The Worst Essay Ever Completed.

Yesterday I finally handed in the Dreaded Essay. It took me ages to understand the question and then ages to answer it, too! I wasn't the only one to find it difficult, so that makes it slightly better. However, in the end I was a little bit proud of all my hard work, I read through so many books from the library, and I most of what was said went right over my head. I can't imagine all my work will account to much though, but as long as it's over a 2:2 that's fine. Oh no, I'm worried I've jinxed it now!

Anyway, I was so proud of it I though I would post it here, you know, creative work and academic work; I'm so versatile! It's over 1500 words and has a lot of footnotes, which don't look so bad spread over six pages, but the list looks endless here.

If you see any mistakes please don't point them out, I've already handed this essay in and I can't do anything about it now!

I used to recommend reading The Bloody Chamber but now I warn you to stay away from it! It will eat your soul!

 ‘All works of art either uphold the status quo, or challenge it.’ 

This essay will focus on Angela Carter’s story The Bloody Chamber. It will examine whether the text challenges or upholds the status quo through comparison of traditional fairy tales, the exploration of the feminist movement, heterosexual relationships, and the importance of the mother figure.

In 1979, when The Bloody Chamber was published, the women’s movement, referred to as ‘second-wave feminism’[1], was already in motion. These feminists arrived in a society where gender relations had been changed dramatically after the war when women had joined the workforce. During the 1960s and 1970s ‘detraditionalization processes occurred which transformed the institutions of marriage, the family, and gender’[2] which is apparent in Carter’s writing. Carter twists the traditional fairy tales and gives the female characters new, stronger, more sexual roles. Carter had been re-reading fairy tales and Sade’s The Misfortunes of Virtue together and ‘bleakly contemplating the fate of good, powerless girls, the Red Riding Hoods and Sleeping Beauties of the world.’[3] The protagonist in The Bloody Chamber is more heroic and active than in Charles Perrault’s Bluebeard. The bride in Bluebeard waits for her brothers to come to her rescue, reinforcing Zipes’s theory of ‘The male acts, the female wait’[4]. Although Carter’s protagonist is also saved by another, her mother, she does try to save herself by using sex as a weapon: ‘I forced myself to be seductive…and I saw how he almost failed to resist me. If he had come to me in bed, I would have strangled him, then.’[5] While her plan did not work, it is this activeness, rather than passivity, that saves the protagonist from a gruesome end. The protagonist through this experience is no longer naive about situations, ‘though she may be naive about her courage and ability to kill her husband.’[6] This is different from Perrault’s Bluebeard in which ‘Earth-shaking events have taken place in the story and nobody is better for them.’[7] Whereas Carter’s protagonist realises it is not all about money and security but about finding someone that loves you no matter what, like the blind Jean-Yves, who sees her ‘clearly with his heart’[8] and is preferable to the Marquis.

Fairy tales, and their underlying morals, were used to construct the roles children were to grow into. Perrault’s Bluebeard was written in the 1600’s in a time when writers ‘created their fairy tales for the most part to express their views about young people and to prepare them for the roles that they idealistically believed they should play in society.’[9] The Bloody Chamber was written in the 1970’s, a similar time to many radical feminist texts, and ‘the work of the women’s movement from the early nineteenth century onwards has done much to set new agendas for the liberation of both women and the relations between the genders more widely.’[10] Carter’s daring writings about ‘women’s waywardness, and especially at their attraction to the Beast in the very midst of repulsion’[11] made her unpopular in some areas of the feminist movement. The Bloody Chamber allows readers to explore the other agendas the classic fairy tale offers through intervention. By challenging the preconceptions of the fairy tale Carter’s work ‘excites contradictory and powerful feelings…while openly challenging conventional misogyny they also refuse the wholesome or pretty picture of female gender and deal plainly with erotic dominance as a source of pleasure for men – and for women.’[12] The heroine and Marquis engage in sexual relations, and the first time is all about the male taking the girl’s innocence, while later the protagonist uses sex for her own gain, showing she is not so inexperienced due to seeing the chamber.

