Hi Everyone,
If you have already watched my video lecture on this final Fairy Tales Unit, you all know that this is the first assignment for the first reading assigned in our book, The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter. If you have not watched my video lecture on Fairy Tales yet, please go to the announcements section and watch it before coming back here.
Our first reading for the Fairy Tales Unit is titled “The Bloody Chamber,” by Angela Carter. Please take a moment and review the PowerPoint Slideshow for this unit, and then go ahead an answer the 10 discussion questions in the slideshow (and below). This discussion activity will be 20 points each, since there are 10 questions to answer for this tale. Also, for this Discussion Activity, I would like for you all to take a 20 minutes and watch the classic version of this tale by the Grimm Brothers. This can help you better understand the revisions made by Carter.
Here is the PowerPoint for the “The Bloody Chamber” Discussion Activity, along with the discussion questions you are all expected to answer below; the answers to these discussion questions will be due on Thursday, 11/11 by 11:59pm
Discussion Questions for “The Bloody Chamber”
1.Carter uses the motif of masks, mirrors, and lilies in this story. Explain what they symbolize.
2.Carter writes, “there is a striking resemblance between the act of love and the ministrations of a torturer” (27). Explain the analogy.
3.Find two references to pornography. What is the significance of such references?
4.Why do you think Jean-Yves, the girl’s second husband, is blind? Why is that important?
5.When thinking about her new husband (the marquis), the young wife admits: “I lay in bed alone. And I longed for him. And he disgusted me” (22). Why the contradiction? What does this reveal about the young wife?
6.What is significant about the change Carter makes to the end of the story when it comes to the girl’s rescue? What kind of statement is she trying to make with this change?
7.After marrying the marquis, the young wife thinks to herself, “to think he might have chosen me because, in my innocence, he sensed a rare talent for corruption” (20). What does this mean?
8.In the final scene, when the young wife’s life is in the hands of the marquis, she notes: “when he raised his head and stared at me with his blind, shuttered eyes as though he did not recognize me, I felt a terrified pity for him, for this man who lived in such strange, secret places that, if I loved him enough to follow him, I should have to die. The atrocious loneliness of that monster!” (35). Analyze why she feels pity for him.
9.Carter uses a tremendous amount of figurative language in this story. Identify two different types and explain their significance. How do they enrich the particular passage?
10.At the end of the story, the girl narrates, “No paint nor powder, no matter how thick or white, can mask that red mark on my forehead; I am glad he [her new husband] cannot see it – not the fear of his revulsion, since I know he sees me clearly with his heart – but, because it spares my shame” (41). First, answer what the red mark symbolizes. Then, analyze why the girl would feel shame.
