Significant features of 'The Tiger's Bride'

1. Women as viewed by men: In 'The Tiger's Bride' the girl is handed over from the father to The Beast because "My father lost me to The Beast at cards". The only remorse from the Father is that he has lost "my pearl beyond price" with no mention of the daughter's fate in the hands of a foreign lord. The Beast appears to want to 'corrupt' the daughter through his male gaze, although this results in "one single tear swelled, glittering, at the corner of the masked shame". Consequently, there may be conflict between The Beast's mask of masculinity in viewing women as sexual objects and his true 'wild' self which has no such constraints in gender roles. There is also the mechanical maid, which the valet describes as finding it "no less convenient than do most gentlemen", suggesting that women in traditional gender roles do not need emotion. The feminist interpretation of this is that in the eyes of men, women can perform their conventional duties as clockwork and without emotion as they are always seen as possessions of men.

2. The Beast: Although described as a 'beast', is not necessarily a negative male character. His is visibly ashamed of his request to see the girl naked and allows her to see him naked. It is as though The Beast regards nakedness not as something sexual but rather a case of natural equality.
The Beast is a wealthy individual, although he has "bought solitude, not luxury, with his money". Wealth is yet another reminder of humanity, so he surrounds himself with nature- the horses given use of the dining room, the valet being a monkey- and even has pictures "propped with their faces to the walls". Perhaps The Beast is ashamed of his link with humanity, with its cruelty and inequalities, and solitude is his only form of escape.

3. The Girl: Like most of Carter's women, she is young, innocent and virginal. This is what makes her desired- The Beast wants to see "'The sight of a young lady's skin that no man has seen before'" and therefore her only real item of value. Her reply to The Beast's request is that she will pull her skirt up to her waist but that "there must be a sheet over my face"- indicating perhaps that she wants to shame The Beast, as he will be looking at her for purely sexual pleasure, nothing else. When she decides to stay with The Beast, his "thick, rich, wild scent" transforms into a "reek of fur and piss", suggesting that though the world of beasts is not as aesthetic it is at least 'true' in that there is no mask of humanity to create any illusions of wealth or morals.

Feral Children

A feral child is one who has lived apart from human society from an early age, so they cannot display the normal signs of human activity; speech, showing emotion like smiling, or even walking. Some have been imprisoned by parents, whilst others appear to have been living wild in forest or jungle. The behaviour of the children seems to be dictated by the animals they survived, so a Russian boy found in 2008 behaved as though he was a bird (chirping and flapping his arms) and an Indian boy in 1867 who was found living in a cave with wolves and would eat raw meat. 'Real' cases of feral children have resulted in children who have appeared mentally or physically impaired and largely or completely lacking in social skills needed for human interaction.

However, when it comes to fictional cases or those from legends, a very different image is created. These children, like Mowgli from 'The Jungle Book' or Romulus and Remus from Roman mythology, actually have few animal characteristics. Instead, they share human morals and intelligence, and are often able to easily fit into human society. They also often have superior strength and survival instincts and even what appears to be an improved sense of morality. Therefore, such feral children can be shown to symbolise the 'noble savage', where  humanity is in its pure and least corrupted state.

Significant features of 'The Courtship of Mr Lyon'

1.Magic or wealth?- Mr Lyon's home is a mysterious, almost magical place; a "door of a cloakroom opened of its own accord", there are what seems to be "invisible gardeners" and a dog with its head "intelligently cocked", as though it understood what to do. Furthermore, the food has the legends "Drink me" and "Eat me", similar to Alice in Wonderland. All this seems to provoke the question of whether this is clear reality; it could be magic that  makes the dog act as though it was human or the doors open on their own, although wealth could buy many things associated with magic and it is clear the Beast is very wealthy. Therefore, the line between reality and fantasy is blurred by these fairy-tale occasions which creates suspension of disbelief, for example, a dog could clearly understand people if it was expensively trained.

2.The role of the girl- Beauty is the defining character of the story around whom the other characters centre. The Father is only recognised as "Beauty's Father" rather than any of his own characteristics so that his role is to support Beauty by providing her with the means to meet the Beast. The Beast is saved by Beauty, in contrast to the Gothic convention of having a strong male saving the weak female. Instead, a young and virginal female saves a weakened male who needs (not just desires) such a girl. However, Beauty is still punished for her 'crime' of not returning to the Beast, demonstrating that female crimes will always go punished by men. In addition, Beauty is described as "Miss Lamb, spotless, sacrificial". This could be associated with the 'lion will lie down with the lamb' idea of heaven, suggesting that the Beast's appearance should not be feared by Beauty.

3. The Beast- Contrary to other stories in 'The Bloody Chamber', this powerful male character is not the archetypal aggressive Gothic protagonist. While it is true that he has the "mane and mighty paws of a lion" and that he demands to see the girl at dinner, he does not attempt to corrupt her or harm her- rather, "buried his head in her lap", which suggest more submission than power. The tale concludes by the Beast transforming into a man by Beauty's kiss, as though he has been trapped in this beast-like appearance which he can only escape from through compassion. Perhaps the Beast is a contrast to the other 'Beast' characters in 'The Bloody Chamber' because he does not want the 'mask' he is provided with, whereas the other use this mask for deception or to hide their true selves.  

Features of The Bloody Chamber

Most significant features of The Bloody Chamber:

1.The Mother: Arguably the most powerful character (able to kill even the Marquis) yet is a woman. Achieves this through her husband's weapon (he he he) and "put a single, irreproachable bullet through my husband's head". Therefore power is still attained with a man's help. However, has her "maternal telepathy"  which is only a feminine thing so perhaps shows feminine power by itself is underestimated?

