TBC context

• Angela Carter was born in 1940 and suffered from anorexia
• Angela Carter had a sheltered upbringing and was educated at home by her mother.
• Angela Carter studied English at Bristol University
• Angela Cater married Paul Carter at the age of 19 who she found a depressant and soon divorced
• Angela Carter moved to Japan and was radicalised into a modern feminist there.
• Angela Carter died of cancer in 1992
• Second wave feminism in the 60s and 80s discussed issues such as sexuality, the workplace, rape and domestic abuse
• Second wave feminism also brought about a reform to the divorce act (1969)making it easier for women to divorce husbands
• Second wave feminism brought about oral contraceptives allowing for women to gain back control of their bodies
• Carter retells fairy tells in her new ones through interweaving different aspects they hold inviting the reader to question the purpose of these tales and assumptions about social and individual behaviour
• An increase in female contraception increased sexual expression and sexual freedom, but also increased divorce rates
• Carters subversion of the gothic aims to build on her critical viewpoints of the genre by not including themes seen in traditional fairy tales such as 'damsel in distress'
• Carter explores issues of class and power in older and current societies with particular emphasis on female sexuality and independence
• TBC can be seen as a gothic text as it includes features of supernatural, extreme emotions and sensations as well as typically medieval castles and woods hiding horror and fear
• Carter is interested in social change and individual empowerment, so her tales explore class, politics, social conventions and morality
• Carter is interested in how people understand a complex and uncertain world, so her tales explore the ambiguity, language and subversions of conventions through post modernism
• "Carter envisages woman's sensuality as a response to male arousal"[Dunker]
• "Carter is a pseudo feminist"[Dworkin]
• Carter struggled with anorexia throughout her teenage years and this links to the unnamed narrators self consciousness in the bloody chamber and how she is always comparing herself to the dead wives; can also link to the snow child
• Gothic texts frequently criticise the potentially oppressive power of organised religion particularly in Catholicism links to how the Marquis worshipped his pornographic content "My little nun has found the prayer books has she?" and found satisfaction in the oppressive power he used to objectify the girl
• In the 1970s there was calls for more political correctness as regards to myths, prejudice and witch hunting which Carter shines a light on through the vampire in The Lady in the House of love making the reader feel sympathy as she is doomed to be hunted by her own fate
• Medieval writers were conscious that readers should be able to hear their tale rather than just read them and Carter embodies this by always ensuring she is the present story teller even when characters are given voices in the narrative: she does this through metaphors, symbols and allegories
• Carter shows how women can be the damsel in distress as well as the hero within the Bloody chamber
• Mulvey argues that patriarchal standards force the audience of men and women to adopt a male perspective to a story and Carter embodies this through the piano tuner who is unable to see the narrator allowing for them to have an equal relationship
• The piano tuner is androgynous in the way that he exhibits more feminine values such as tolerance, tenderness and courage possibly due to his weakness leaving him with an absence of masculine power
• The Bloody Chamber: Fairytale Original and Moral

  • Bluebeard by Charles Perrault
  • Cautionary tale- Warning naive girls about the dangers of female curiosity
• The Bloody Chamber: Deviation from Original Tale

  The saviour in the original were the strong brothers of the protagonist (traditional male saviour) Carter subverts the ideal male knight in shining armour with the protagonist's mother being the new saviour to show women being the ones who hold the power, female empowerment.
• The Bloody Chamber: Moral of Carters Story

  To promote self autonomy with the idea women shouldn’t be solely reliant on men
• The Bloody Chamber: AO3 influences

  • Marquis De Saud infamous sadistic pornographic writer who was notorious for the torture and murder of the women he had intercourse with. - influenced the creation of our antagonist "The Marquist"​
  • - Ideas of consent/rape - heavy concept was seen as taboo, men were unable to graft the idea of sexual attacks against women. "I forced myself to be seductive"  marital act 2003​
  • 1979 Margaret Thatcher – first female PM of the UK – Women empowerment influenced Carter's decision to make the mother the saviour/ knight in shining armour.
• The Bloody Chamber: Gothic text link

  • Rebecca(Du Maurier-1938)Features a young bride entering a foreboding mansion with a mysterious past, dealing with the legacy of the former wife and the oppressive atmosphere of the household
  • Bluebeard(Perrault-1679)What the story is based on; involves a wealthy murderous husband and a forbidden chamber containing the corpses of his former wives
• The Bloody Chamber: AO5


  “A modern feminist transformation in which for once the maiden is victorious over death itself”[Lokke]
• The Erl-King: Fairytale Original and Moral

  • Draws heavily on the folkloric traditions of the Green Man as the personification of nature, part of Paganism derived from Celtics​
  • Moral is not to stray from the path as it exposes you to the dangers of nature
• The Erl-King: Deviation from Original Tale

  • The original Green Man is generally depicted as kind and benevolent however Carter’s Erl-King is portrayed as cunning and evil ​
  • The purpose could be to expose how man is the most dangerous & typically hides behind a façade; it is only later revealed in the story that the Erl-King entraps young girls
• The Erl-King: Moral of Carters story

  Carter subverts the initial moral of the fairy tale by encouraging women to stray off the path as she believed they were strong enough to liberate themselves and other women in need.
• Erl-King

  Loosely based on Carter's second husband who cooked and cleaned for her
• The Erl-King: AO5 specific to story

  ‘The Erl-King’s violent and cruel actions are indeed those of a man rather than a non-human’ [Wright]
• The Lady in the House of Love: Fairytale Original and Moral

  • Sleeping Beauty- Created in France in 1528 by Perrault;  published again in The Brothers Grimm Children's and household tales in 1812. ​
  • The story's Moral for the original tale is that it is better to be patient in waiting for love which encourages women to not rush love and be patient for your happy ending but also to be submissive and dependent on your husband to rescue you.
• The Lady in the House of Love: Deviation from Original Tale

  • By deviating from the original carter liberates women from the victimisation of being forced to adhere to traditional roles and continue a family lineage
• The Lady in the House of Love

  Death is an escape from the countess’s  miserable immortal existence yet is also her finding the peace she desired for all the years she had lived in her family's tradition
• The company of wolves: Fairytale Original and Moral

  • Fairy-tale Original & it’s moral: The little red riding hood, its moral was to warn naïve, young,​ girls
  • Ingenues, to not deviate away from the assigned path of womanhood (pure, pious,, submissive) because if they did they would face consequences such as death