‘The girl burst out laughing; she knew she was nobody’s meat.’ This quotation, drawn from “The Company of Wolves”, exemplifies...
This essay will examine how these works reverse or challenge traditional gender roles, how they deal with female sexuality, how they portray female power and lastly how they are still limited, in some respects, in this revaluation of gender roles.
First, the quote above expresses a reversal of a traditional fairy tale ending, and thus a reversal of traditional male-female dynamics of domination and submissiveness. The quote is drawn from “The Company of Wolves”, one of Carter 's retellings of “Little Red Riding Hood”. At the end of the tale, the well-known dialogue between the predatory wolf and his future victim …show more content…
Manley when she analyses “The Bloody Chamber” (ref) In this tale, she argues, the protagonist cannot escape the patriarchal control over her body excercised by her husband. This control and objectification is symbolised by the Marquis ' use of mirrors. But at the same time, the girl makes use of these mirrors in her search for her own story, her own self. Through the mirrors, the girl oscillates “between a patriarchal view and her own definition of herself” (87). Some elements, like the girl 's memories of her mother 's fearless life, and her love for music, give her the strength to be brave and resist, but at other times she falters and falls back into victimhood. Thus, as Manley concludes, the protagonist “does not move in a straight line toward changing her passive behavior but rather gains ground, loses it, and then gains it again.” (87) This is only one example of Carter 's complex characterization of female characters and her exploration of women 's life inside the constraints of a patriarchal society. Her revaluation of gender roles is not idealised, it stays close to the historical realities of the times her tales are set in. For example, she emphasizes patriarchal power in “The Courtship of Mr Lyon” in which Beauty is handed over from one man to another, from her father to her husband. At the end, the Beast is tamed by the submissive sacrifice of the woman. But this highly conventional ending is to be put in contrast …show more content…
The term “meat” in the quote above evokes the objectification of women by men. Here the girl refuses to be just a “piece of meat”, that is to say a sex object. Instead she wants to take charge of her own sexuality and does so by acting on her desire to sleep with the wolf. Her will transforms her from victim to agent of her own life. In the end, she is the one undressing the wolf, and this too can be seen as symbolically challenging normative sexual acts where the man is supposed to be in charge. Beauty, in “The Tiger 's Bride”, is another heroine who escapes being victimised by forming a sexual contract with the Beast: the “lamb” (the girl) accepts to be sexually initiated by the “tiger” (the experienced man). By doing so, she accepts her own animal instincts, eventually turning into a beast, which symbolises her sexual maturation. Indeed, wild animals represent human libido and sexual
This essay will examine how these works reverse or challenge traditional gender roles, how they deal with female sexuality, how they portray female power and lastly how they are still limited, in some respects, in this revaluation of gender roles.
First, the quote above expresses a reversal of a traditional fairy tale ending, and thus a reversal of traditional male-female dynamics of domination and submissiveness. The quote is drawn from “The Company of Wolves”, one of Carter 's retellings of “Little Red Riding Hood”. At the end of the tale, the well-known dialogue between the predatory wolf and his future victim …show more content…
Manley when she analyses “The Bloody Chamber” (ref) In this tale, she argues, the protagonist cannot escape the patriarchal control over her body excercised by her husband. This control and objectification is symbolised by the Marquis ' use of mirrors. But at the same time, the girl makes use of these mirrors in her search for her own story, her own self. Through the mirrors, the girl oscillates “between a patriarchal view and her own definition of herself” (87). Some elements, like the girl 's memories of her mother 's fearless life, and her love for music, give her the strength to be brave and resist, but at other times she falters and falls back into victimhood. Thus, as Manley concludes, the protagonist “does not move in a straight line toward changing her passive behavior but rather gains ground, loses it, and then gains it again.” (87) This is only one example of Carter 's complex characterization of female characters and her exploration of women 's life inside the constraints of a patriarchal society. Her revaluation of gender roles is not idealised, it stays close to the historical realities of the times her tales are set in. For example, she emphasizes patriarchal power in “The Courtship of Mr Lyon” in which Beauty is handed over from one man to another, from her father to her husband. At the end, the Beast is tamed by the submissive sacrifice of the woman. But this highly conventional ending is to be put in contrast …show more content…
The term “meat” in the quote above evokes the objectification of women by men. Here the girl refuses to be just a “piece of meat”, that is to say a sex object. Instead she wants to take charge of her own sexuality and does so by acting on her desire to sleep with the wolf. Her will transforms her from victim to agent of her own life. In the end, she is the one undressing the wolf, and this too can be seen as symbolically challenging normative sexual acts where the man is supposed to be in charge. Beauty, in “The Tiger 's Bride”, is another heroine who escapes being victimised by forming a sexual contract with the Beast: the “lamb” (the girl) accepts to be sexually initiated by the “tiger” (the experienced man). By doing so, she accepts her own animal instincts, eventually turning into a beast, which symbolises her sexual maturation. Indeed, wild animals represent human libido and sexual