...the sequel to which is 'Through the Looking-Glass, and what Alice found there'...just like Alice in Wolf-Alice, ey? With the whole finding-herself-by-looking-in-the-mirror thing. wow. I'm sure you're all very impressed by my linking of Literature there...erm...ok...moving swiftly on...we're meant to be blogging on 'The Company of Wolves' and how it ends and as I wasn't in the lesson when we did it, I'm a bit unsure of what to say but...here goes...as we were taking about last lesson, I found the power-dynamic in the tale quite interesting and as Mr Francis said how 'power is attained by embracing the threat' - In the story we see a further exploration of the idea of humans and 'beasts' sharing the same base desires and animalistic qualities - to the extent that the girl seems to have the power over the wolf on account of her gender and sexual awareness. As we've read throgh the collection, Carter's sequencing of the tales begins to makes more sense, with the texts following each other well, expanding on ideas already touched upon. For example, in The Company of Wolves, the themes of the unconcious affect the moon has on characters and the idea of a the power-roles between gender roles not being as clearly defined as female victim and male predator are touched upon at the end of the story and are followed up and developed in Wolf-Alice.
Wolf-Alice is, like Tiger's Bride, I think, in the sense that it's based around a type of self-discovery. The way being human is defined at the start is interesting and integral to the character of Alice as she develops from Beast to Human - the link that is made between an awareness of time and simply acting on impulse and base desire. It seems to me that one of Carter's purposes in writing Wolf-Alice is to emphasize the ordered nature of human existence - whereas 'beasts' and mythical creatures are seen to be impulsive and unpredictable, they is a sense of order, perhaps set out by society, that means humans are conditioned not to follow their natural instincts without thinking e.g. a wolf will have the urge to attack something and will do it without any thought - but a human is governed somewhat by time, what is deemed acceptable e.t.c. Also, in Wolf-Alice the theme of finding sympathy in the gothic characters is brought out - with the characters presented as being sorry for their uncontrollable actions - there is talk of the Duke 'weeping' for example. There's a great deal of intertextual referencing within Wolf-Alice, also, with the adjective 'inconsolable' being used to describe the Duke at night just as it was used to describe the Lady in The Lady of the House of Love after her killings. Similarly the Duke's 'bloody chamber' is referenced - perhaps a suggestion that everyone has their dark secrets.
It can be interpreted in different ways but I got the impression that Alice wasn't really a wolf at all but saw herself as a wolf (explaining why references to claws e.t.c. were made) and her journey towards discovering her own autonomy and human self, in a way, mirrors the journey all humans go on as a child - trying to understand concepts of time, reflection and changes in one's self. Interestingly, Alice's self-realisation comes at a) the same time as the moon and b) the same time as the blood. As well - at the end, just as The Lady of the House of Love is made immortal after experiencing the care and love of the soldier, the Duke gains humanity having been cared for by Alice. I found it interesting that the Duke and Alice were 'companions' because they were two outsiders - also very different, they were united by their difference to the rest of society - the loneliness of the gothic protagonists, again, coming through.
I think I'll leave it there for now...
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Monday, 3 May 2010
Little Red Riding Hood (again)
I'm pretty angry at the moment because I blogged last night and nasty blooger.com didn't save it so I'm going to try to remember what I wrote. I missed last week's lessons so it's quite possible I'm about to talk a load of nonsense...anyway...
I've read a few different re-tellings and reviews of re-tellings of Little Red Hiding Hood and I get the impression that the modern versions are focused on not going down the cliched innocent-girl-gets-attacked-by-predatory-male-but-good-prevails-over-evils-in-the-end route and, mirroring the trend in modern gothic Literature, are keen to explore the nature and loneliness of the 'beast' rather than making them and out-and-out villain - just as Carter does, most notably in The Tiger's Bride. Although essentially a fairytale, Little Red Riding Hood functions very well within the gothic genre as a lot of writers have picked up in their re-tellings - the gothic setting of the woods, the innocent girl, the predatory male 'beast', the symbolic red riding hood e.t.c. By design, it seems gothic texts subvert the key elements of the fairytale - Many fairy tales are allegory - a sugar-coated story with a harsh, blunt message i.e. 'don't go into the woods on your own, little children' but are distanced enough from the reality and time of the child reading so as not to scare them too much....'once upon a time' as opposed to 'last week...some girl went into the woods...' - the gothic genre des the exact opposite of this and aims to convince the reader that mythical beings can function within the 'real world' in order to scare. It's these opposites that I think make Carter's cross-over between the fairytale and gothic genres so successful. There are links, of course, between Dracula and the wolf in 'Little Red Riding Hood' with regard to the animalistic qualities (and most other gothic 'beasts')...and Red Riding Hoods curiosity and fascination with the wolf mirrors the deadly curiosity of the narrator in The Bloody Chamber. Also - the musical that I've referred to called 'Into the Woods' is, in a way, a re-telling of Little Red Riding Hood (of course taking its name from it) and, like the gothic genre, this take on the story brings the tale into real life and the song when the wolf meets Little Red Riding Hood 'Hello Little Girl' is particularly creepy when it's an old man singing it to a young girl. On that note....I'll be off.
