Angela Carter Bloody Chamber Quotations

• The Bloody Chamber (Tale) :
• "great pistons ceaselessly thrusting"


  Cliched phallic imagery. Frames the story as a 'sexual awakening', deliberately parodying a particular type of erotic literature. Plosives enhance this. We get a sense that the narrator sees her younger self as an entirely different person, and this detached narrative perspective puts the reader at a distance from the characters perspectives.
• away from girlhood, away from the white, enclosed quietude of my mother's apartment, into the unguessable country of marriage'


  Loss of girlhood, the journey of girlhood to womanhood, and "white enclosed quietude" takes her away from her purity and safe "enclosed" environments and into the "unguessable" country of marriage reflective of marriage and it's vastness, her sexual inexperience, drawing her away from her virginity.
• "the narrow bedroom I had left forever, folding up and putting away all my little relics"


  Contradicting the castles spatial vastness , recognising the comfort and predictability of home. "my little relics" , packing up objects from the past to distance herself from her girlhood , the putting away of her childhood innocence.
• " half-joyous ,half-sorrowful emotions of a mother on her wedding day "

  
  

  "I had in some way, ceased to be her child in becoming his wife"


  Women can only hold one identity, she sheds the image of daughter in taking on the role of a wife, she is now an object.
• "there was a dress for her too; black silk, with the dull prismatic sheen of oil on water "


  Funereal attire, mourning the loss of her daughters innocence. Foreshadows the Marquis intentions. Oil on water representative of things that are not meant to mix, foreshadows the discomfort of the narrator and the Marquis union.
• "My eagle-featured, indomitable mother"


  The girl's initial description of her mother illustrates her powerful nature as eagles are foresighted creatures, her mother knows that the Marquis has ill intentions.
• "Are you sure you love him?"

  "I'm sure I want to marry him"


  She is marrying into wealth, not for love, contradicting her mother who "beggared herself for love" , depicting a similar strength as her mother but in different aspects.
• "my satin nightdress had been shaken from it's wrappings"


  Personification of the dress is an extension of the marquis possession.
• "pinnacled domain"

  'that magic place, the fairy castle whose walls were made of foam'

  The castle is isolated from the surrounding world, similar to Dracula who's castle is on the edge of a precipice.

  
  

  An allusion to fairy tale, The seamless transition from imagination to reality emphasises the protagonist's child-like innocence.
• "above the syncopated roar I could hear his even breathing" ,

  "opulent male scent of leather and spices"


  Possessive supernatural nature of the Marquis , he surrounds her.

  Territorial animalistic description, she smells him, and even his scent conveys luxury.
• "his strange, almost waxen face was not lined by experience"

  
  

  "folded over eyes that always disturbed me by their absolute absence of light"

  
  

  "he did not loose that, heavy, fleshy, composure of his"


  The uncanny nature of the Marquis face, he does not possess any human like expressions and is devoid of soul.
• "He seemed to me like a lily... like one of those cobra-headed, funereal lilies."


  Pre determines the Marquis death as lilies are often associated with funeral flowers.
• "he had the ring ready in a leather box lined with crimson velvet, a fire opal"


  Sexual imagery, fire opals are traditionally associated with bad luck, prefiguring the narrators bad luck.
• "I was seventeen and knew nothing of the world; my Marquis had been married before, more than once"


  Taking advantage of the speakers purity and innocence.
• "he had invited me to join his gallery of beautiful women"


  Objectification, these women are part of a catalogue and simply identified by their beauty and the characteristics that "you could tell she would die young".
• "He was rich as Croesus"


  Puss in boots
• "His wedding gift, clasped round my throat. A choker of rubies, two inches wide, like an extraordinarily precious slit throat."

  
  

  "bright as arterial blood"


  The ruby choker mocks the beheading of aristocrats in the past, pre determines The Marquis intentions, and marks her for death, (Similar to Dracula). Foreshadows the speaker escaping the guillotine.
• "all of that paraphernalia from the everyday world from which I , with my stunning marriage, had exiled myself."


  The willing entry into exile "enter of your own free will" Dracula.

  As soon as she enters the castle, she recognises that she has been tricked.
• " I saw him watching me in the gilded mirrors with the assessing eye of a connoisseur inspecting horseflesh"

  
  

  "the sheer carnal avarice of it"

  
  

  "and for the first time in my innocent and confined life, I sensed in myself a potentiality for corruption that took my breath away, I fely a strange impersonal arousal, and at the same time a repugnance I could not stifle...I longed for him and he disgusted me."


