gothic further exposes the polarisation between the typical female as a demure, 'damsel in distress' and a strong byronic, perhaps in some ways evil dominant male character. Also as an adult reading the gothic genre, a character like Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights is an archetypal 'bad' character yet,  we are drawn to him as character through his immediate dark appearance and our ability to like him is questioned. Therefore, in fairy tales it can be said that the bad character is there to be disliked, yet in the the gothic, the bad character can be arguably 'liked' as we are able to decipher what makes them bad in comparison to an essentially 'good character'. 

3. Why do you think Carter mixes the fairy tale and gothic genres in 'The Bloody Chamber'?
This may be because it challenges the 'safe' fairytales we know as a child and exposes the subliminal messages involved through the gothic. As well as this, the mix of gothic and fairy tales means that the more 'subliminal' messages involved with the fairy tale as expose much more explicitly in the the dramatic genre of the gothic, and therefore as an adult make it more interesting to read. Furthermore, the  mix of gothic and fairy tale means Carter is able to challenge the perception created in fairy tales through the gothic, and significantly, the portrayal of women. 

'Wolf-Alice' Questions

1. Make a note of two/three of the most striking pieces of description.
    - 'she cannot speak'
    - 'her panting tongue hangs out; her red lips are thick and fresh'
    - 'she always runs on all fours'
    - 'in the mirror, she saw how this white dress made her shine'

2. From the description, what sort of a character does Carter create? Does the girl seem realistic to you, or not? 
From the selected quotations above, it can be described that the character creates is indefinitely both wolf and human. Throughout Carter's stories the main 'heroines' transform to embrace their bestial/lustful natures such as in 'The Tigers Bride' were she is recast as a beast. However, Wolf Alice sees the opposite of this take place. Initially Wolf Alice is described with animalistic features such as 'her panting tongue' and 'she always runs on all fours' suggesting she is intact a wolf, although this can be doubted since she is also described with human features 'red lips'. However, ultimately Carter portrays through her other stories in 'The Bloody Chamber' that there are several identifiable signs that distinguishes humans from animals which see a knowledge of morality, shame or a desire to wear clothing and a belief that we are more significant than our surrounding; all of which can be described as latent in Wolf Alice. Although, these 'identifiable characteristics' become more evident in Wolf Alice as she encounters human belongings such as the mirror and the wedding dress - 'in the mirror, she saw how this white dress made her shine', reminding the reader that we are mere beasts without a culture. From this, an inconclusive judgment can be made that Wolf Alice is neither realistic or unrealistic as whilst she posses human traits such as menstruation and a 'desire to be clothed', she also fundamentally has an animalistic, feral nature. This is because by the end of the tale, she is still recognised by her name Wolf Alice, whereas in Carter's other tale's a transformation into the realism is signified by a name change, for example, Mr Lyons.

3. Look at the name given to the character. What are the two elements with which it is made up? 
The name Wolf Alice holds connotations of both human and beast. Wolf Alice together sees the character portrayed as a wolf with human qualities, due to the personification of the wolf by the human name Alice which, as reader can make the character seem unrelatable as they are simply, not human. However, it may also be argued that the name Wolf Alice creates a connection with the reader as they are drawn to the fact that the name suggests both human and beast. In addition to this, if the name was simply to be Alice or Wolf, it would alter the story completely as it would not connect with Wolf Alice's human/beast and animalistic/feral nature.

4. Which other stories in this collection may be linked to this one because of the mixture of human and animal?
Perhaps, most significantly, 'The Courtship of Mr Lyon' can be said to be compared to this tale. The heroine in the tale of Mr Lyon transforms the half-beast by her kindness, whilst Wolf Alice pities the Duke as she sees him as imperfect, like she was as the wolves pitied her for being a human and a 'flawed-wolf'. Although, comparably, the beast in 'The Courtship of Mr Lyon' is transferred to a human which is also represented by his changed name to Mr Lyon, whereas in the tale of Wolf Alice, whilst she takes pity on the Duke, ambiguously the story is left with the mirror reflecting 'the face of the Duke' leaving the reader unsure as to whether he has changed to a human, half beast or remains the same. 

5. How do you feel towards Wolf Alice? Do you empathise with her at all? Do you like her or not? 
For a time, Wolf-Alice thinks she is another creature, whose presence is reassuring to her. She gradually becomes more restrained and therefore more human because menstruating causes her to experience both the human qualities of time and shame. Wolf-Alice's encounter with the mirror can be seen as a turning point for the character as it enables her to experience her human powers. Once she sees that her reflection is her 'shadow', she understands that she  controls it. Her perspective shifts from animal objectivity to human subjectivity. Once she is human on the inside, she is inspired to look human on the outside by the wedding dress 'tucked behind the mirror'. This allows empathy for Wolf Alice as the reader can feel an almost bildungsroman form as the character of Wolf Alice learns of herself at the same time that the reader does.