I've read a few different re-tellings and reviews of re-tellings of Little Red Hiding Hood and I get the impression that the modern versions are focused on not going down the cliched innocent-girl-gets-attacked-by-predatory-male-but-good-prevails-over-evils-in-the-end route and, mirroring the trend in modern gothic Literature, are keen to explore the nature and loneliness of the 'beast' rather than making them and out-and-out villain - just as Carter does, most notably in The Tiger's Bride. Although essentially a fairytale, Little Red Riding Hood functions very well within the gothic genre as a lot of writers have picked up in their re-tellings - the gothic setting of the woods, the innocent girl, the predatory male 'beast', the symbolic red riding hood e.t.c. By design, it seems gothic texts subvert the key elements of the fairytale - Many fairy tales are allegory - a sugar-coated story with a harsh, blunt message i.e. 'don't go into the woods on your own, little children' but are distanced enough from the reality and time of the child reading so as not to scare them too much....'once upon a time' as opposed to 'last week...some girl went into the woods...' - the gothic genre des the exact opposite of this and aims to convince the reader that mythical beings can function within the 'real world' in order to scare. It's these opposites that I think make Carter's cross-over between the fairytale and gothic genres so successful. There are links, of course, between Dracula and the wolf in 'Little Red Riding Hood' with regard to the animalistic qualities (and most other gothic 'beasts')...and Red Riding Hoods curiosity and fascination with the wolf mirrors the deadly curiosity of the narrator in The Bloody Chamber. Also - the musical that I've referred to called 'Into the Woods' is, in a way, a re-telling of Little Red Riding Hood (of course taking its name from it) and, like the gothic genre, this take on the story brings the tale into real life and the song when the wolf meets Little Red Riding Hood 'Hello Little Girl' is particularly creepy when it's an old man singing it to a young girl. On that note....I'll be off.
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
The Lady of the House of Love
I'm glad it was pointed out from the offset that this story has links to Sleeping Beauty and Dracula because after the recent revelation of the Snow Child linking to Snow White, I'm starting to realise how hopeless I am at spotting the obvious.
I wish I'd re-read this story again before I'd written the timed essay about how Carter re-invents the gothic traditions as it links in really well with a point I was trying to make about how Carter emphasizes the tragedy of gothic figures (like the 'Lady of the House of Love') in a way that other gothic writers don't tend to do that much e.g. Mina sees the flash of relief on Dracula's face when he is killed but Dracula's loneliness and tragedy isn't really focused on at all - Carter makes the tragedy of some of her gothic figures very apparent...The Lady of the House of Love, for example, is spoken of as being trapped in a 'baleful posthumous existence'. Carter, it seems, is attempting to evoke sympathy in the reader in a way that isn't the norm with regard to the presentation of such characters as vampires - we're never really led to sympathise with Dracula - unlike the Lady of the House of Love, his loneliness and entrapment aren't focused on.
I thought the image of the caged lark was a striking one as the fact that 'she likes to hear it announce that it cannot escape', to me, implies that although she's given up hope of being released from her 'trap', she likes to hear the evidence of the lark's hope...she is silent, however, the lark cries out as if for help...in the hope that it will be set free. You can interpret it in different ways, of course, but that's how I saw it.
Other interesting concepts within The Lady of the House of Love, I thought, were the 'hair falling down like tears' (reinforcing the 'woman of metal' image...simulation of tears) and the links to other stories within the collection and within the gothic genre. Strong links, for example, to Dracula (Vlad the Impaler, Vampires) and also lots of typically gothic features and themes - impurity and 'diseases of imagination' attributed to supernatural creatures and vampires, supernatural vs. religion conflict e.t.c.
