Magical Realism

Form:

Magical Realism in a genre of fiction that focuses on magical elements and events mixed in with reality and realistic settings. It blends the two while trying to pass the more mystical elements are explained in a straightforward tone so that they can coincide with the normal events in one stream of consciousness. 
There is some confusion on the borders of the term magical realism. Some critics such as Matthew Strecher believe it is "what happens when a highly detailed, realistic setting is invaded by something 'too strange to believe'". However this could be due to the Western alienation of mythology and how we perceive the 'strange'.
It is not to be confused with escapist which is solely based on the magical realm and the weird but it is a way to confront society by contrasting it with something else. It is a reality just not one with the same objectiveness as our own. 

More Complex Question

How is appearance important in this story? Consider both looks and clothing. 

Appearance is significant in this story as it is told largely through the male gaze. The narrator herself does not talk about her face or specific features of her appearance other than those that are appealing to a man; such as 'pointed breasts' and 'thighs', showing that she is sexualising and fetishising herself for the benefit of her husband. Another interpretation of this is that because of the lack of detail she represents women as a whole.
Similarly the Marquis is described as animalistic with a 'large leonine head', 'soles of velvet' and a 'dark mane' but is also very representative in all of his features. Despite being old with 'streaks of pure silver' in his hair is face is 'perfectly smooth' so he can be any man. However throughout the narrator points out his mask, which he hides behind and does not reveal his true feeling to her and it is because of this mask and the feeling that she doesn't know him that persuades the narrator to go to find 'his heart' and leads her to the bloody chamber.

Clothing is very important as it is one of the main ways the Marquis strips her of any power. When they first reach the castle he undresses her before the mirrors while keeping himself clothed in an ponographic and sadistic way of control he leaves her. Later on he strips her once again she is 'impaled' by him. Lastly he derobes her with his sword, a phallic symbol in itself, as he rips 'the dress in two' to display his masculine power as well as to highlight her complete corruption at his hands.

Developed Questions

On page 14, is the description of their first sexual encounter pleasurable, erotic, disgusting, uncomfortable, pornographic or something else? Explain your answer with well-chosen quotations.

The narrator takes a very blunt tone about the first sexual encounter. There is no romantic language involved and seems more violent, the act was likened to 'fighting' and a 'one sided struggle'. This suggests that it is not as romantic or as fluid as perceived but awkward and raw. The 'one sided struggle' emphasizes the power and control he has over her. The negative mood of the description shows that now the narrator has lost some of her power to him by submitting to his will and admits to feeling 'disheveled' by the loss of virginity as well as comparing it to being 'impaled' showing that for her it was not a pleasurable experience. 

On pages 16 and 17, what can you say about the language used to describe the discovered painting  – and what does that painting symbolise?
The painting is named the Sacrificial victim as is described as quite erotic with 'lace-like chains' and 'robed herself involuntarily in a blush' this related back to the narrator who blushed when derobed. The mention of 'chains' has a gothic connection to entrapment and the Marquis need to control her but also has connotations of De Sade and sadism. The painting symbolizes that the Marquis will turn the narrator into a sacrificial victim when he later tries to behead her. 

On page 17, jot down all the colours used by Carter and summarise their effect.

- Red- The colour of the blush which is a sign of innocence but also of the fire which is passion.
- White- Pale colour which was very fashionable for women at the time but suggests purity and innocence.
- Opal- an opulent and bright colour to show wealth.
- Green- Connotations of jealousy and illness, for example she feels 'giddy' with love for him.

On page 13, the husband wants to make love in the bright light of day and says, ‘All the better to see you’. Where does this phrase come from and why is it used here?

Carter has deliberately referenced red riding hood to relate back to the fairy tale world she is recreating but to also make out the Marquis as the antagonist by making him repeat he part of the wolf. This suggests the animalistic and predatory nature of the Marquis which is already suggested through his 'leonine head' and 'mane'. It could also foreshadows how he tricks the narrator later on. 

What is your opinion on the effect of Carter’s intertextuality and florid prose? 
Carter's use of intertexuality is a very subtle way of connecting to the different contexts within the story. She relates the stories directly back to original fairy tales; 'all the better to see you with' and 'Bluebeard', in order to keep to the gothic fairy tale genre and to expose the more sinister aspects. While fairy tales are meant for children some inter-textual references connect to the more adult reader as well as specific classes such as the opera 'Tristan and Isodole' or the paintings and the music. From a Marxist perspective this could suggest a certain cultural capital expressed by Carter. The florid prose used also suggests the narrator herself is of more middle stature as she has the ability and education to express herself.

