I haven't been blogging as much as I usually do lately as I've been using the pieces of work we've been set e.g. essays and posters as my thought-processing time instead - so...I'm just going to blog about what we've been studying over the last few lessons in order to track our progress in terms of our study of 'The Bloody Chamber'.
Continuing on from the themes of gender and the genre of gothic tales and fairytales I spoke of in my last blog, we've been looking at The Bloody Chamber with regard to its context and how it fulfils our expectations of a fairytale/gothic story. The more we look into Carter's work, the more I understand how clever it is - how cleverly the fairytale/gothic genres are merged in order to give a comment on society.
Over the past few lessons we've looked into the roles of the males in the text - how the piano tuner contrasts with the Marquis. As we wrote essays on this, I won't go into too much detail but the main things I got from this were...how Carter splits her characters between being 'real people' and 'mystical creations' - almost the same as with Dracula...'normal' people thrown into the midst of a mythical creature - in The Bloody Chamber, we spoke about how the narrator might be representative of the 'normal woman' trapped in a fairytale/gothic world. Continuing on with this idea - there are elements of the human and the mythical/gothic/symbolic within each character, I find...with the narrator's dicovery of the 'bloody chamber' signifying the discovery of the mythical, over-the-top fairytale-esque side to her husband.
Linking in with this, we wrote essays on what, in our opinion, the bloody chamber symbolises. In my essay, I spoke about different interpretations but, the main thing I got from the exercise was a greater understanding of the text's feminist themes - 'the bloody chamber' as a symbol, for example, can be interpreted as a reference to the confinement of marriage and the death of a woman when she becomes a wife. As I said before, I won't go into detail about other theories I spoke of as I addressed them in my essay but, again, exploring the symbolism within the text makes me appreciate the intelligence behind it more and more. The metaphors and symbolism withinn the piece are somewhat expected - as figurative language and exaggeration through meatphor is a key trait of fairytales.
When we researched into fairytales and the themes associated with them, I discovered a darkness and harsh reality common to them all. In almost all fairytales, there is an element of fear, moral heart and a comment on human nature. The 'wants', 'needs' and 'dreams' of many fairytale characters that lead them most of the time to danger link in with gothic themes and ideas quite naturally. In researching 'symbolists' (I researched Munch), the subject of supressed desire and dark desire were addressed once again (as seen Dracula with his need to drink blood) - One of Munch's paintings in particular, I thought, spoke volumes and linked remarkably well to 'the bloody chamber' and the themes at the heart of it...one of his paintings, 'Love and Pain' (I'll try to attach a picture) links with the close relationship between love and hate as addressed in The Bloody Chamber and Dracula...the painting, often mistakenly referred to as 'The Vampire' shows a man and woman with an intentionally ambiguous relationship - it is unknown as to whether the picture shows an embrace, a bite or an attack. In many ways Munch's work (particularly 'Love and Pain' as it links so well to the story of Dracula and the implied goings on in 'the bloody chamber') epitomises the gothic themes and dark-fairytale themes of hidden 'wants' and 'desires' - the beast within people - the hidden brutality and darkness. I'm really enjoying seeing how the fairytale and gothic genres overlap and link so well.
We've gone on to talk about 'strong women' also which relates to the more overtly feminist messages...for example, the role of the mother as opposed to the more subtle, metaphorical nods to the theories. I can't quite work out whether 'The Bloody Chamber' works so well because it is the polar opposite of a fairytale (e.g. threat of motherhood reverted so mother is saviour - piano tuner is passive') or whether it works so well because it embraces the harsh realities explored through both the gothic genre and fairytales through expert merging of life and mystical elements - exaggerated version of life.
Just a final point as well...when we were told to research fairytales at the start of our study of the text, my mind instantly jumped to the Stephen Sondheim musical 'Into The Woods' - if anyone's interested, the musical links many fairytale stories and characters by keeping the 'needs' and 'wants' I spoke of earlier at the heart of the story - the musical encompasses all the typical traits of fairytales - emphasizing the idea that acting on great 'wants' and 'hidden desires' often leads to trouble as people will do anything, go into the darkness and 'Into the Woods' in order to find happiness. Essentially, everyone (and fairytale characters) are looking to find happiness...but sometimes, as fairytales tell, in the quest for happiness, if you're willing to do anything - you'll probably end up a) turning into a monster b) getting a stake through the heart/being shot by a crazy 'strong woman' mother/having your body ripped apart by devils. Cheery or what?!
Continuing on from the themes of gender and the genre of gothic tales and fairytales I spoke of in my last blog, we've been looking at The Bloody Chamber with regard to its context and how it fulfils our expectations of a fairytale/gothic story. The more we look into Carter's work, the more I understand how clever it is - how cleverly the fairytale/gothic genres are merged in order to give a comment on society.
Over the past few lessons we've looked into the roles of the males in the text - how the piano tuner contrasts with the Marquis. As we wrote essays on this, I won't go into too much detail but the main things I got from this were...how Carter splits her characters between being 'real people' and 'mystical creations' - almost the same as with Dracula...'normal' people thrown into the midst of a mythical creature - in The Bloody Chamber, we spoke about how the narrator might be representative of the 'normal woman' trapped in a fairytale/gothic world. Continuing on with this idea - there are elements of the human and the mythical/gothic/symbolic within each character, I find...with the narrator's dicovery of the 'bloody chamber' signifying the discovery of the mythical, over-the-top fairytale-esque side to her husband.