I like this story as I think the different aspects and images within it can be interpreted in lots of different ways and lots of things are implied subtly...although there are very overtly gothic ideas (vampire lying in an open coffin), there are other ideas that are more subtle...e.g. the implication behind the Lady 'noticing nothing' of the 'disintegration' that she is unphased by material status and has deeper, more meaningful desires. Also, the description of her that becomes increasingly more animalistic in its language...'fingernails' are referred to then 'claws'. The chandelier 'heavy with dust' also, I thought, could be a metaphor for the Lady's mind or heart...heavy with knowledge, saddness, loneliness e.t.c.
Love the imagery in this story and am really interested in all the symbolism associated with the tarot cards that we spoke about it class.
I wish I'd re-read this story again before I'd written the timed essay about how Carter re-invents the gothic traditions as it links in really well with a point I was trying to make about how Carter emphasizes the tragedy of gothic figures (like the 'Lady of the House of Love') in a way that other gothic writers don't tend to do that much e.g. Mina sees the flash of relief on Dracula's face when he is killed but Dracula's loneliness and tragedy isn't really focused on at all - Carter makes the tragedy of some of her gothic figures very apparent...The Lady of the House of Love, for example, is spoken of as being trapped in a 'baleful posthumous existence'. Carter, it seems, is attempting to evoke sympathy in the reader in a way that isn't the norm with regard to the presentation of such characters as vampires - we're never really led to sympathise with Dracula - unlike the Lady of the House of Love, his loneliness and entrapment aren't focused on.
I thought the image of the caged lark was a striking one as the fact that 'she likes to hear it announce that it cannot escape', to me, implies that although she's given up hope of being released from her 'trap', she likes to hear the evidence of the lark's hope...she is silent, however, the lark cries out as if for help...in the hope that it will be set free. You can interpret it in different ways, of course, but that's how I saw it.
Other interesting concepts within The Lady of the House of Love, I thought, were the 'hair falling down like tears' (reinforcing the 'woman of metal' image...simulation of tears) and the links to other stories within the collection and within the gothic genre. Strong links, for example, to Dracula (Vlad the Impaler, Vampires) and also lots of typically gothic features and themes - impurity and 'diseases of imagination' attributed to supernatural creatures and vampires, supernatural vs. religion conflict e.t.c.
I like this story as I think the different aspects and images within it can be interpreted in lots of different ways and lots of things are implied subtly...although there are very overtly gothic ideas (vampire lying in an open coffin), there are other ideas that are more subtle...e.g. the implication behind the Lady 'noticing nothing' of the 'disintegration' that she is unphased by material status and has deeper, more meaningful desires. Also, the description of her that becomes increasingly more animalistic in its language...'fingernails' are referred to then 'claws'. The chandelier 'heavy with dust' also, I thought, could be a metaphor for the Lady's mind or heart...heavy with knowledge, saddness, loneliness e.t.c.
Love the imagery in this story and am really interested in all the symbolism associated with the tarot cards that we spoke about it class.
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
The Erl King
Last lesson we discussed Rosie King...erm...I mean the Erl King. Darn it. I've started yet another blog post with yet another bad joke. Sorry...again. I'll get on with it now.
Yes, we read the poem 'Der Erlkonig' and spoke about the origins of the Erl-King story and myth. The fact that there is a history to the Erl-King myth is, perhaps, one of the reasons it works well within Carter's collection of stories as the idea of old tales handed down through generations, folklore and myths is key to both the gothic and fairytale genres. The fact that the old stories have been heard before in other forms adds to the mysticism and history...The Erl King seems to be a figure, like Bluebeard, that is synonymous with the gothic genre and is an inspiration for many novels, stories e.t.c...Bluebeard, for example, is referenced both in The Bloody Chamber and in the Phantom of the Opera.
I've finished reading the Phantom of the Opera now and although I'll try not to waffle on about it as it's not one of our texts, it does link quite well with the story of the Erl King. Just as in the Erl King, the open setting of the forest is made to feel claustrophobic and like a trap ('the woods enclose and enclose again', 'you are no longer in the open air; the wood swallows you up'), this is how Raoul and the Persian are tortured in Phantom...the torture chamber is hexagonal in shape with mirrors on the six walls and the image of a forest (and then a desert) are reflected onto the walls - rather than being a physical torture chamber (as the bloody chamber is), the torture is psychological (Raoul and the Persian are driven mad by the 'forest effect' as they are tricked into believing they're in a wide expanse when they're actually trapped...ok, I probably haven't explained it that well but what I'm trying to say is that the torture chamber links in with the other gothic texts we've studied...the fact torture is psychological links with all the other texts, the fact that the open-exapanse-yet-trapped feeling ties in with the Earl King and the mirrors in the torture chamber can be linked to the mirrors in the Marquis' bedroom in 'The Bloody Chamber'...which opens up a new meaning with regard to the Marquis' bedroom...another torture chamber of sorts. Also, in Dracula, Jonathan's description of the winding Transylvanian mountains (the Carpathians?) encorporates description of the landscape and mountains trapping and engulfing. The idea of being trapped psychologically as well as physically seems key to the gothic genre.
