Timed Essay

There are many ways in which Angela Carter could be considered to ‘re-interpret’ gothic conventions. For example, some of the obvious themes of the gothic genre include death and violence; this is proven to be true in two of the many infamous novels ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘Macbeth’ as both stories include murder. This is definitely true in one of Angela Carters most profound short stories ‘The Bloody Chamber’.

A section of the novel in particular stands out to me from the rest, it is probably the most notorious part of the novel as it is when she, the main character, enters the marquis’s bloody chamber, hence the title of the book. On her travels towards said destination I personally felt as a reader very tense and fearful of where she was headed. After having been previously warned not to enter the chamber by her evil husband we as an audience know that he is obviously hiding a terrible secret, one which would be better left unknown. There is a strong sense of suspense and dread as she wanders ever closer to the forbidden room and down the ‘long and winding corridor’. ‘And still I felt no fear, no raising of the hairs on the back of the neck’, Ironically it seems that, as she herself is not afraid of her excavations, I am obliged to feel the fear for her.
Upon entering the chamber she finds various torture devices and obscurities. ‘Wheel, Rack and Iron Maiden’, inside this Iron Maiden she finds one of her husbands ex-wives. Blood pools out of the atrocity as she opens it almost as if the wife was ‘newly dead’, she has been pierced with ‘not one but by a hundred spikes’. This makes me feel not only disgust but shear horror at the thought of seeing or experiencing such a dreadful thing. I think it is apparent that gothic novels should include these themes in order for the reader to go on such a rollercoaster of emotions that inevitably bring them closer to the protagonist who is experiencing the same ordeal.

However, Angela carter also authors another short story titled’ Wolf-Alice’. I feel that although this story comes under the gothic jurisdiction it is very different to most common gothic tales thus proving exactly how capable she is of ‘re-interpreting’ gothic conventions.
For instance, most gothic stories start of relatively well, the protagonist is happy and content so you as a reader are waiting for the unfortunate events to start taking place; this once again is proven in Frankenstein. Victor is happy until the dreadful day he creates the Monster and from then on commences a terrible domino effect of disasters.
However Carters ‘Wolf-Alice’ starts off in terrible circumstances. The girl has not only been raised by wolves but her ‘foster’ parents have now been killed and she has been taken custody into the ‘human’ world. Because she cannot live in a society of mankind due to her believing she is a wolf, she is discarded to live with ‘The Duke’ a horrific man that replicates the actions of what can only be described as a ‘Were wolf’. Due to the tale starting so ‘terribly’, we as an audience can only expect things to grow happier in time which is quite out of the norm for most gothic novels as I have already said.
Another thing that is relatively different about this story compared to other stories of its kind is that once again there is a lack of fear provided. Wolf-Alice is not afraid of the terrible being that is the Duke even though he prowls the night ‘a corpse eater’ and ‘body snatcher’. I would even go as far to say that I felt pity for the Duke by the end of the story, similar to how I felt compassion for the monster in ‘Frankenstein’. I think that this is due to the fact that Alice cares for him towards the ending by ‘licking‘ his wounds once he has been injured by frightened individuals; this is quite unlike my feelings towards the Marquis at the end of the Bloody Chamber who I was more than happy to see get what he deserved.
So, after looking at the various ways Angela Carter captivates the audience and gets them involved with the story I think it is a safe presumption to say that she is very capable of creating re interpretations of the regular themes explored in gothic literature successfully. People may even go as far as to say that some of her stories are not quite what they would call ‘gothic’ due to the many forms that her themes shape, however I am comfortable in saying that, because of her dark elements of mutilation, loneliness and despair, she makes very strong and interesting concepts that are equally as interestingly played out in the beautiful language that is her writing.