In Angela Carter's 'The Bloody Chamber' she is retelling the old,
French literary folktale of Bluebeard. In Carter's version the heroine is saved
by her mother, unlike Bluebeard, where the heroine is saved by her brothers.
The narrators’ mother goes against all social conventions for a female of that
time, she has fought pirates, shot tigers and 'had gladly, scandalously,
defiantly beggared herself for love.' The narrator ignored the example that her
mother set by marrying for money and social status instead of love.
Carter has portrayed the character of the
heroine's mother as an 'indomitable' woman who is independent enough to make
her own decisions. An example of this would be that she was the 'daughter of a
rich tea planter' but she married for love to a man who was significantly
poorer than she was. Her daughter mocks her for insisting on carrying around
her dead husband's pistol, which is ironic because it is ultimately the thing
that saves her life.
However, once the protagonist has entered the bloody chamber her
feelings towards her mother's temperament change, 'this spoilt child did not
know she had inherited nerves and a will from the mother who had defied the
yellow outlaws of Indo-China.' The narrator no longer mocks her mother,
she is driven forward by her 'spirit' and obtains a new attitude. When
the narrator finally embraces the example her mother has tried to set she
'walks as firmly as I had done in my mother's house'. Her mother has helped her
escape from the corner that her husband has placed her in.
Carter ends The Bloody Chamber with a show
of fearlessness from the protagonist’s mother, she does not flinch in the face
of danger. It is not a clichéd ending to a fairy tale where a knight in shining
armour comes to rescue the girl, it is her mother accompanied with an old
pistol.
After todays lesson can you say that Carter is 'retelling' the tale of Bluebeard? What term does she prefer?
ReplyDeleteWhy has the woman not followed her Mothers example? Is the woman (like all women) naturally compliant and obedient or is the overwhelming power of society too much and her Mother's lone example too little to effect any change in her behaviour?
The pistol ca also be read as a phallic symbol, the ultimate symbol of power, is it this which gives the Mother her power?
Well done, an ecouraging start to term.