We discussed the gothic and fairytale elements of the original Erl-King poem and then analysed the narrative style of Carter's version. We spoke about the interesting switches that take place between 1st, 2nd and 3rd person narrative...with readers being drawn in through use of second person, giving a timeless and fairytale theme to the tale. An interesting point that was addressed during discussion of the poem was the fact that the child and the adult's views on the Earl King myth differed...the imaginative child believed whereas the father did not (initially)...again, as in Dracula, thi is a display of the typically gothic logic vs. mysticism argument and the 'The Erl King' adds a new dimension to this by suggested children are more inclined to accept the unexplained and the mystical than adults. This is, perhaps, why Carter's gothic/fairytale combination works so well as both genres are reliant on the reader's imaginination and suspension of disbelief - something which is addressed in Carter's The Erl King when it is said that the yound girl was 'trapped in her own illusion'...in reading and buying into gothic tales and fairytales, one could argue that the reader is 'trapping themself in their own illusion' by believing in the mystical world...the fear, again, is psychological. It's all the mind.....wooooo. I think I'll leave it there for now...I'm sorry if this blog hasn't made any sense...I've just been thinking as I go.
Yes, we read the poem 'Der Erlkonig' and spoke about the origins of the Erl-King story and myth. The fact that there is a history to the Erl-King myth is, perhaps, one of the reasons it works well within Carter's collection of stories as the idea of old tales handed down through generations, folklore and myths is key to both the gothic and fairytale genres. The fact that the old stories have been heard before in other forms adds to the mysticism and history...The Erl King seems to be a figure, like Bluebeard, that is synonymous with the gothic genre and is an inspiration for many novels, stories e.t.c...Bluebeard, for example, is referenced both in The Bloody Chamber and in the Phantom of the Opera.
I've finished reading the Phantom of the Opera now and although I'll try not to waffle on about it as it's not one of our texts, it does link quite well with the story of the Erl King. Just as in the Erl King, the open setting of the forest is made to feel claustrophobic and like a trap ('the woods enclose and enclose again', 'you are no longer in the open air; the wood swallows you up'), this is how Raoul and the Persian are tortured in Phantom...the torture chamber is hexagonal in shape with mirrors on the six walls and the image of a forest (and then a desert) are reflected onto the walls - rather than being a physical torture chamber (as the bloody chamber is), the torture is psychological (Raoul and the Persian are driven mad by the 'forest effect' as they are tricked into believing they're in a wide expanse when they're actually trapped...ok, I probably haven't explained it that well but what I'm trying to say is that the torture chamber links in with the other gothic texts we've studied...the fact torture is psychological links with all the other texts, the fact that the open-exapanse-yet-trapped feeling ties in with the Earl King and the mirrors in the torture chamber can be linked to the mirrors in the Marquis' bedroom in 'The Bloody Chamber'...which opens up a new meaning with regard to the Marquis' bedroom...another torture chamber of sorts. Also, in Dracula, Jonathan's description of the winding Transylvanian mountains (the Carpathians?) encorporates description of the landscape and mountains trapping and engulfing. The idea of being trapped psychologically as well as physically seems key to the gothic genre.
We discussed the gothic and fairytale elements of the original Erl-King poem and then analysed the narrative style of Carter's version. We spoke about the interesting switches that take place between 1st, 2nd and 3rd person narrative...with readers being drawn in through use of second person, giving a timeless and fairytale theme to the tale. An interesting point that was addressed during discussion of the poem was the fact that the child and the adult's views on the Earl King myth differed...the imaginative child believed whereas the father did not (initially)...again, as in Dracula, thi is a display of the typically gothic logic vs. mysticism argument and the 'The Erl King' adds a new dimension to this by suggested children are more inclined to accept the unexplained and the mystical than adults. This is, perhaps, why Carter's gothic/fairytale combination works so well as both genres are reliant on the reader's imaginination and suspension of disbelief - something which is addressed in Carter's The Erl King when it is said that the yound girl was 'trapped in her own illusion'...in reading and buying into gothic tales and fairytales, one could argue that the reader is 'trapping themself in their own illusion' by believing in the mystical world...the fear, again, is psychological. It's all the mind.....wooooo. I think I'll leave it there for now...I'm sorry if this blog hasn't made any sense...I've just been thinking as I go.
