With close reference to one of the tales, discuss how Carter

In a nutshell both stories are about young women (in their late teens, on the verge of turning into womanhood) who marry a wealthy man and leave a life of modesty behind them. The young women are given a set of keys which allows them to explore every room in the house – except one (the ‘bloody’ chamber), if that room is entered, dire consequences shall follow (death). Naturally the young women ignore the advice of their intimidating, menacing and much older husbands to enter the room and fall into the trap set up for them and like every disobedient child, they MUST be punished.

The Bluebeard from the original is described as “frightfully ugly that all the women ran away from him” – another contrast from the Carter, as her Marquis is portrayed as a man who exudes class and charisma and can have a plethora of women should he fancy. Music plays an important part in Carter’s story as it symbolises innocence in our narrator (the young woman). Our narrator finds comfort and salvation at the hands of her piano which she describes as her ‘magic tool’ where here “…own particular magic might help me , now, that I could create a pentacle out of music that would keep me from harm”. The music in Carter’s story has an almost religious significance as the young girl feels as if she can cleanser her feelings of guilt and sinfulness from God.

People can look at fairy tales in diverse ways. They can have their own opinions on symbolism and metaphors. But a person who takes them literally does not really understand the meaning of a fairy tale at all. Questions like ‘why did he give her the key?’ arise which defeat the purpose of what the story was intended for. This story (the Bloody Chamber) is intended for a more mature audience and not children but if a child was to read it, he or she would get the message rather differently even if he/she didn’t quite understand the metaphorical language or the use of symbolism and this is ‘not to betray your husband because the consequences shall be dire’ – the theme that is common in both tales.

The next part to Carter’s story is that the sexual themes are now set. Carter sprinkles her gothic tale with subtle yet effective imagery to intensify our emotions to leave us with a sense of curiosity. Carter remains true to her formula of domination and submission and most of the imagery she uses is related to the situations that arise in the book. Red or blood is often used to symbolise the illusion of death or as is the case of Carter the young girl’

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