  Gilded mirrors often act as a separation of self, an expression of the duality of sexual agency and innocence, when the speaker looks in the Mirror when her and the Marquis consummates their marriage "she sensed a potential for corruption" .

  lf in the mirror. Angela Carter says that these two sides of female sexuality 'mutually reflect and complement one another, like a pair of mirrors'.

  
  

  Unable to hide from herself.

  
  

  Many Critics have argued against the feminist readings of The Bloody Chamber as they argue that Angela Carter attempts so display the idea that Women enjoy their own objectification.
• "This ring. The Bloody Bandage of rubies, the wardrobe of clothes from Poiret and Worth, his scent of Russian leather- all had conspired to seduce me"


  Overconsumption, blinded by riches and hedonistic desire,

  representative of The Picture of Dorian Grey being consumed by the high life and it eventually leading to his demise.
• "a huge man, an enormous man , and his eyes , dark and motionless"

  
  

  "I could see his white, broad face as if it were hovering, disembodied, above the sheets, illuminated from below like a grotesque carnival head."

  Predatorial description
• "with a remembered fragrance that made me think of my father"
• "I smelled the amniotic salinity of the ocean"

  
  

  "lay on the very bosom of the sea"


  TBC- setting quote- the phallic symbol of the castle invades the female space of the sea= male domination and power

  
  

  Amniotic salinity is reflective of the womb, the sea acts as a reminder of the ever looming presence of the speakers mother.
• The day broke around me like a cool dream.'


  Everything is ideal, representative of gothic romanticism and doubt of perceptions , which catalyses the downfall.
• "cut off by the tide from land for half a day..."


  Seals the heroines fate as the island is completely isolated from civilisation, liminality, breaking from the romantic to discover the reality of the situation.
• "that lovely, sad, sea-siren of a place!"


  Sibilance, the contradicting words represents the speakers internal conflict.
• "she would be my ally as long as I was his. And with that, I must be content"


  The Marquis relationship with his housekeeper is reflective of the speaker and her mother's relationship.
• "And surrounded by so many mirrors! Mirrors on the walls, .... he'd filled the room with them, to greet the bride, the young bride. The young bride, who had become the multitude of girls I saw in the mirrors"


  Disassociated from sexuality , out of body experience,
• "A dozen husbands approached me in a dozen mirrors (later) a dozen husbands impaled a dozen wives... he twined his fingers in my hair until I winced" (Just before the execution) "Twisting my hair into a rope"


  Sexual intimidation, foreshadowing the execution, looking in the mirrors, an out of body experience. Angela Carter says that these two sides of female sexuality 'mutually reflect and complement one another, like a pair of mirrors'.

  
  

  Unable to hide from herself.
• "that we should have a formal disrobing of the bride, a ritual from the brothel"


  Women are offered the role of the virgin or the wh0re.
• "stripping the leaves of an artichoke... nothing but my scarlet, palpitating core remained... bare as a lamb chop... I was aghast to feel myself stirring"


  The girl is undressed by the Marquis: ambivalence at being sexualised
• "and so my purchaser unwrapped his bargain"


  Objectifying, she is the object of his fantasies.
• "the lilies I always associate with him; that are white. And stain you".


  She is marked, ever changed by the encounter, the loss of sacred virginity.
• "I turned the pages in anticipation of fear"


  Being shown the Marquis sadistic artwork collection, reflective of Bluebeard who is sexually aroused by inflicting pain.
• Have the nasty pictures scared Baby? Baby mustn't play with grownups' toys until she's learned how to handle them, must she?'


  Infantilizes the speaker , demonstrating his sadistic tendencies.
• "All the better to see you"


  Intertextual fairy tale reference from Little Red Riding Hood, reinforces the speakers girlhood after being patronised for it. The Marquis is the wolf in this scenario , demonstrating his physical domineering prowess.
• "he made me put on the choker"


  reinforcing his ownership over the speaker, a passive reminder.
• dozen husbands impaled a dozen wives... he twined his fingers in my hair until I winced" (Just before the execution) "Twisting my hair into a rope"


  The connection between sexuality and violence.
• "In the course of that one sided struggle"


  Rape like power imbalance.