Monday, 29 March 2010
The Snow Child
This is my second blog of the day but I've just been informed we've got to blog on certain things to do with 'The Snow Child'...but as I wasn't in last lesson this will be more of a blag than a blog. Bad, bad joke, I know. I'm ashamed.
Anyway...
What the Woman is Wearing
The Count's wife wears 'the glittering pelts of black foxes', 'high, black shining boots with scarlet heels, and spurrs'...although the 'pelts of black foxes' would be considered glamorous and a show of wealth, it is ultimately a dead animal which, as symbols go, isn't exactly cheery. I've done a bit of research on what foxes, specifically black foxes symbolise and discovered black foxes are apparently synonymous with good luck - although foxes in general (in the West) are synonymous with cunning or slyness - in the East they symbolise longeivity and transformation and in Christianity they're associated with hersey, injustice, greed and lust. The 'scarlet heels' can also be linked to the idea of the scarlet woman - and the fact that the woman might only be wearing the items listed is a bit erm...scarlet woman-esque in itself. Hang on...it also says she's wearing gloves and a diamond brooch.
What Happens to What the Woman is Wearing?
The clothes the Count's wife is wearing fly off and clothe the naked girl (e.g. the pelts) However she drops her own glove and throws her own diamond brooch into the pond...maybe it's because she cares more about getting rid of the girl than she does about her clothes that they decide to fly off?! I don't know.
The Count's Wishes and Inspirations
The Count wishes for a girl as red as blood, black as the raven's feather and white as snow. With the 'white as snow' comes connotations of purity and innocence, whereas the 'red as blood' could be seen to symbolise a loss or corruption of innocence. The raven, too, is seen to symbolise death and combined these symbols seem to imply the Count wants a girl who is innocent but as an underlying darkness so can be corrupted. The attraction of the male figure to innocence seems a key theme within a lot of gothic texts...going back to the whole Madonna/Whore theory - the girl in The Blood Chamber, Mina and Lucy e.t.c. The Count specifies a 'girl' also which implies innocence but also, I think, may contrast with his wife...maybe the 'Midwinter' referred to at the start of the story is a reference to the Count's wife and as in Rossetti's 'Winter: My Secret', the 'Midwinter' could be symbolic of the stage of the woman's life...middle age plus...maybe the Count specifies a 'girl' as he wants a female younger than his wife. When I first read the story, I interpreted 'girl' as the Count wanting a daughter at first...though it soon became apparent that wasn't the case. Or at least I hope it wasn't. Moving swiftly on...yes, I first linked the Count's wife to the 'Midwinter' mentioned as, in a way, unlike the young girl, she is 'invinsible' and 'immaculate'. She's invincible in that she survives (unlike the girl) and, in terms of 'immaculate', one could make links with the idea of immaculate conception...which ties in with the Madonna/Whore concept as well as the idea of the girl as a daughter...maybe that's taking it a bit too far though...
Conclusion
To my mind the 'It bites!' line is an expression of the woman's pain at accepting a 'gift' from her husband, though she knows she's not what he wants. Also the 'It bites!' can be linked to the cold 'Midwinter' and if interpreted in the way I mentioned previously (it being symbolic of the 'Midwinter' of the woman's life), it could mean that the 'Midwinter' of the woman's life 'bites' as it's a harsh, cruel time...her husband's more interesting in strange naked girls that mysteriously appear. The more I think about it though, the more I'm convinced the girl is actually symbolic of a daughter...a daughter that the woman perhaps can't give to the Count as she's reaching the 'Midwinter' of her life?! I'm not sure...although it would make what the Count does to the girl rather worrying. Maybe the whole 'weeping, the Count got of his horse...' bit is about the pain that comes with the loss of a child...maybe not. Oh, I don't know. There are certainly a lot of symbols in there...and they're all rather ambiguous so...who knows what it really means? Angela Carter, presumably.
All in all, it's a rather sinister story and although one of the shortest, has the most points for speculation. Even if the girl isn't a daughter...the whole thing's still a teeeeny bit odd...what with the necrophilia and all...
Anyway...
What the Woman is Wearing
The Count's wife wears 'the glittering pelts of black foxes', 'high, black shining boots with scarlet heels, and spurrs'...although the 'pelts of black foxes' would be considered glamorous and a show of wealth, it is ultimately a dead animal which, as symbols go, isn't exactly cheery. I've done a bit of research on what foxes, specifically black foxes symbolise and discovered black foxes are apparently synonymous with good luck - although foxes in general (in the West) are synonymous with cunning or slyness - in the East they symbolise longeivity and transformation and in Christianity they're associated with hersey, injustice, greed and lust. The 'scarlet heels' can also be linked to the idea of the scarlet woman - and the fact that the woman might only be wearing the items listed is a bit erm...scarlet woman-esque in itself. Hang on...it also says she's wearing gloves and a diamond brooch.