6. What is the function of the Duke? What does he contribute to the plot, and what would be missing if his character was not in the story?
Both Wolf Alice and the Duke can be seen as liminal characters which the mirror brings to fruition. The Duke can be seen as half being in two ways; firstly that he is half beast half wolf and secondly that he is  trapped between the physical and metaphysical worlds. This is most apparent as he can be seen as 'real' enough to eat and kill people, but 'not real enough' to cast a reflection in the mirror, making him appear as if dead. As the mirror witnesses Wolf Alice transform from beast into human, we also see the Duke transforming after he is shot, and is barely able to remain in the metaphysical world. 

Erl-King notes 26th/Sept

The Erl-King

-an adaptation of the European tap
-a character depicted in a number of German poems and ballads as a malevolent creature who hunts forests and carries off travellers to their deaths
-the character is most famous as the antagonist in Goethe's poem -Der Erl Konig
-Christian Rossetti's - Goblin Mathet, a tale of Laura and Lizzie, and the dangers of goblins and the power of sisterly love
-Emily Dickinson - 'light is sufficient into itself' ?
-little red riding hood
-the greenman/nature motif
-Shakespeare's Othello - green eyed monster

-opening is magical, overtly verbose

1-how is the Erl-King presented?
'the Erl-King will do you grievous harm' the first mention of him is dangerous, yet she still decided to see him, she is conscious of her actions.
'his eyes are quite green' - reference to the green man
'white pointed teeth' - animalistic, reference to little red riding hood
2-how is the narrator presented?
the woman is the narrator, although the narrative perspective keeps changing, which can be linked to the gothic blurring of boundaries. This also creates the impression of confusion and loss within the forest. Due to the changing perspectives of the narrative, can the narrator be viewed as trapped within the forest of free? This can be linked to the gothic theme of entrapment
3-references to other stories:
-red riding hood 'what big teeth you have
-robin hood/scarlett letter
-green man
-erl-king (urkling - imp in pagan stories)
-dracula - biting on the neck - scandinavia
-werewolf

Why do you think Carter chose the title for this tale? The Erl-King

The Erl-King

Why do you think Carter chose this title for this tale? How appropriate do you think it is and why?

Definition: The Erlking (German: Erlkönig, "Alder King") is depicted in a number of German poems and ballads as a malevolent creature that haunts forests and carries off travelers to their deaths.

The title ‘The Erl-King’ was used in a European folklore persona, as the ‘erlking’. An ‘erlking’ can typically be described in this form as a mischievous sprite or an elf that lures young people with the intent of killing them. Immediately from the beginning of the story we are made aware that the narrator is conscious of the fact that the Erl King offers danger to herself – ‘The Erl-King will do you grievous harm.’ Linkin goes as far as to describe the narrator as ‘a highly sophisticated consciousness.’ It is clear from this quote that the narrator is aware of her subjugation to the ‘green man’ as she responds actively to the birdcall from the Erl King informing the reader that she is aware of the consequences of her actions.  Throughout the other Bloody Chamber tales, specifically the Bloody Chamber, the female narrator can be described as naïve and immature. However, this is not the case of the woman, as she allows him to call her a ‘skinned rabbit’ as he bites her neck.

The narrator of the story becomes aware that the birds entrapped by the Erl King and unable to sing as they ‘cannot find their way out of the woods’. He entraps the women who wonder the forest at their own free will to become suppressed by his status of being a man, and therefore dominant, as they submissively (and perhaps unwittingly) become his servant. This conversely, does not apply to the narrator. The initial description of the woods foreshadows her later entrapment by the Erl King –‘these vertical bars of a brass-coloured distillation of light coming down from sulphur-yellow interstices in a sky hunkered with grey clouds…’ The ‘vertical bars’ can be linked to the gothic theme of entrapment, as the narrator becomes what can typically be described as passive, demure woman trapped and suppressed by the male’s dominant nature.

The adjective ‘sulphur’ is used to describe the colour of the bars envisaged by the narrator. In Blake’s The French Revolution, ‘sulphur’ holds connections with death, which can be identifiable in Carter’s Erl King as it is reflected in the foreshadowing of death of the Erl King as the tale concludes. The Erl King’s role as the dominant character in the tale is reversed in the conclusion of the story as the narrator decides her own fate as the dominant character when the death of the Erl King and the fiddle which is made of the Erl King’s hair calls her ‘mother’ is demonstrative of her as a woman with which the power newly resides.