Zipes says that ‘Perrault argues for the total submission of the woman to her husband. Feminine coquetry disturbs and upsets him: it could be the sign of female independence’[13] hence many of his tales have passive female characters like Patient Griselda and Beauty. In Bluebeard ‘the heroine is beautiful and well-bred but too curious…The moral explains that it is sin for a woman to be curious and imaginative and that women must exercise self-control.’[14] In contrast, men’s disobedience or curiosity is often seen as a virtue: ‘In contesting civil injustice or in resisting tyranny, the rebel’s disobedient methods are called revolutionary and courageous; but woman’s disobedience, forever coloured by traditional interpretations of the first biblical instance of it, is seldom admired.’[15] However, Carter challenges this by having her protagonist saved by her curiosity. Bluebeard wanted his wife to see the chamber and tempted her with the knowledge that she should not go there: ‘but he had given me the box, himself, knowing I must learn the secret. I had played a game…and I had lost.’[16] Nevertheless, if she listened to her husband she would not have known about this chamber full of his dead wives and would have ended up there herself.  Consequently, because she disobeyed her husband she found out about the chamber and was able to avoid being taken there. Through finding the chamber she is also able to ‘understand and survive the deadly peril that kind of marriage holds for her’[17] and realise he is not the man she thought he was.

Many of the books the heroine finds in the Marquis’s library all hint towards the motifs of the story: ‘The Initiation, The Key of Mysteries, The Secret of Pandora’s Box’[18] yet she ignores them. She finds the pornography ironically captioned ‘Reproof of curiosity’[19] not knowing the fate her husband has planned for her is worse. So, while old fairy tales preach that curiosity and disobedience are bad, and one should not stray from the path like in Little Red Riding Hood, this curiosity can lead to knowledge, which in turn leads to power.

The Bloody Chamber may challenge a female’s passivity in gender roles but also encourages a traditional heterosexual relationship. In both versions, Bluebeard successfully woos his bride with extravagant gifts and parties, ‘Bluebeard threw a house-lavish party at one of his country mansions’[20] showing that he has much wealth and can offer security. Carter takes this relationship one step further by having Bluebeard and his wife involved in sexual interactions, a common feature in conventional heterosexual relationships as ‘sexual consummation of the marriage became consequently of crucial importance in the Christian world’. However, the heroine’s attitude towards wealth, sexuality and marriage change after viewing the chamber, ‘Carter exposes her reading audience to a radical view on the fairy-tale marriage’[21] it is not about getting married and living happily-ever-after anymore, for in the privacy of his home the Marquis is brutal, power wielding Sadist.

It is not unheard of a young woman marrying an older man, and the girl’s inexperience is arousing for Bluebeard: ‘it must have been my innocence that captivated him’ [22]and ‘she accepts the stereotypical patriarchal view of a young girl in relationships to an experienced man; he is to initiate her and to enjoy his conquest.’[23] Many countries in the 70’s, including France, started petitions calling for the decriminalisation of all consenting relations between adults and minors. In 2006, in the Netherlands, the ‘Love Thy Neighbour, Freedom and Diversity’ Party’s aims were to ‘decriminalise sexual activities at any age unless dangerous or coerced’[24]. However, many Western cultures still find adult-child sexual relations to be controversial and taboo, though Carter does push the boundaries of this ideal with many of her protagonists being on the cusp of womanhood, such as the girl in The Company of Wolves: ‘her breasts have just begun to swell…she has just started her women’s bleeding’.[25]

Carter also challenges the status quo by having the heroine saved by a woman rather than a man. From the beginning it is made clear that the protagonist’s mother is a strong female character, she has ‘outfaced a junkful of Chinese pirates, nursed a village through a visitation of the plague, shot a man-eating tiger with her own hand’[26] The protagonist respects her mother deeply and is pleased to have her ‘nerves and will’[27] as well as her ‘mother’s spirit’[28]. Not only is she strong but she went against the social norms and married for love rather than money and security. Carter has questioned ‘the usual pattern of separation, transition, and return by making the girl’s mother, as a role model for her daughter, as one who has clearly operated outside the normal status quo of community expectations’.[29] However, the mother suffered the consequences of this decision as her husband died and left her in poverty. None the less, the protagonists embraces her mother’s marriage values, and even takes them a step further by not marrying at all but is happy to be ‘engaged in setting up house’[30] with Jean-Yves.