What Happens to What the Woman is Wearing?
The clothes the Count's wife is wearing fly off and clothe the naked girl (e.g. the pelts) However she drops her own glove and throws her own diamond brooch into the pond...maybe it's because she cares more about getting rid of the girl than she does about her clothes that they decide to fly off?! I don't know.
The Count's Wishes and Inspirations
The Count wishes for a girl as red as blood, black as the raven's feather and white as snow. With the 'white as snow' comes connotations of purity and innocence, whereas the 'red as blood' could be seen to symbolise a loss or corruption of innocence. The raven, too, is seen to symbolise death and combined these symbols seem to imply the Count wants a girl who is innocent but as an underlying darkness so can be corrupted. The attraction of the male figure to innocence seems a key theme within a lot of gothic texts...going back to the whole Madonna/Whore theory - the girl in The Blood Chamber, Mina and Lucy e.t.c. The Count specifies a 'girl' also which implies innocence but also, I think, may contrast with his wife...maybe the 'Midwinter' referred to at the start of the story is a reference to the Count's wife and as in Rossetti's 'Winter: My Secret', the 'Midwinter' could be symbolic of the stage of the woman's life...middle age plus...maybe the Count specifies a 'girl' as he wants a female younger than his wife. When I first read the story, I interpreted 'girl' as the Count wanting a daughter at first...though it soon became apparent that wasn't the case. Or at least I hope it wasn't. Moving swiftly on...yes, I first linked the Count's wife to the 'Midwinter' mentioned as, in a way, unlike the young girl, she is 'invinsible' and 'immaculate'. She's invincible in that she survives (unlike the girl) and, in terms of 'immaculate', one could make links with the idea of immaculate conception...which ties in with the Madonna/Whore concept as well as the idea of the girl as a daughter...maybe that's taking it a bit too far though...
Conclusion
To my mind the 'It bites!' line is an expression of the woman's pain at accepting a 'gift' from her husband, though she knows she's not what he wants. Also the 'It bites!' can be linked to the cold 'Midwinter' and if interpreted in the way I mentioned previously (it being symbolic of the 'Midwinter' of the woman's life), it could mean that the 'Midwinter' of the woman's life 'bites' as it's a harsh, cruel time...her husband's more interesting in strange naked girls that mysteriously appear. The more I think about it though, the more I'm convinced the girl is actually symbolic of a daughter...a daughter that the woman perhaps can't give to the Count as she's reaching the 'Midwinter' of her life?! I'm not sure...although it would make what the Count does to the girl rather worrying. Maybe the whole 'weeping, the Count got of his horse...' bit is about the pain that comes with the loss of a child...maybe not. Oh, I don't know. There are certainly a lot of symbols in there...and they're all rather ambiguous so...who knows what it really means? Angela Carter, presumably.
All in all, it's a rather sinister story and although one of the shortest, has the most points for speculation. Even if the girl isn't a daughter...the whole thing's still a teeeeny bit odd...what with the necrophilia and all...
'Puss in Boots', 'The Phantom of the Opera' and 'The Woman in White'
I missed one of our 'Puss in Boots' lessons but I'm just going to blog about my initial thoughts...we discussed how the characters in 'Puss in Boots' correlate with the Italian Theatre characters we'd researched...it seems that Figaro was the 'Harlequin' of the piece...poor and hungry (he scrounges for food 'I'd pilfer the market for breakfast') yet proud ('impeccable hygenic integrity'), he uses the fact he is dismissed by others (the fact that he's a cat) to outwit...(helps his Master to woo his 'love'). I think the charcater of Figaro is a very interesting one as in some ways he is an archetypal fairytale character (a cat...that talks) but in other ways dismisses the fairytale nonsense (almost mocks his Master for his romantic endevours, calling him a 'lovelorn loon'). I also thought that, if Figaro is the 'Harlequin', Tabby might be 'Columbina'...Harlequin's 'companion' who helps him in his tasks and has more character and 'pepper' than the other lovers (Figaro's master's lover). Also, there's Signor Pantelone 'the old man was a fool and a miser' (Pantaloon) and in true fairytale style '[the] hag turns out to be the biggest snag'.
