The Function of Metamorphosis in The Bloody Chamber - Essay Example

? The Function of Metamorphosis in Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber Introduction The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter, published in 1979 is a collection of short stories. Carter’s short stories are revisions of fairy tales retold from the prospective of the female protagonist who appeared in the original fairy tale as a voiceless, sexual object (Colebrook 2004, p. 169). While this transformation of the female protagonist in the retelling of the original fairy tale is one function of metamorphosis in The Bloody Chamber, metamorphosis also functions to depict the transformation of a girl into womanhood and the how women cope with both their own animal instincts and the animal instincts of men. In other words, metamorphosis functions to transform fairy tales from a male oriented reading to that of a female oriented reading. Fairy tales have notoriously depicted male dominance over women. Carter resorts to gender metamorphosis in that she liberates women and stresses the female sexual liberation and desire and reverses conventional feminine and masculine roles. In doing so, Carter unveils repressed female sexuality and sexism and the male dominated construction of the female self (Makinen 1996, p. 41). The Bloody Chambers The Bloody Chamber is based on the fairy tale Bluebeard. The original tale, Bluebeard did not give voice to the female protagonist’s own feelings and thoughts relative to her own tumultuous marriage (Roemer and Bacchilega 2001, p. 94). In Carter’s metamorphic retelling of Bluebeard in The Bloody Chamber, Carter’s female protagonist comes across as poignantly informed and instructed by the experience of her marriage (Carter 1993). Not only is this purely female perspective told in the first person narrative, but delivered in a direct and informative manner. Carter’s The Bloody Chamber immediately informs that the narrator is a female whose metamorphosis from girl to woman has resulted in an informed and mature woman with a voice and feelings. The short story opens with the female protagonist’s reflection of her journey to womanhood. She recalls with “excitement” that is likened to: The train that bore me through the night, away from Paris, away from girlhood, away from the white, enclosed quietude of my mother’s apartment, into the unguessable country of marriage (Carter 1993, p. 7). Carter masterfully, lets the female protagonist narrate the fairy tale from her own perspective and by taking this approach, she is transformed into a sympathetic character. The original tale may have conjured up images of the perpetuated image of the female as the biblical Eve: an object of temptation (Roemer and Bacchilega 2001, p. 94). Carter’s metamorphic depiction, allows for a revisionist version of conventional perspectives entrenched in Christian presentations of the Eve myth. Carter presents a strong female and invites a more positive perspective on the Eve myth. As Roemer and Bacchilega (2001) puts it: Carter’s literary revision of Bluebeard undercuts the Christian doctrine of original sin. Her heroine’s agonizing ordeal, so similar to Eve’s, is portrayed as a necessary and bold initiation into self and worldly knowledge rather than as an act of foolish disobedience (p. 95). In the original fairy tale, Bluebeard’s female protagonist marries an older man who subsequently takes a leave of absence. Before leaving he gives his bride the keys to the palace and instructs that she may have access to all the rooms in the palace, save for one. The bride however, soon gives into temptation and enters the forbidden room. In doing so she finds the corpses of her husband’s previous wives. Despite the fact that the bride is shaken by the discovery, the tale presents her as inconsequential and disobedient. She apparently experiences no self-growth as a result of this experience (Roemer and Bacchilega 2001, p. 96). In Carter’s metamorphic depiction of Bluebeard, the female protagonist has a voice and is not inconsequential. Carter’s female protagonist is not presented as given into temptation in entering the room. Instead, the metamorphic depiction functions to convey the bride’s desire to confront and discover who she is. The opening of the forbidden room is therefore symbolic of her journey into self-discovery and the acquisition of knowledge. The bride who has always been in the company of or under the direction of another, finally finds herself alone and engages in a soul-searching exercise. Carter’s The Tiger’s Bride also uses metamorphosis to demonstrate oppressive female perspectives by her retelling of Beauty and the Beast. The original fairy tale presented the female as ideally good and obedient to a male figure. In this case, the dominant male was the father, followed by the male beast. The beast in the Beauty and the Beast can only be transformed into a Prince Charming if he is the subject of unconditional love, or rather blind obedience and service. The female protagonist provides this unconditional servitude. In Carter’s retelling, the metamorphic depiction of Beauty and the Beast gives the