Conclusively, the title can be called appropriate to the tale as the narrator describes the Erl King as a ‘tender-butcher’. It is the irony within this statement that allows the Erl King to fit with the description of someone who ‘lures young people with the intent of killing them’. Whilst the narrator allows the Erl King to dominate her arouses her, he is also corrupting her status as a free-willed female. Despite the Erl King being her lover, he is also a destroyer of the narrator at the same time. The entrapment that the Erl King offers in the cages he has trapped birds also fits with the description that he ‘lures young people with the intent of killing’ providing an additional reason that the Erl King is a suitable title. 

In what ways is this a gothic tale? The Snow Child

In what ways is this a gothic tale? – The Snow Child

-Creation of fear as a narrative priority

In the snow child, fear is created through conventional gothic techniques, the unknown perhaps being the most important. Upon reading the story, at no point is the reader able to predict, in my opinion, that the Count would climb off his horse and rape the girl of his ‘desires’ who is in fact his own daughter. The darkness and uncertainty of the situation creates a feeling of vulnerability within the reader.  The typical fairytale beginning –‘I wish I had…’ repeated several times sees familiarity being placed upon the reader, almost putting them into a false sense of security as it follows that ‘the Count got off his horse and thrust his virile member into the dead girl’.

-A blurring of reality and fantasy

It is clear in the beginning that the Count has a ‘fantasy’ and desire for a girl who holds specific characteristics such as ‘… a girl as red as blood’ and ‘…as white as snow’. Slowly as the story progresses the reader becomes aware that the girl the Count has desired is his own daughter. This is a blurring of reality and fantasy as his ‘fantasy’ for a specific ‘girl’ turns out to be the product of his imagination, and his reproduction is his own daughter.

-Fondness for symbols of darkness and light

The incestuous, defiled nature of this story ultimately fits to the theme of a fondness for darkness metaphorically. Carter has portrayed the terror that women face at the hands of a male-dominated culture in the fiction of the snow child as the incestuous nature of the Count is exposed. The Countess is helpless in the dark situation of rape, although this can suggest that woman have to compete and endure the fickle attention of men.  In regards to light, the colours used within the opening lines can be related to the Count’s dark desires. He wishes for a girl ‘as white as snow’ with the colour white being linked to purity,  it can be seen as demonstrative of the Count’s wish for ‘pure’ girl.

-Significant use of setting

The setting can be described as typically gothic. The ‘midwinter’ opening sets a bleak tone to the story as it establishes a negative connotation connected with the gothic cold and chilling midwinter.  The continuous references to nature can be seen as demonstrative of the force of nature through pathetic fallacy. Despite the typical gothic setting of bleakness, the 'midwinter' 'immaculate' picture that is created can be drawn parallel to a fairytale as all seems 'superficially' pleasant. 

The Snow Child - notes 20th/sept

How does Carter use symbolism within the story?

she is naked in the snow (no description) as women are just merely sexualised objects...

feminist theory:
-aims to understand the nature of gender inequality by examining women's social roles and lived experiences
-there has been criticisms that only white, middle class, well educated perspectives have been created by feminists, with no variation; leading to ethnical and multicultural reforms of feminism
-feminist have also campaigned for women's protection against domestic violence , sexual harassment, sexual assault and reproductive rights for women
-feminists argue that mens liberation is necessary to feminism and they are also harmed by sexism and gender roles

look at the language used to describe the Countess, what does she symbolise?
-'glittering pelts of black foxes' - fierce, wearing something 'glittering' to add attractiveness
-'high, black, shining boots with scarlet heels and spurs' s&m, dominatrix, provocative, overtly sexualised

what does the snow child symbolise and how is this shown?
-she represents both the pure/innocent form of a woman and also the impure/corrupted adult
-she can also be said to be described as a universal character, applicable to all females in society

what does the count symbolise?
-the count symbolises the male gender and the fact that women are merely sexual objects
-his perfect woman is pure, but he impurifies her, where he longer becomes interested in his 'desired' child/young girl

how does the Countess attempt to 'get rid' of the girl and why is this significant?
-she attempts to abandon her and asks her to dive into the frozen pond
-the count protects the girl
-this challenges stereotypes of woman as motherly figures who are generally considered to be maternal and nurturing
-this is also significant as it depicts the envy felt by the mother

'I wish I had a girl' is repeated
-fairy tale - what big eyes you have etc
-girl not woman, possession
-'had' - sexually??
-wish for something you can't have
-girls cannot live up to male expectations
-women associated with nature?
-does a man ignore his wife to focus on the child?