I've also been trying to get a bit more clued up on gothic texts and conventions and have been reading Gaston Leroux's 'The Phantom of the Opera' and Wilkie Collins' 'The Woman in White' - just as we were talking about the set characters in Italian theatre (and in fairytales, to an extent), it seems there are certain characters that most gothic texts have...the 'monster' male who is attracted by beauty and innocence (Dracula, The Marquis, The Phantom, Percival Glyde), a 'beauty' (Beauty, Mina, Lucy, Christine Daae, Anne), the beauty's dying or vulnerable guardian (In 'Phantom', Christine's adopted mother is on her deathbed, in 'Dracula', Lucy's mother is dying, in 'The Woman in White', Laura Fairlie's uncle is old and frail, in 'The Courtship of Mr Lyon', Beauty's father is quite weak...characters in the gothic tales seem to act in certain ways and do certain things for the sake of the old/dying relatives e.g. no-one tells Lucy's mother about the danger Lucy's in, Beauty stays with the Beast for the sake of her father...emphasizes the 'goodness' of the characters and heightens drama...imminent death!) and there's (sometimes) the antithesis of the 'monster male' in a male version of the 'Beauty'...(Raoul, the Piano Tuner, Walter) - occasionally, the male version of the 'Beauty', however, is found within the monster...as in The Courtship of Mr Lyon.
In addition, thinking about the different gothic texts, I found that the love/hate conflict that we discussed with regard to 'The Bloody Chamber' (curiosity/disgust, sex/death e.t.c.) runs through the entire gothic genre and The Phantom of the Opera sort of embodies this...The Phantom is obsessed with Christine - one of the reasons being that in terms of physical appearance, she's the exact opposite of him...but alongside the obsessive love for and admiration of Christine's beauty and innocence runs a hatred and deep-seated envy...If he can't have Christine, he'd rather her die or have all she cares about destroyed than she be someone else's...there's a fine line between love and hate in The Phantom of the Opera and in many gothic texts...to quote the musical (here I go again...) of The Phantom of the Opera 'Fear can turn to love, you'll learn to see, to find, the man behind the monster - this repulsive carcass who seems a beast but secretly dreams of beauty'). The other conflicts we've discussed in class that I've found to feature in The Phantom and The Woman in White are...the asleep/awake conflict (in The Woman in White, Count Fosco and Percival Glyde cover up the fact they've imprisoned Laura in an asylum by saying she fell to her death while sleepwalking...similar to Lucy in Dracula....also, in Phantom, Christine hears the voice of the 'Angel of Music' in her sleep) - there's also the dead/alive conflict (is the Phantom dead or alive? He is known as the 'Opera Ghost'...similarly, Anne in WiW is mistaken for a ghost)...maddness (Both Laura and Anne are imprisoned in asylums in WiW and those who can hear the voice of the Phantom are considered mad initially).
That's all for now...
I've also been trying to get a bit more clued up on gothic texts and conventions and have been reading Gaston Leroux's 'The Phantom of the Opera' and Wilkie Collins' 'The Woman in White' - just as we were talking about the set characters in Italian theatre (and in fairytales, to an extent), it seems there are certain characters that most gothic texts have...the 'monster' male who is attracted by beauty and innocence (Dracula, The Marquis, The Phantom, Percival Glyde), a 'beauty' (Beauty, Mina, Lucy, Christine Daae, Anne), the beauty's dying or vulnerable guardian (In 'Phantom', Christine's adopted mother is on her deathbed, in 'Dracula', Lucy's mother is dying, in 'The Woman in White', Laura Fairlie's uncle is old and frail, in 'The Courtship of Mr Lyon', Beauty's father is quite weak...characters in the gothic tales seem to act in certain ways and do certain things for the sake of the old/dying relatives e.g. no-one tells Lucy's mother about the danger Lucy's in, Beauty stays with the Beast for the sake of her father...emphasizes the 'goodness' of the characters and heightens drama...imminent death!) and there's (sometimes) the antithesis of the 'monster male' in a male version of the 'Beauty'...(Raoul, the Piano Tuner, Walter) - occasionally, the male version of the 'Beauty', however, is found within the monster...as in The Courtship of Mr Lyon.