female protagonist a voice. By doing so, she challenges the traditional view that the female protagonist was a good and novel mediator who transforms the beast into Prince Charming. Instead, she lets the readers know from the outset, that the female protagonist is capable of thought and feeling and even judgment. In giving expression to her feelings, the reader learns that the female was an object used by these men to whom she was subjugated for an exchange of bargains. The female protagonist informs that: “My father lost me to the Beast at Cards” (Carter 1993, p. 51). Thus the reader is informed that the female protagonist’s father is a gambler and uses his daughter as a gambling chip. The beast is therefore bereft of emotions and the female protagonist an object for both men as she was “bought and sold, passed from hand to hand” (Carter 1993, p. 63). Carter (1993) uses metamorphosis to transform the characterization of the original fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. The female protagonist in The Tiger’s Bride, unlike her counterpart in Beauty and the Beast is not absorbed by the possibility of a perfect marriage and a happily ever after ending. Nor is the beast in The Tiger’s Bride presented as some hapless and unfortunate victim of a spell that can be broken by unconditional love. Instead, he is fixated on the idea of seeing the virgin protagonist unclothed. In Carter’s telling, the beast wants: To see the pretty young lady unclothed nude without her dress and that only for the one time after which she will be returned to her father undamaged with bankers’ orders for the sum which he lost… (Carter 1993, p. 58). Thus the reader sees a metamorphic image of the beast from a feminist perspective. The beast is demonstrative of the sexual urges of men who sees the female as no more than an object of sexual satisfaction and servitude. As the metamorphosis continues, the female protagonist is transformed from Beauty and the Beast’s loving and obedient female to a disobedient and strong female. In response to the beast’s request to undress, the female protagonist releases a “raucous guffaw” (Carter 1993, p. 58). Moreover, there is a beastly transformation in which the beautiful protagonist metamorphoses into a beast, at least symbolically. Knowing full well, that the beast finds the fact that she is a virgin appealing, she states: I wished I’d rolled in the hay with every lad on my father’s farm, to disqualify myself from this humiliating bargain (Carter 1993, p. 61). Thus, metamorphosis in The Tiger’s Bride functions to invite readers to take a symbolic journey into gender reversal. Instead of the beast transforming into a Prince Charming, the beautiful protagonist transforms into a beast. She is no longer the obedient and subservient good girl. Instead, she is a strong-willed female and goes from obedient to disobedient and fully informed of her own objectification. In becoming informed she resists by not only disobeying, but by demonstrating remorse for having played by the rules, resisting temptation and thereby permitting herself to become an object of male bargaining. A similar metamorphosis takes place in Carter’s The Snow Child which is a retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The metamorphosis occurs when the chaste girl transforms into a “sexually dominant nymphet” in which the female protagonist is “as sexual as she is silent” (Mitchell and Reid-Walsh 2008, p. 281). Essentially, Carter seamlessly metamorphoses the idea that sexuality and power are related. Instead she represents exuality as a something that can be adapted to and perpetually “amoral, elastic and animal” (Roemer and Bacchilega 2001, p. 152). Carter’s The Snow Child is only a few hundred words long. Yet, it transforms the purity associated with Snow White upon which it is based into something rather impure. The birth of the child is based on the desire of the father and this is further exposed by an incestuous rape. The blood-stained snow upon which the child’s corpse is raped serves to symbolically counter the good girl portrayal in fairy tales. Goodness and purity are associated with the conservative, subordinate and obedient female. This idea is thus contested in Carter’s The Snow Child by the metamorphosed father/male dominant figure who turns the pure child into a sexual object. Carter’s The Werewolf is based on the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood (Joshi 2007, p. 682). In fact, The Company of Wolves is likewise a metamorphosis of Little Red Riding Hood (Rollason and Mittapalli 2002, p. Rollason and Mittapalli (2002) explain that from a feminist perspective, Little Red Riding Hood is: A patriarchal fable exhibiting the male desire to control women and circumvent them. Angela Carter rewrites this fairy tale in two stories, The Werewolf and The Company of Wolves (p. 256). In Carter’s The Werewolf and The Company of Wolves the youthful female protagonist are depicted as strong, independent and high-energy. Again, the function of metamorphosis is to present the female protagonist as impassive and far from subordinate. In fact in The Werewolf, the girl slays her grandmother/wolf