The mother and the protagonist share a special bond, in the first moment of crisis she goes to call her mother only to find the telephone line dead and yet this does not matter as the mother still arrives at the perfect moment. The protagonist explains it as ‘maternal telepathy’[31] but archetypal ideas say that ‘mother and daughter are a single complete unity’[32]. They also say that fairy tale mothers are different from real mothers as they often ‘possess subhuman or superhuman traits. For one thing they are better or more evil than the average human women.’[33] The mother kills the Marquis ‘without a moment’s hesitation’[34] suggesting she is more evil than average. It can be said that although the mother is strong and independent she still has to use the father’s gun, she could not possess her own.

Carter manages to both uphold and challenge the status quo in The Bloody Chamber through her portrayal of her heroine and the experiences she has. While traditional fairy tales condemned those who are too curious, Carter promotes the idea that a woman’s curiosity will lead to knowledge and power. Carter allows readers to question the original tales they were told as children and expose them to a darker and more sexual adaptation.

---

[1] Veronique Mottier, Sexuality: A Very Short Introduction, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008) P.55

[2] Veronique Mottier, Sexuality P.55

[3] Eds. Roemer, Danielle M. and Cristina Bacchilega, Angela Carter and the Fairy Tale, (Michigan: Wayne State University Press, 2001) P.67

[4] Jack Zipes, Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion, (Great Britain: Routledge, 2006) P.41

[5] Angela Carter, ‘The Bloody Chamber,’ in The Bloody Chamber, (London: Vintage, 2006) PP. 34-35

[6] Eds. Roemer, Danielle M. and Cristina Bacchilega, Angela Carter and the Fairy Tale P.86

[7] Eds. Roemer, Danielle M. and Cristina Bacchilega, Angela Carter and the Fairy Tale P.96

[8] Angela Carter, ‘The Bloody Chamber,’ in The Bloody Chamber, P.42

[9] Jack Zipes, Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion, (Great Britain: Routledge, 2006) P.30

[10] Ken Plummer, Telling Sexual Stories, (London: Routledge, 1995) P.149

[11] Marina Warner, From the Beast to the Blonde, (London: Vintage, 1995) P.310

[12] Marina Warner, From the Beast to the Blonde, P.313

[13] Jack Zipes, Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion P.41

[14] Jack Zipes, Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion P.40

[15] Eds. Roemer, Danielle M. and Cristina Bacchilega, Angela Carter and the Fairy Tale, P.103

[16] Angela Carter, ‘The Bloody Chamber,’ in The Bloody Chamber, P.34

[17] Eds. Roemer, Danielle M. and Cristina Bacchilega, Angela Carter and the Fairy Tale, P.98

[18] Angela Carter, ‘The Bloody Chamber,’ in The Bloody Chamber, P.12

[19] Angela Carter, ‘The Bloody Chamber,’ in The Bloody Chamber, P.13

[20] Angela Carter, ‘Bluebeard’, in The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault, (Great Britain: Penguin Classics, 2008) P.4

[21] Eds. Danielle M. Roemer,  and Cristina Bacchilega, Angela Carter and the Fairy Tale, P.98

[22] Angela Carter, ‘The Bloody Chamber,’ in The Bloody Chamber, P.16

[23] Eds. Danielle M. Roemer,  and Cristina Bacchilega, Angela Carter and the Fairy Tale, P.86

[24] Veronique Mottier, Sexuality P.106

[25] Angela Carter, ‘The Company of Wolves,’ in The Bloody Chamber, P.133

[26] Angela Carter, ‘The Bloody Chamber,’ in The Bloody Chamber, P.2

[27] Angela Carter, ‘The Bloody Chamber,’ in The Bloody Chamber, P.26

[28] Angela Carter, ‘The Bloody Chamber,’ in The Bloody Chamber, P.26

[29] Eds. Danielle M. Roemer,  and Cristina Bacchilega, Angela Carter and the Fairy Tale, P.97