The Snow Child - notes 18th/sept

allegory: a story that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political message
defiled: necrophilia

how is a feminist message contained within the snow child?
1-creation of fear → not expecting the male to climb off his horse and have sex with his own daughter  → disturbing
2-the snow child is the fathers daughter → naked → his ideal of a woman (young) → mother is envious
3-father has sex with his own daughter → she is dying → blurring of reality/fantasy 
4-father has sex with his daughter → gives life (as in to reproduce) → the giving of life by the father is an unsuccessful 

gothic conventions in the snow child:
-fondess for the symbols of darkness and light → literally and metaphorically
-significant use of the setting
-creation of fear as a narrative priority
-a fascination with the influence of the past
-a difference between male and female roles, which themselves often follow particular conventions
-a blurring of reality and fantasy, being awake and dreaming within roles
-a tendency for certain psychological traits to occur within the main character (??????)

form:
-bloody chamber is a series of short stories
-snow child is a vignette, the shortness of which makes it poignant and increases the impact to disturb
-new stories, not a 'version'
-can be linked to a feminist message
-Angela Carter was a feminist 
-the metamorphoses in the stories is also seen to be criticising society's imposition of gender roles through patriarchy

setting:
-mid-winter → gothic → bleak 
-white
-invisible, immaculate 
-begins as a typical fairytale fascination by locating the story in time but it is uninviting 'mid-winter'
→ power of nature through pathetic fallacy 

Bloody Chamber - notes 5th/sept

The Bloody Chamber/representative of the womb

patriarchy: a social system that is organised to award prestige and power to men
postmodernism: uncertainty, plurality (more beliefs than one) multiplicity

conventions of the gothic relatable to the bloody chamber:
-men are predatory
-similarities to the castle of otranto
-women play the temptress or victim
-rational vs. irrational

key concepts of the story:
-fairy tales are introduced when young, so therefore are well known/identified within the short story of the bloody chamber as a version of 'bluebeard'; not a version but a 'new story'

→'old lies based on which new lies have been built'
-demythologising business → 'all for putting new wine in an old bottle' → radical 

'One is not born a woman but becomes one' - Simone de Beavoir 

How does Carter create her characters?

Jean-Yves

The male characters throughout the story are far from fairy tale-esque.(?) The narrators father is non existent, her husband is without humanity and Jean-Yves is no exception; he is blind and lacks the overwhelming power possessed by the Marquis. Jean-Yves can be described as the typical portrayal of a person with a sensory impediment.  His outstanding hearing and his ability to tune pianos over compensate his lack of vision. Although his character plays a diminished role in the story, his actions contribute to the fairy-tale ending for the narrator.

Jean-Yves’ character provides a direct contrast between him and the Marquis. He is first introduced by Carter with much less importance than the marquis –‘he was a blacksmith’s son from the village across the causeway… All most satisfactory.’ Immediately it is obvious that the character is far from owning excessive wealth like the Marquis but has earned a living through piano tuning although he still manages to engage the narrator despite his social position. (Contrary to the Marquis as she recognized and married him for his wealth) Through Jean-Yves’ lack of opulence, it may be suggested that his lower social status than the Marquis and narrator enables him to not outrank the narrator.

Carter has portrayed Jean-Yves’ character as caring, considerate and interested in the narrators’ musical talent; unlike the Marquis. His tentative approach and his polite nature are noted by the narrator –‘He seemed to know that I had smiled… He had the most touchingly ingenuous smile.’ It is clear his nature affects the narrator as she comments on his physical appearance regardless of his disability. This is significant as the sole reason she married the marquis was for his wealth, whilst comparably, it is not until she converses with Jean-Yves that she realizes his true capabilities; disregarding his social position.

The narrator describes Jean-Yves as ‘lovely, blind humanity’. This juxtaposes the stereotypical ideal of the perfect man by Carter as his descriptions can be said to be more feminine than masculine. However, in the end, the marriage of Jean-Yves and the narrator means that due to his attentive, accommodating characteristics-‘no bride should suffer so much…’- can hold an equal, balanced marriage, unlike dominated relationship the narrator previously experienced.

In conclusion, Carter has created a character that initially can be perceived as minor and irrelevant. This can be disregarded once his physical shortfall and lack of wealth is overlooked by the narrator to become an opportune hero.