Basic Questions

Describe the way Carter presents the ruby choker on page 6. Write a paragraph to practice word level analysis, ensuring you can examine a word or phrase in graphic detail.

Carter has presented the ruby choker as a symbol of wealth referring to it as 'precious' and detailing the 'two inch wide' 'rubies' that it is made of. The fact that it was given to her as a 'wedding gift' shows the status of the Marquis who's family can afford such a piece of jewelry. On the other hand Carter reaches into the gothic through the grotesque imagery of a 'slit throat' which is 'as red as arterial blood' and foreshadows the Marquis' wish to behead her. The reference to the 'Terror' shows that this choker was originally made as a mockery to the lower classes after they revolted against the wealthy. But a feminist may pick up on the way it is 'clasped' around her throat as a sign of control, for example as a collar instead of piece of jewelry suggesting she is more of a pet to the Marquis than a fellow human being.

On page 7, the narrator describes herself as an ‘exile’ once married. What does this suggest?

In once sense the narrator is in 'exile' as she is being taken away from her old life and her 'girlhood' towards the Marquis castle. She feels isolated and feels she will 'always be lonely' now this she is married. This is emphasized by her husband who does not interact with her on the train other than to say 'soon' to her. From a Marxist perspective she is also 'exiled' between social class as while being from a middle to lower background she has elevated herself to something higher by marrying a Marquis yet due to strict social hierarchy she will never be completely of that upper class.

On page 18, what seems to give the girl confidence and power once more? 

Her the narrator is presented with the keys which Carter has used to symbolize power. The Marquis gives her the keys in confidence and this in turn makes her confident with the trust. The power comes when he asks her not to go into his 'personal enfer' but still gives her the key. This forbidden knowledge and the means to access it gives the narrator her power.

On page 38, how is the usual ‘hero’ structure altered?

On page 38 the 'hero' structure is altered by the narrator taking a more active role. Instead of being passive, such as Jean-Yves who is unable to help her, she attempts to hide her new knowledge. Jean-Yves demands to stay with her but she sends him away knowing she must speak 'alone' to the Marquis. When the Marquis comes in she takes her salvation into her own hands and starts 'mimicking the new bride' by embracing him and playing innocent. 

What is the Marquis' view of women

The Marquis takes a more traditional view on women expecting them to be compliant and loyal to him. He wins the narrator over with gifts of 'crystallized fruit' and the 'choker of rubies' this is a very stereotypical view that women are obsessed with jewels and aesthetics. He also view them as possessions for his pleasure, he is completely control of the relationship with the narrator and in the bloody chamber he reifies his dead wives.

Bloody Chamber: Intertexual References

Bluebeard- The Myth

Bluebeard is a wealthy aristocrat who is shunned for his beard which is a strange colour of blue. This means his wealth is he only attraction and he wants a wife that he knows will obey him. He appeals to his neighbor to let him marry one of his daughters but neither want to until he asks the younger to his chateaux and hosts a banquet for her. They are married and she goes to live with him.
He announces he must leave but gives her a set of keys and while saying she has free range of the castle he stresses she must not go into a small room. She vows to agree but curiosity takes over and she enters the forbidden room to find her husband's former wives in various states of mutilation. She drops the key in the blood, a stain that she can't wash off and later reveals her betrayal. He threatens to behead her but she pleas for time to say her prayers and she is locked in a tower with her visiting sister. They are taken to the courtyard where she is to be beheaded only to be interrupted by her brothers who kill Bluebeard. She inherits and pays for her brothers to get good jobs, her sister to marry who she loved and for herself to remarry to a rich man.

Within Bloody Chamber- This provides the main story which Angela Carter has rewritten from a gothic perspective

Mark of Cain

The mark of Cain is symbolic of the bible where God cursed Cain for killing his brother and is supposed to enact vengeance seven-fold on anyone who hurts Cain.

Within Bloody Chamber- The mark that is placed on the narrators head by the key and exposes her betrayal

Catherine de Medici
(1519-1589)

Daughter of Lorenzo de Medici II and Queen of France after marrying Henry II. Her heirs and regency of France kept them in power during a time of civil war. She comes from a background of wealth and ruthlessness.

