... is no coincidence it occurs whilst the doctor has first discovered and is reading the "Arcana Celestia". The chapter Suggestively titled "Four Eyes were Reading the Passage" opens with The Doctor reading the book when something catches his eye "Directly before me was one of the mirrors I have mentioned, in which I ... at which I was busy, and with a face so dark and wild that I should hardly have known him." By positioning the mirror in this passage Le Fanu seeks to draw a direct correlation between the contents of the book and the mirror as glimpses into the spiritual world. The relation...

• Word Count: 1988
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... ;The overarching religious motifs add to the oppressive themes and perverted retelling of the Adam and Eve tale'28. This is seen when the protagonist is in possession of the key, on condition that it remains inoperative, 'use all the keys on the ring except that last little one I showed you'29. Here, and throughout the novel, the Marquis is ... her own The Bloody Chamber the theme of sin and punishment; a fundamental framework for religious principles in Gothic literature. This can be observed when the Marquis places the blood stained key on the narrator's forehead, 'I saw the heart...

• Word Count: 4055
• Approx Pages: 16
• Grade Level: Undergraduate