In addition, thinking about the different gothic texts, I found that the love/hate conflict that we discussed with regard to 'The Bloody Chamber' (curiosity/disgust, sex/death e.t.c.) runs through the entire gothic genre and The Phantom of the Opera sort of embodies this...The Phantom is obsessed with Christine - one of the reasons being that in terms of physical appearance, she's the exact opposite of him...but alongside the obsessive love for and admiration of Christine's beauty and innocence runs a hatred and deep-seated envy...If he can't have Christine, he'd rather her die or have all she cares about destroyed than she be someone else's...there's a fine line between love and hate in The Phantom of the Opera and in many gothic texts...to quote the musical (here I go again...) of The Phantom of the Opera 'Fear can turn to love, you'll learn to see, to find, the man behind the monster - this repulsive carcass who seems a beast but secretly dreams of beauty'). The other conflicts we've discussed in class that I've found to feature in The Phantom and The Woman in White are...the asleep/awake conflict (in The Woman in White, Count Fosco and Percival Glyde cover up the fact they've imprisoned Laura in an asylum by saying she fell to her death while sleepwalking...similar to Lucy in Dracula....also, in Phantom, Christine hears the voice of the 'Angel of Music' in her sleep) - there's also the dead/alive conflict (is the Phantom dead or alive? He is known as the 'Opera Ghost'...similarly, Anne in WiW is mistaken for a ghost)...maddness (Both Laura and Anne are imprisoned in asylums in WiW and those who can hear the voice of the Phantom are considered mad initially).
That's all for now...
Monday, 22 March 2010
Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh My!
Ok...so there have only been lions and tigers up to now but I couldn't pass up on the opportunity to quote the Wizard of Oz. Since I last blogged, we've read both 'The Courtship of Mr Lyon' and 'The Tiger's Bride' - I missed the first lesson in which we discussed and read the latter but I'm going to use everyone's Wunderbar (That's wunderbar with a capital 'W' Emma!!! Satisfied?! Hmmmm?!) blogs to catch up. Anyway...I'll start with 'The Tiger's Bride' as that's relatively fresh in my mind...Mr Francis asked us to ponder why Carter made the decision at the end of the story to revert the idea of the beauty/beast transformation and I think this decision could be rooted in Carter's feminist agenda (or at least her aim to promote gender equality) - rather than the story being about the 'beauty' (woman) learning to love the 'beast' (man), I felt that The Tiger's Bride was concerned with the 'beauty' learning to accept and perhaps love the 'beast' inside herself - in other words, learning from the Beast (who literally takes off his mask), to metaphorically take off her own mask and face up to her real self, regardless of how horrific or gruesome it may be. I got the impression that, rather than 'The Courtship of Mr Lyon', The Tiger's Bride was about self-discovery and acceptance rather than a story in which someone changes in order to 'match-up' with someone else. To this end, even though we spoke of how 'The Courtship of Mr Lyon' is a fairly straight-forward fairytale, it could be argued that 'The Tiger's Bride' with all its strange concepts and symbols has a more positive end message. The fact that, as a class, we came to the conclusion that 'The Courtship of Mr Lyon' was a quite traditional fairystory with a narrative and message not dissimilar to others we'd heard in the past, I think, says quite a lot about the fairytale genre and Carter's purpose in retelling the 'Beauty and the Beast' tale twice. As is the nature of the gothic genre, it seems to me as if Carter could be trying to present something to us that we are certain and sure of (the 'traditional' fairytale of 'The Courtship of Mr Lyon') before showing us how that concept is somehow odd or wrong, leaving us to question and feel less secure about it. At first reading, I imagine most people expected the 'Beast' to turn into a 'Beauty' at the end of 'The Tiger's Bride'...but why? This is, I think, what Carter is trying to get us to think about by placing the two re-tellings/re-workings together - why do the fairytales we have all grown up with teach that 'Beasts' should change in order to be with 'Beauties'? In 'The Courtship of Mr Lyon', the Lion changing back into human form is seen almost as a reward to Beauty for seeing the good within him while he was a Beast, whereas, in 'The Tiger's Bride', it is as if the woman changes into a 'Beast', not for the Beast, but for herself. It is implied that the Beast in 'Mr Lyon' is trapped in a world of magic in which he doesn't belong - a man trapped within a Lion, whereas, in 'Tiger's Bride' there are no hints towards there being a 'Beast' behind the Beauty until the very end.
I'm sorry I've just got one jumbo paragraph but the main point I'm trying to make is that maybe Carter placed the two re-tellings together in order to lead the reader to question the expectations of and morals within 'traditional' fairytales - getting us to question, as the gothic genre often does, which morals are the most positive. Just a thought.
I'm sorry I've just got one jumbo paragraph but the main point I'm trying to make is that maybe Carter placed the two re-tellings together in order to lead the reader to question the expectations of and morals within 'traditional' fairytales - getting us to question, as the gothic genre often does, which morals are the most positive. Just a thought.
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