Masculinity In The Bloody Chamber

The author, Angela Carter, has asserted that she felt impelled to write "Gothic tales, cruel tales, horror stories, fabulous narratives that deal directly with the imaginary of the unconscious" (Fireworks 132). But Carter did not delimit herself in writing the fairy tales ' new versions from an entirely new perspective. Instead, she has completely recreated them. The stories of the "Bloody Chamber" are written with a dark and sinister beauty. Carter 's writing has an exquisite sensitivity which impregnates every tale with provocative and fragrant sensitive elements. She exaggerates the femininity of her prose with red roses and pale women, voluptuous descriptions, and evocative language. We have to keep in mind, however, that behind this

The cunning role of the Marquis has been revealed by the narrator in different ways. The character of the Marquis in The Bloody Chamber becomes especially interesting because of his representation of archetypal masculinity, as well as the roles which are traditionally attributed to the man. An animal characteristic rather than a human is used to describe the first approximation of the male protagonist to the reader. "The opulent male scent of leather and spices that always accompanied him" (3) - a peculiar smell of which he will always be accompanied and that will announce his presence. There is also an identification between this essence and his masculine sex, an aspect that reaffirms his animal characteristics. The animalistic nature of the Marquis is revealed by descriptions suck as ¨the dark, leonine shape of his head¨ (3). The narrator compares the figure of the protagonist to a lion who is brave but deadly. The lion is not just an animal, he is a predator and his target is to kill the

The cruel male figure in ¨Bloody Chamber¨ is compared not only to an animal but to lilacs. The husband is the representation of evil, symbolizing the man who is humiliated to animality. It is the presence of the omniscient evil that spreads like the scent of lilacs-a metaphor that has not been chosen randomly -and which, like them, stains: "The lilies I always associate with him; That are white, and stain you "(15). Using the term "stain" the narrator does not talk only about lilies but also about the way the Marquis made her feel. The unnamed heroine is objectified first by his treatment like she is just piece of meat or an object taking her virginity in a brutal way and this is associated with her stain. Later, after his death, she keeps being literally stained because of the mark of the key to the bloody chamber on her forehead. In literature, lilies are typical symbols of death. The husband - like the lilacs in the glass vase - is distorted at the sight of the bloody chamber, and his soul is reduced to unequal pieces that can never be