and as a result she becomes the mistress of the house. As The Werewolf notes, “the child lived in her grandmother’s house; she prospered” (Carter 1993, p. 136). In The Werewolf, Little Red Riding Hood comes to the realization that her grandmother is also the wolf (Carter 1993). According to Gamble (2001) in coming to this realization: She is making a very important discovery: that to be a mature woman means to be sexual, animal (p. 127). Obviously frightened by this realization, the girl enlists the assistance of neighbours to have her grandmother stoned to death. However, instead of immediately returning home after her grandmother is slain, the girl decides to remain in her grandmother’s house. According to Gamble (2001), the decision to remain in her grandmother’s home “she is symbolically declaring her readiness to grow up (p. 127). In the Company of Wolves, Little Red Riding Hood’s journey to maturity continues. The reader learns that in addition to living in grandmother’s house, Little Red Riding Hood is also sleeping in grandmother’s bed. Thus, according to Gamble (2001): Inhabiting not only granny’s house but her bed, Red Riding Hood has in a sense become her grandmother (p. 127). Little Red Riding Hood has apparently married the wolf and as such has established a perpetual connection to her grandmother. At the same time, Little Red Riding Hood is also “acknowledging and affirming her adult female sexuality (Gamble 2001, p. 127). More importantly however, Little Red Riding Hood in The Company of Wolves draws attention to her independence by Little Red Riding Hood’s declaration that she has no intention of becoming “nobody’s meat” (Carter 1993, p. 118). Making good on this declaration, Little Red Riding Hood renounces her own parents (Carter 1993). The girls metamorphosis in The Company of Wolves functions to represent the realistic transition that occurs when the innocent child metamorphosed into adult hood and thus naturally assumes adult desires (Dente 2005, p. 139). In submitting to the wolf, the girl metamorphoses from a state of naivety and innocence to a state of knowledge and therefore retains what is essentially human nature. Even more revealing, metamorphosis functions to reverse gender roles. Little Red Riding Hood, uses her own sexual prowess to seduce the wolf man. By doing so, she rejects conventional perceptions and all that she had been taught or all normative values and saves herself. Essentially, she finds confidence in her own independence and her own sexual power and uses it to her benefit. Thus Carter conveys the message that the seemingly innocent and subservient girl took control of her own life. She metamorphosed into a mature individual who used her own power without remorse, shamelessly and fearlessly. By taking this approach, the girl, unlike anyone else was not only able to survive, but also able to tame the wolf-man. Conclusion In many ways, Carter uses metamorphosis in The Bloody Chamber’s collection of short stories to empower women. The rationale for Carter’s metamorphosis in The Bloody Chamber is found in the words of Orenstein(2002) who said: To feminists, these fairy tales filled little girls with dreams of becoming glamorous victims (p. 144). In these fairy tales, female protagonists were presented as “delicate”, “bruised”, “passive”, “wounded”, “kneeling” and “humiliated” (Orenstein 2002, p. 144). Carter’s metamorphosis in The Blood Chamber’s collection of short stories, reinvented these feminine portrayals. She repositioned these women and gave them feelings, perspectives and attitudes and allowed full expression. The actual physical metamorphosis, although brief and virtually instant, succinctly depicted the contrast between being enchanted and disenchanted. The metamorphosis of enchantment to disenchantment is therefore rapid and almost always abrupt or instant. In many ways, this is how Carter reconciled the ascribed role of females as depicted in fairy tales with the postmodern female. Bibliography Carter, A. (1993) The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories. New York, NY: Penguin Books, Ltd. Colebrook, C. (2004) Irony. London: Routledge. Dente, C. (2005) Proteus: The Language of Metamorphosis. New York, NY: Ashgate Publishing. Gamble, S. (2001) The Fiction of Angela Carter. New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan. Joshi, S. T. (2007) Icons of Horror and the Supernatural. Wesport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. Makinen, M. (1996) “Embodying the Negated Contemporary Images of Female Erotic in 5-Image and Power.” Cited in Sceats, S. and Cunningham, G. (Eds) Image Power, Women in Fiction in the Twentieth Century. London: Longman. Mitchell, C. and Reid-Walsh, J. (2008) Girl Culture: Studying Girl Culture. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. Orenstein, C. (2002) Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked. New York, NY: Basic Books. Roemer, D. M. and Bacchiliga, C. (2001) Angela Carter and the Fairy Tale. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press. Rollason, C. and Mittapalli, R. (2002) Modern Criticism. Atlantic Publishers and Distributors. Read More