2.Sex: Marquis is the dominant force whilst the girl has to remain passive- it is a "one-sided struggle". The Marquis is the one who gets pleasure from it but she has been "infinitely dishevelled by the loss of my virginity". The Marquis has corrupted her as is shown through the loss of her virginity yet treats her as though she is the one who has left herself open to corruption, referring to her as a "whore" and calling her execution "martyrdom".

3.The Piano-tuner: Blind so does not look upon the Marquise with the 'male gaze' or lust. Contrary to conventional fairytale as is the male lover but cannot play an active role in the Marquise's rescue. Young so is unable to corrupt whilst the Marquis can. Also, cannot see the "shame" of the girl's red mark ("mark of Cain"), perhaps suggesting her weakness in disobeying men?
 
4.Religion: Not much on this, but I'll give it a shot. The Marquis' castle is run on a feudal system, with him at the top. His position means he can control all those within his 'realm' ("Might not the police, the advocates, even the judge, be all in his service", "he was milord whose word must be obeyed") as an almost God-like figure. Ancestral power (his "great-grandfather's ceremonial sword" and the ruby choker) gives a sort of pre-determination to his actions and the execution itself is carried out using religious terminology ("last rites, the sacrifice"). Within his castle, he is basically God and so has power over life and death.

5.Aspects of the Gothic: I suppose this is the most important bit. Takes place in a castle and has relics passed down from ancestors- old so has permanence and knowledge, making it easier to corrupt. The male threat is omnipotent within his own world corrupts the woman. Madonna/whore complex (at least in the eyes of the Marquis) as the Marquise has willingly succumbed to the Marquis. Punishment of 'sins'- "she died soon after" suggesting the old nurse died as a consequence of her pride in the girl's marriage; the Marquise to be executed for disobeying her husband's command and the Marquis himself being shot for his crimes.

The Green Man

The Green Man has adorned English churches for over 1000 years, but no-one has been able to say for sure what it is or anything about its origins. It has been connected with Christianity since the 6th century but the links between man and nature are more of a pagan concept. It is likely, then, that this figure or god was adopted by the early Christian Church as a Christian concept. It was perhaps adapted to represent the cycle of life from death which can be overcome by Faith in God and heaven. It has also been suggested that the Man is in fact Adam as seeds were placed in his mouth after his death, from which grew the burning bush that Moses spoke to.

There is another theory that the Green Man is a 'Jack-in-the-Green' which was a man inside a framework adorned with leaves. Jack-in-the-Green was assocaited with May Day celebrations and Morris dancing, so symbolises the beginning of Spring and the renewal of life. However, the Green Man is not only found in England, but figures have been found in cathedrals and fountains across in Europe, and even in cultures as far away as Nepal and the Ancient Egyptian god Osiris (god of the underworld) was coloured green. So the exact origins of this mysterious figure remains unknown, although several theories place him in the region of death leading to re-birth but the precise origins evade us...

Wealth/loneliness in 'The Tiger's Bride'

So we're supposed to write about something interesting in 'The Tiger's Bride'. For me, one interesting element is the association of the Beast's loneliness with his wealth. He "bought solitude, not luxury, with his money", indicating that for him wealth is not something that can be compared to material beauty. Rather than providing for a large number of human guests that could be accommodated with his money, he instead opens up his dining room to be used by horses. He seems to find company in nature, as he covers up portraits whilst leaving the frescoes which are reminiscent of Paradise where animals are equal to men (and of course where the lion lies down with the lamb).

Therefore, it is clear that nature matters to the Beast much more so than his material possessions. He doesn't have any human servants, preferring to employ clockwork maids and his monkey manservant. Distancing himself from the human world is, ironically, achieved through his wealth enabling him to have the "megalomaniac citadel of his palazzo" but he doesn't enjoy any of the comfort this brings and resides in his "eyrie" with a "small fire in a small grate". For the Beast, wealth is associated with human contact so he avoids the visible signs as much as possible. This way, he can separate humanity from nature, which is regarded as 'true beauty'- seen as Beauty's human skin is turned into "a nascent patina of shining hairs".

Characters of commedia dell'arte

Commedia dell'arte originated in Italy to counter the strict conventions of classic theatre. Instead, commedia dell'arte abandoned such rules and allowed actors room for improvisation and brought in characters who were loud and colourful, rather than the flat characters of classical theatre. There are a variety of these characters, who I suppose can be called caricatures of certain people and classes.

Harlequin: the best known of these stock characters with his patched outfit and mask. He is basically a trickster, and, though he is poor, is able to survive through his wit and creativity.

Scaramouche (Scaramouche, can you do the Fandango?): a captain who doesn't seem to do much fighting (his name meaning small,fast fray) and is more of a ladies man. He is clever (but also lucky) enough to escape out of any awkward situations he finds himself in and hand the blame to somebody else.

Pantaloon: an old, greedy merchant who does all he can to keep his money. He is opposite to the Harlequin, who is young and poor but is able to trick the Pantaloon out of his gold.

The Doctor: known as Balanzone, he is rich, fat and thinks he knows everything. His meaningless dialogues may contain (wrong) citations in Latin or Greek and he impersonates any important person, whether it is a doctor, or more likely a lawyer or judge. This character allows a break in the running of the commedia dell'arte and is the sort of 'know-it-all' character that the audience can resent.

Innamorati: pair of lovers (often the son and daughter of the Pantaloon and the Doctor) who are important in the commedia dell'arte as their situations (eg. contrasted love and envy) give rise for the entrance of the more comedic characters, in particular the Harlequin and Pantaloon.