Within the Bloody Chamber- Named as a friend of the Marquis ancestors and shows opulence and wealth as well as a strong family background

Croesus

King of Lydia in 560-545 BC until defeated by the Persians. He is known for being extremely rich and in Greek culture his name became synonymous of wealth. He even distributed pure gold coins as currency. His demise came at his own misinterpretation of an oracle when he asked what would happen if he attacked the Persians and the answer was 'you will destroy a great empire'.
Within Bloody Chamber- Used to describe the Marquis

Tristan and Isolde
(opera) 

A tragedy based on the doomed love of Tristan (a knight), and Isolde (a princess).

Felicien Rops
(artist) 

A Belgian artist famous for his printmaking style and his nude models depicted in erotic scenes. He was greatly influenced by Baudelaire.

Huysmans’ Là-Bas(novel) 

Written by Joris-Karl Huysmans, and published in 1891 it deals with Satanism in fin-de-siecle France. It;s name translates to Down there or The Damned. It focuses on a man who studies the Middle Ages after becoming disillusioned with the modern world only to find Satanism is still practiced in France.

Grand Guignol 

A famous theatre in Paris that was open from 1897-1962 and was famous for specialising in naturalistic horror films.

Rape of the Sabines
An ancient Roman event dated to around 750BC where the first generation of Romans sought out wives by kidnapping and raping the neighbouring Sabine women.

St Cecilia

Patron Saint of musicians. Her name is supposedly derived from the latin word for 'blind'. She became a martyr after being struck in the neck three times with a sword and surviving for three days afterwards. It is also said despite being married she had an angel watching over her virginity.

Pandora’s box 

A greek legend that Pandora was given a box of all the world's evils. Despite being told not to unleash what was inside she opened the box and released all of the evil of the world leaving only hope inside.

Paul Poiret

French fashion designer at the beginning of the 20th Century who designed women's clothes. He is known for giving women freedom for the tight corset.

Other Influences

Charles Baudelaire
1829-1867

Baudelaire was a french poet best known for his dandy lifestyle and controversial poetry. While living the lifestyle of a Romantic he was a critic of the movement and coined the term 'modernity' meaning the appreciation of beauty and art in the modern world.

His most famous poetry collection was the Flowers of Evil published in 1857. It's themes of sex and death were critised as being both ‘putrid’ (by Habas) and ‘unyielding as marble’ (by Flaubert).

Baudelaire was prosecuted for his poetry being an offence against public morals and fined. Although the fine was dropped it was 100 years later that the ban was lifted and he was reinstated.

"Unable to suppress love, the Church wanted to a least disinfected it, and it created marriage"

Marquis De Sale

1740-1814

The Marquis is a famous author of the books Justine, or the Misfortunes of Virtue; Juliette; The 120 Days of Sodom; and Philosophy in the Bedroom. It was through these books he presented his more liberal sexual preferences and highlighted sexual violence. It is from him that the term 'sadism' was coined and his life was strife with scandal.

Carter was influenced by him both in her critical papers by also in the Bloody Chamber where she reference some of his views through her own 'Marquis'

Fairy Tale Context

Charles Perrault
1628-1703

Charles Perrault was a French writer famous for the modern day fairy tale. Taking folk tales and traditional stories he adapted them for children in the Tales of Mother Goose anthology published in 1697 from Paris. Within this book were 11 famous short fairy tales from which Carter has taken influence from in her own Gothic tales.

Tales of Mother Goose
"The Sleeping Beauty",
"Little Red Riding Hood",
"Bluebeard",
"The Master Cat, or Puss in Boots",
"Cinderella",
"Riquet with the Tuft",
"Hop o' My Thumb",
"Griselidis" (La Patience de Grisélidis),
"The Ridiculous Wishes" (Les Souhaits ridicules),
"Donkeyskin" (Peau d'Ane)
   "Diamonds and Toads" (Les Fées).

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
(1785-1863) (1786-1859)

The Brothers Grimm were German academics famous for their records of German Fairy Tales and language. Overall they published over 200 folklore including 'Snow white and the Seven Dwarfs', 'Rapunzel', 'The Frog Prince', and 'Hanzel and Gretel'. And retell some of Charles Perrault's stories such as Cinderella.

