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ecofeminism in bloody chamber short stories - Coggle Diagram
ecofeminism in bloody chamber short stories
animal imagery/symbolism
animal imagery is used to represent gender roles, power, and dominance
female animal imagery is fragile, pure, and represent how all of them are virgine
the tiger's bride, the daughter is a rose transforms into beast
the erl-king, women are turned into birds
male animal imagery is vicious, scary, and dominant figures. or stay human
the tiger's bride, dominant and scary beast tiger
the company of wolves, men transform into werewolves
the erl-king is a nature elf creature
connection to fairy tales
the tiger's bride based on beauty and the beast
the daughter is taken by the beast as she takes her father's place as prisoner, she is selfless. the rose represents the beast's love and transformation back to human
in the short story instead, the daughter is sold off to the beast because the father lost the gambling game. further symbolizing male power
the rose similarly represents something pure and fragile. the daughter represents the rose, pure, white, virgin, emphasizes gender roles of women
instead of the beast transforming back into a human, the daughter transforms into the beast, fighting back against the oppression
the transformation is for the man's benefit to have the dream relationship with belle, but in tiger's bride the transformation is for the woman's benefit as she is happy being a beast
the company of wolves based on little red riding hood
little red riding hood's grandma is eaten, then the daughter is told to go in the bed and is eaten. the wolf wins
the woman win's in carter's short story. the daughter has sex with the wolf and instead of not enjoying it as expected by the wolves, and giving them the odd pleasure of torturing women, she enjoys herself
erl-king based on an old ballad by Goethe (old poem)
the erl-king is a fictional character that lures children in the dark forest
in the short story women are similarly lured into the forest and erl-king's home
in the short story it is women rather than just children being kidnapped
overall, the purpose of fairy tales is to convey a moral message
beauty and the beast teaches the lesson that it is not the outward appearance that matters, but the inside personality and kindness
both fairy tales teach these lessons as the female children/characters are always the characters in trouble, helpless, and are saved or not saved. their fate is never in their own hands
little red riding hood is about not trusting strangers
gothic techniques
women in distress
angela carter takes the traditional role of the women and in the company of wolves the girl is not in distress when she should be. Why don’t they want to leave the abusive oppressive men?
in tiger's bride and the company of wolves, in situations where the women are being oppressed, they stay and actually enjoy it. the girl enjoys sex with the werewolf, the daughter enjoys transforming into the beast/tiger.
although the women are in situations where they are being oppressed and are scared but enjoy it symbolizes the similar mixture of fear, enjoyment, and transformation when a women loses her virginity. initially, men have the dominant power in taking her virginity as it is seen as something the man takes, but the women reclaim this act by enjoying the feeling
in erl-king, the women fight back against the male oppression as the woman frees the rest of the women trapped as birds in the erl-king's house.
in most gothic literature, women do not have a major role in the story other than being in distress for the man to come and save them. thus none of the women in these stories actually have names used ever.
setting and nature
scary woods
in all three stories, scary description of the woods swallowing the women, symbolizing nature's sense of entrapment in the woods
the women are both trapped in the forests, and trapped in the control of men.
woods also symbolize mystery and danger foreshadowed in the story
winter/cold weather
in all three stories the weather was cold, icy, snowing, winter
winter symbolizes the end of something, death as nothing grows during cold winter weather. winter also symbolizes a turning point in one's life as it the transition from dark cold to warm growth in the spring.
winter snowy weather also symbolizes entrapment as people are unable to leave and travel somewhere during snowy weather, which connects to these women trapped in mens' palaces and houses.
metamorphosis
tiger's bride
at the end of the story, the beast licks off her skin and the daughter transforms into the tiger/beast
the daughter embraces this metamorphosis into the beast as she enjoys this form, and becomes happier in this form. taking back her happiness, and opposing the attempted male oppression
originally men are in control, but the women's unwelcome/unplanned enjoyment is how women respond to the male oppression
erl-king
the erl-king transforms women into birds
compared to the other short stories, the women transform into fragile, oppressed, trapped animals. whereas the other stories transform into vicious scary animals
the transformation into birds represent the erl-king's oppression as the women's beautiful bird songs mask their pain and screams for help
this ignorance of their pain represents how men treat women and nature's call for help in a patriarchal society, as men and humans will risk the pain of nature and humans for their own comfort
women are literally trapped in cages
however, the main woman in this story does not let the erl-king turn her into a bird but kills him and frees the rest of the women, another form of women empowerment. whilst in the other stories, the women just embrace the situation they are in as a way of reclaiming freedom and happiness, this woman kills the oppressor and frees the bird women
the company of wolves
men have the ability to transform into werewolves to get what they want
both metamorphosis turn the man/woman into a vicious animal
while the men's transformation to scary wolves symbolize their dominance in an already patriarchal society which is also present in nature, the daughter's transformation to a beast embraces that she can have control on what she wants and fighting back male oppression
men transform into dominant vicious animals, increasing male dominance and oppression
in nature, wolves are dominant figures