[30] Angela Carter, ‘The Bloody Chamber,’ in The Bloody Chamber, P.42

[31] Angela Carter, ‘The Bloody Chamber,’ in The Bloody Chamber, P.41

[32] Sibylle Birkhauser-Oeri, The Mother: Archetypal Image in Fairy Tales, (Canada: Inner City Books, 1988) P.29

[33] Sibylle Birkhauser-Oeri, The Mother,  P.13

[34] Angela Carter, ‘The Bloody Chamber,’ in The Bloody Chamber, P.41

Raymund the Knight

This is a little doodle of Raymund the knight. He's so dashing and good looking.  Here's a pretty cheesy quote from Royalteen about him: 


'I was around a hundred yards away from the stables when I saw him. His shoulder length blond hair gleamed in the afternoon sunlight and his armour was perfectly sculpted to his well-built body. With each blink of his ocean blue eyes his long black lashes brushed his sun bronzed cheeks. His laugh was as lyrical as the phoenix’s song...'
 

Fantasy Maps

So I've become a little carried away with map drawing, but I guess it does help with setting. I know my fantasy kingdom like the back of my hand now!

First there is the Province of Kardenia, which I have posted before.

Then there is the Kingdom of Adruhal, which is where Princess Prudence lives. The place now has a little more character. The Lerrnayin Mountains are off limits, over the other side of them is the Desert Lands where lots of dangerous people live. The Maranya is a dry hot place where not much grows and not many people venture. The few people that do live there are patrolling the boarder, protecting the kingdom from attack. Most of the people of Adruhal live in the capital though there are few settlements around the rest of the kingdom. The Adruhal farmlands are vast and very prosperous, and the farmers are happy. Princess Prudence likes to ride out of the capital and through the Welvarend Woods sometimes, but her Dad warns her not to go too far.

And finally, a detailed map of the Capital. You'll notice a cathedral and a grassy areas. Next to the cathedral are all the richer, upper class houses. The East side of the city is where the more lower class people live, but they're still happy. The street down the middle is Main Street where all the shops are. It's also where all the festivals and parades are held. The royals can look across the square from the castle, this is where they address the people. The castle was its own stables, which can be seen on the West side.

Royalteen - First 1000 Words

Here is the first 1000 words of my story Royalteen. My classmates and lecturer have both looked at it and I got some useful and some silly comments back. My lecturer said that I should put more visual imagery in as she can't 'see' the setting very well. That is a valid point. I also recieved a lot of 'show not tell' comments. However, she didn't seem to understand that Damien says 'Mother' instead of 'Mum' because he is a creepy suck-up who likes to act older than he really is to impress his elders. She also said that I should lower the target age group to 8-11 year olds as Prudence's voice sounds young. I don't agree and don't want to change it but also don't want to lose marks. So here is the version I gave in yesterday. Notice how it has changed from the first 500 words.

Royal-teen

Princess Prudence’s Royal Decrees

5. All maids should be nice and friendly not total bitches.

4. Governesses should teach interesting things like reading and history, not how to wave like a princess.

3. Annoying younger brothers should not be allowed inside the castle.

2. Parents are not allowed to be bossy and controlling, even if they are King and Queen.

1. And finally, there should be no arranged marriages!

They’ve arranged a marriage for me. My parents are so frustrating; they’re always bossing me about and telling me what to do. If you think your parents are bad, try having the great King Cedric for your Dad and the beautiful Queen Annette as your Mum. Seriously, they never stop telling me what to do, from ‘don’t bite your nails, Prudence’ to ‘stand up straight, Prudence’. One time they even told me to stop tapping my foot in public, it’s not my fault that the royal band was playing some really good music that day. And now they’re telling me to get married! That’s right, I’m not even 16 yet and they’re already trying to marry me off to someone. Not even someone good looking, they’re going to give me away to Prince Percy, and I’ve met him before at a Royal Ball, and believe me they don’t call him the Pimply Prince for nothing. Sometimes I wish I had evil step-parents, like in those fairy stories, who would just lock me in a tower and never talk to me again.