Angela Carter

Angela Carter
1940-1992

Mini Biography
Angela Carter was born in Eastbourne in 1940 and was later evacuated with her grandmother to Yorkshire. This is where she spent her teenager years suffering with anorexia.
She became a journalist for the Croydon Advertiser before going on to study English Literature at the University of Bristol. In 1960 she married Paul Carter and continued to write, winning the Somerset Maugham award. She used to money she had raised to divorce her husband after 9 years of marriage and moved to Tokyo where she spent the next 2 years.
On her return she spent many years writing at many universities across Europe and America. In 1977 Carter remarried to Mark Pearce and had a son.
Despite all this she continued to write non-fiction, short stories, radio scripts, anthologies and even started her own sequel to Jane Eyre based on Adele Verons. According to the Times she ranked number 10 in their list of greatest authors since 1945.
In 1991 she was diagnosed with lung cancer and passed away soon after aged 52. 

Her novels include:

Shadow Dance, 

The Magic Toyshop, 

Heroes and Villains, 

Several Perceptions, 

The Donkey Prince, 

Miss Z 

Love, The Music People,

Moonshadow, 

Nights at the Circus

Artificial Fire, 

Wise Children,

Sea-Cat & Dragon King
 

Her anthologies include
Expletives Deleted
The Bloody Chamber,
Comic and Curious Cats,
American Ghosts
Old World Wonders,
Black Venus,
Burning Your Boats  

The nonfiction works are
The Sadeian Woman & the Ideology of Pornography
Nothing Sacred
Images of Frida Kahlo

Key Points

GenresGothic, Magical Realism, Short story, novel, Romance, Erotica, Fairy Tale, Non-fiction, Children stories, journalistic, post-modern, post-Freud, Bilgundsroman

InfluencesSurrealism, Feminism, Marxism, The Maquis de Sade, Goethe, Schubert, her Mother, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Lawrence, Wordsworth, Blake, Coleridge, Mansfield, Woolf, Dickens, Keats, Stoker, Carroll. Tokyo.

Key Vocabulary

Essential Vocabulary

Aesthete- A person who appreciates arts and beauty.

Aigrette- A headdress made of white Egret feathers and elaborately decorated

Avarice- Extreme greed for material possessions and wealth

Baroque- A detailed movement in art, music and decoration during the 17^th and 18^th century following Mannerism.

Bier- A movable frame on which a coffin sits in before burial to be carried to the grave.

Billets-doux- Love Letters

Carillon- Bells playing on an automatic mechanism attached to a keyboard

Carnal- physical, usually sexual, needs and desires

Catafalque- Wooden framework decorating or supporting the coffin of a distinguished person
Chamber music-Simplistic form of orchestral music played by a small ensemble such as a string quartet.

Chthonic- An inhabitant of or related to the underworld

Dolorous- feeling or expressing great sorry or distress

Eldritch- Weird, sinister or ghostly

Enfer- French for ‘Hell’

Florid- A red or flushed complexion but also used to describe something excessively complex and intricate

Fugue- Musical connotations where a small melody is started by one and taken up successively by others. (A round) Also describes the loss of awareness of identity

Gourmand- Someone who is gluttonous, French for greedy

Immolated- Sacrificed or killed, specifically by burning

Importunate- persistent to the point of annoyance.

Interdiction- the military act of delaying, disrupting or destroying enemy forces/supplies en route to the battlefield

Jinn- An Arab or Muslim spirit believed to possess humans and appear in human or animal form. They are intelligent but lower than angels

Leonine- Resembling a Lion

Lisle- Specially black cotton thread specific to stockings

Loge- A private enclosure or box in the theatre

Loquacity- Quality of talking a lot.

Lustratory- relating to the ceremony of purification

Missal- A book containing the Catholic mass texts.

Minimalist -A movement in art and music but also someone who takes minor and passive actions.

Nacreous- iridescent, luminous and changing colour

Parure- A collection of jewels intended to be worn as a set

Rococo -18^th Century Continental Europe designs of décor popular for asymmetrical patterns involving motifs and scrollwork

Rictus- A fixed grimace or grin

Sacerdotal- relating or priests or the doctrine the empowers priests

Sadomasochistic- The derivation of pleasure from the physical or mental suffering of oneself or others

Sardonic- Grinning in a mocking or cynical way

Trousseau- The clothes and linen collected by a bride for her marriage

Vellum- Parchment made from the skin of a lamb or calf

Vicuna- a species of llama in South America known for its silky wool

Viscera- Internal organs, especially in the main body cavities

Voluptuary- A person dedicated to luxury or sensual pleasure