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.