Angela Carter The Bloody Chamber

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Growing up, children are taught that men are the protectors as women were helpless. English author, Angela Carter wanted to change the views of many people. Instead of men saving the day Carter made it that women were the strong, courageous protagonists and men were the bad antagonists. As a feminist, it is expected that many of Angela Carter’s happy ever after endings will show a bold feminist message. However, in The Bloody Chamber, this is not necessarily the case. Although there are several feminist messages in the stories’ resolutions, these messages are not always presented in the way one would expect, and not every female protagonist is presented as a feminist character. By taking the roles of typically Gothic women and toying with the presentation of female characters, many of Carter’s feminist messages are not as one would expect. The role of women in Angela Carter's "The Bloody Chamber" is as victims always subjected to male authority which establishes Carter as a feminist writer.

"The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories" is a collection of old tales in which men were always the saviors, but Angela changed them into her own. Carter was known as the feminist writer, always trying to make women seem heroic and brave. It's quite obvious when reading "The Bloody Chamber" that the protagonist is not the husband but the newly wedded wife. The 17 year old girl doesn't follow the orders of her husband and is forced to suffer the consequences. Instead of a noble hero coming to her rescue, the wife's mother appeared. After sending her mother an intellectual message, due to a mother daughter special bond, the mom came to the rescue. Thus saving the young mistress from her untimely death. “The idealized female is a product of history...

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...ms of how a man might see her.” (Masterplots II: Short Story) Despite the resolution and the fiercely powerful actions of the mother, the narrator is still objectified even after the Marquis’s death. She is branded with his mark, as though she was never really a woman in her own right.

In conclusion, Carter’s stories often have an element of a feminist message to them; this is the mother being presented as the heroine in The Bloody Chamber. However, that is not to say that all of Carter’s stories have a feminist ending. The main character of The Bloody Chamber seems passive in the story’s ending and the mark that stays upon her forehead does not allow for a true sense of release at the end of the story. Carter’s stories are never black and white; there are feminist qualities to many of the happy ever after endings, but not necessarily in the way one would expect.

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