Linking in with this, we wrote essays on what, in our opinion, the bloody chamber symbolises. In my essay, I spoke about different interpretations but, the main thing I got from the exercise was a greater understanding of the text's feminist themes - 'the bloody chamber' as a symbol, for example, can be interpreted as a reference to the confinement of marriage and the death of a woman when she becomes a wife. As I said before, I won't go into detail about other theories I spoke of as I addressed them in my essay but, again, exploring the symbolism within the text makes me appreciate the intelligence behind it more and more. The metaphors and symbolism withinn the piece are somewhat expected - as figurative language and exaggeration through meatphor is a key trait of fairytales.
When we researched into fairytales and the themes associated with them, I discovered a darkness and harsh reality common to them all. In almost all fairytales, there is an element of fear, moral heart and a comment on human nature. The 'wants', 'needs' and 'dreams' of many fairytale characters that lead them most of the time to danger link in with gothic themes and ideas quite naturally. In researching 'symbolists' (I researched Munch), the subject of supressed desire and dark desire were addressed once again (as seen Dracula with his need to drink blood) - One of Munch's paintings in particular, I thought, spoke volumes and linked remarkably well to 'the bloody chamber' and the themes at the heart of it...one of his paintings, 'Love and Pain' (I'll try to attach a picture) links with the close relationship between love and hate as addressed in The Bloody Chamber and Dracula...the painting, often mistakenly referred to as 'The Vampire' shows a man and woman with an intentionally ambiguous relationship - it is unknown as to whether the picture shows an embrace, a bite or an attack. In many ways Munch's work (particularly 'Love and Pain' as it links so well to the story of Dracula and the implied goings on in 'the bloody chamber') epitomises the gothic themes and dark-fairytale themes of hidden 'wants' and 'desires' - the beast within people - the hidden brutality and darkness. I'm really enjoying seeing how the fairytale and gothic genres overlap and link so well.
We've gone on to talk about 'strong women' also which relates to the more overtly feminist messages...for example, the role of the mother as opposed to the more subtle, metaphorical nods to the theories. I can't quite work out whether 'The Bloody Chamber' works so well because it is the polar opposite of a fairytale (e.g. threat of motherhood reverted so mother is saviour - piano tuner is passive') or whether it works so well because it embraces the harsh realities explored through both the gothic genre and fairytales through expert merging of life and mystical elements - exaggerated version of life.
Just a final point as well...when we were told to research fairytales at the start of our study of the text, my mind instantly jumped to the Stephen Sondheim musical 'Into The Woods' - if anyone's interested, the musical links many fairytale stories and characters by keeping the 'needs' and 'wants' I spoke of earlier at the heart of the story - the musical encompasses all the typical traits of fairytales - emphasizing the idea that acting on great 'wants' and 'hidden desires' often leads to trouble as people will do anything, go into the darkness and 'Into the Woods' in order to find happiness. Essentially, everyone (and fairytale characters) are looking to find happiness...but sometimes, as fairytales tell, in the quest for happiness, if you're willing to do anything - you'll probably end up a) turning into a monster b) getting a stake through the heart/being shot by a crazy 'strong woman' mother/having your body ripped apart by devils. Cheery or what?!
Just thought of an additional point -'disobedience' seems to be a common theme within gothic and fairytale texts - although in 'The Bloody Chamber' we are led to sympathise with the woman and are aware that the Marquis is a scheming 'villain' who reacts in an irrational manner BUT inkeeping with the fairytale morals...his wife does disobey him...whether she has the right or not to do that is inkeeping with feminist debates but yes...in the quest to satisfy her curiosity, the woman does disobey her husband's orders and wishes...so is, in that sense, in the wrong and deserves all she gets...as, in his defense, the Marquis did warn her...fair enough though...the Marquis does go a teeeeny bit overboard with his punishment.
ReplyDeleteJust thought as well...does the Marquis see his punichment as love as Dracula does? AND (maybe I have missed the blogging time...now I've started, I can't stop) just as the Marquis is a 'master of human nature' in that he knows his wife will follow her curiosity by entering the bloody chamber, Faustus new that the man buying the horse's curiosity would get the better of him and would take the horse in water - part of the 'creepiness' of the gothic figures...they know how people will react even before they do and use this knowledge to satisfy their own desires.
I'll shut up now.
Trust you to find a link to a musical! xD
ReplyDeleteI found this post pretty interesting, particularly the part when you posed the question: "Does the Marquis see his punishment as love as Dracula does?"
I suppose, in a sense, both Dracula and the Marquis are similar in that they make pain sexual. I think there is a big difference between their reasons for this pain. In order for Dracula to survive, he MUST consume the blood of his victims, the Marquis CHOOSES to kill his wives to fulfil sexual gratifications (sadism)
So to link this to your question, there is a sense of love in the punishment but that, in my opinion, is merely the love of carrying out this punishment. After reading the story, it seems too calculated for him to have actually loved her.
(I hope this makes sense)