But no, they’re always coming into my room and talking to me, even when I would rather be on my own. I mean, Mum burst into my room, without even knocking.

‘Prudence, I know this is a lot to take in, but it’s not as bad as you’re making it out to be,’ she said. I had thrown a bit of a tantrum after they had told me the news, it wasn’t very princessey of me – my governess would have been very disappointed. It wasn’t much, just a bit of yelling and foot stomping.

I sat at my dressing table, looking at my Mum in the mirror. ‘I thought after you had an arranged marriage you wouldn’t want your daughter to go through the same thing,’ I said. I could feel tears springing in my eyes. I don’t usually cry but it had been a rather hectic day. ‘I thought you would understand.’ Mum sat down on the bed and patted beside her, beckoning me to join her. I got up from my dressing table and sat down next to her; sure, parents can be annoying, but they’re also always there for you when you’re upset.

‘I do understand, believe me it was hard when I had to marry your father. I was your age and he was 21 but I knew I had to do it for my country; Esteria needed protection and Adruhal promised it. It was the best decision I made, and I know you’ll do the right thing, too.’ She squeezed my knee and I could feel the tears spilling over. Before Mum could say anything else my annoying little brother barged into my room. If anyone can make you feel worse its horrible siblings, especially when they’re simpering creeps like Damien.

‘Here you are Mother, I’ve been looking for you all over.’

‘What did you want, dear?’

‘Well, after Prudence’s dramatics earlier I wanted to let you know that I would do anything for Adruhal, even an arranged marriage.’ As he spoke he gave me a slow smirk. My tears dried up instantly. Mum smiled at him and patted the other side of the bed. He sat next to her and snuggled in close. He’s only two years younger than me but he always acts like a little baby around Mum; little git.

‘I know you would do anything, dear, but Prudence is the eldest so it’s her responsibility right now. You’ll have your time soon.’

I threw Damien a smug smile. He’d been trying to outdo me ever since he could walk. I remember once when I was given my first tiara and the next day I had seen Damien wearing it. That was the first and last time I’m ever letting Damien near my crown.

Mum then gave both of us a hug. ‘I must be off, darlings, there’s a lot to be done before Prince Percy arrives.’ As soon as the door shut behind her Damien turned to me.

‘I don’t know why anyone would want you to be Queen when you throw hysterics like that,’ he sneered at me.

‘I don’t know why anyone would want you to be prince when you look like the back end of a horse,’ I replied coolly. ‘Now get out of my room.’ Before he had time to retort I grabbed him by the collar of his blue tunic with one hand, opened the door with the other and shoved him out into the hall, slamming the door closed.

I turned, collapsed on to my bed and pulled the curtains around me. My parents told me that this marriage would be perfect as it would unite Adruhal and Minadrill. I do want what’s best for my kingdom but I also want to marry for love not convenience.  It sounds really silly but I always imagined marrying someone tall, strong, and handsome, who is caring and brave. I admit it; I’m just imagining Raymund. I know he’s only a knight but I figured that when I was Queen I could alter the rules a little bit and marry him instead of a prince. Prince Percy would be arriving any day now and I would never get to live out my Raymund fantasy. Unless I was to take my riding lessons a little early today, maybe I would bump into him at the stables. With no time to waste I threw back my bed curtains and changed into my horse riding outfit; it was still a dress as my governess would be outraged if I were to wear trousers. It was a plain, more hardwearing dress, that wasn’t very flattering. It was made out of a stiff dark green fabric that gathered thickly around my tummy, making me look twice my normal size. It wasn’t the best outfit for Raymund to see me wearing but it would have to do.

I hurried down the many corridors of the castle, my riding boots clomping with every step. Once outside I tied my auburn hair up and half ran, half walked to the stables; I didn’t want to look too keen. I was around 100 yards away from the stables when I saw him. His blond hair gleamed in the afternoon sunlight and his armour perfectly sculpted to his well-built body. His laugh was like the song of the phoenix and it was only then that I realised he was with somebody. A short girl, with strawberry blond hair, wearing a plain simple dress with a white apron laughed along with Raymund.