Front Cover of The Bloody Chamber
A Feminist Criticism of Fairy Tales: Angela Carter’s “The Bloody Chamber”
English writer Angela Carter’s reinterpretation in The Bloody Chamber (1979) of the French fairy tale Bluebeard (1697), whilst preserving the original plot, in which a spiteful nobleman kills his wives, preserving their corpses in a secluded chamber, does endow her story with a unique moral.
The narrator of “The Bloody Chamber” is the female protagonist herself: Carter does away with the traditional third-person narrative and gives her heroine a voice, letting her tell the story from her point of view, seemingly empowering her with the responsibility for her own fate.
Another device used to break with tradition is leaving the heroine unnamed, in contrast to the other main characters who are named (the evil Marquis, and the blind piano tuner, Jean-Yves, who falls in love with her but is unable to save her). By doing so, Carter allows the young wife to represent all of womankind.
Finally, a significant feminist theme is to be found in the unorthodox ending of the story. Finding herself in a hopeless situation, about to be decapitated by the Marquis, our heroine is saved by her mother, instead of Prince Charming. The girl marries the blind piano tuner (who cannot objectify her for her appearance) and shares the bridal home with her mother, rejecting the conventional idea of a household. By placing women in an unconventionally dominant position within the family, Carter criticises the traditional subjugation of women within marriage, replacing it with gender equality, self-respect and mutual help.
The narrator of “The Bloody Chamber” is the female protagonist herself: Carter does away with the traditional third-person narrative and gives her heroine a voice, letting her tell the story from her point of view, seemingly empowering her with the responsibility for her own fate.
Another device used to break with tradition is leaving the heroine unnamed, in contrast to the other main characters who are named (the evil Marquis, and the blind piano tuner, Jean-Yves, who falls in love with her but is unable to save her). By doing so, Carter allows the young wife to represent all of womankind.
Finally, a significant feminist theme is to be found in the unorthodox ending of the story. Finding herself in a hopeless situation, about to be decapitated by the Marquis, our heroine is saved by her mother, instead of Prince Charming. The girl marries the blind piano tuner (who cannot objectify her for her appearance) and shares the bridal home with her mother, rejecting the conventional idea of a household. By placing women in an unconventionally dominant position within the family, Carter criticises the traditional subjugation of women within marriage, replacing it with gender equality, self-respect and mutual help.