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.