Of women and beasts : a feminist psychoanalytic interpretation of Angela Carter's The bloody chamber and other stories

Abstract

This dissertation explores, in the light of feminist psychoanalytic theories, a number of feminist issues in Angela Carter's adaptation of well-known fairy tales. The concepts dealt with in Carter's tales have been analysed utilising some of the most important theories to emerge from the French feminist school of thought for two main reasons: firstly, for a better and more profound understanding of the deceptively simple notions addressed by the author herself, and secondly, the significance of such theories to Carter's own radical ideas of feminism, which feature to a great extent in the tales under consideration. In addition to this, the first chapter will be devoted to a discussion of Carter's use and reworkings of the fairy tale genre, detailing the manner in which she bases her revisionary tales on Perrault's versions. The name of Bettelheim, which is included in the chapter's title, is the operative word here, as the discussion also takes the form of the nature of Carter's disagreement with the psychologist's often strictly Freudian reading and endorsing of the domesticated re working of the patriarchal fairy tale by such writers as the Grimms. This chapter will also show how she simultaneously eschews and transcends the Grimm brothers' versions of these tales. The scope of this dissertation allowing for a maximum number of six tales out of Carter's collection of ten, I have forgrounded those which cover the ostensible theme of women/ beast relationships and metamorphosis, with the far-reaching implications that these subjects have for the study of a feminist-oriented work. I have focused particularly on the title story 'The Bloody Chamber', including it in almost every chapter since it is the one which merits the most attention due to its length and range of interpretation.