How does Carter create her characters? Choose one character we have not discussed in class and explain how this character is presented.

How does Carter create her characters? Choose one character we have not discussed in class and explain how this character is presented.

The Bloody Chamber is a reworking of the fairy tale of Blue Beard, and details a man (the Marquis in this text) who marries women and then kills and displays their corpses. The sory follows the narrator’s (his latest wife) struggle to break free from his oppression and attempt to escape alive. The character of the Marquis can be read in a variety of ways, however I believe the strongest view to be that he represents the physical embodiment of female oppression and the oppression that capitalism exerts onto the lower classes.

The dominance of men, the Marquis in this text, is established early on. This is seen when she describes that she has ‘ceased to be her child in becoming his wife’ in regard to her mother. This shows that men have the ability to sever all ties to others upon marriage and take superior control over women that causes them to become detached from their previous life. The relationship between child and parent is often something that is thought to be a natural strong bond, so therefore with marriage severing the relationship between parent and child it suggests that the idea of ‘marriage’ (and more importantly men’s dominance and desire to change women) is something that is unnatural, this shows how the text is seeking to highlight the negative impacts that marriage has on women. Carter builds the character of the Marquis which leaves the reader with the impression that he is an oppressive figure early on. This also suggests that upon marriage she is forced to change as she is no longer a ‘child’ and is instead a ‘wife’ this shows how men’s oppression causes women to transform into their husbands desire, rather than accepting them for who they are. All this builds the character to be seen as an oppressive and violent person that is dominated by his own selfish greed, Carter may have written the character in this way to emphasise the negative effect males have over women.

Furthermore, there are Marxists interpretations that can be taken from this text which builds the Marquis as not only the representation female domination, but also the oppression of the working class under the upper class. This can be seen when the narrator quotes to say ‘I’m sure I want to marry him’ regarding if she loves him or not, it is then later revealed to the reader that the family is incredibly poor and thus this marriage to the Marquis will bring the family the ability to survive. This shows the dominance that the upper class exerts as it is shown to take a ceremony that is associated with love and happiness and instead turns into a business deal. On the other hand, this could be thought to portray the Marquis in a positive light as he is providing a family with the ability to survive, however it is revealed later that this almost charitable nature is actually driven by his selfish desires. Furthermore this  relationship is shown to be toxic when he attempts to murder her, this shows how the upper class regard the lower classes as something they have superior power over to even decide when they live and die. This builds the Marquis as a physical embodiment of capitalist oppression, his further disregard for the lower classes and women is seen when he is described to inspect her like a ‘slab of meat’ this builds a character that shows no regard for human life (especially that of women) and also builds him to seen driven by sexual desire.

The Marquis is also built as a violent and psychopathic creature, this can be seen in his display of the ‘iron maiden’ which is a device associated with torture. Furthermore, this iron maiden represents his ability to oppress and abuse women. This is due to the device itself being in the physical style of a women while containing spikes, thus representing how his oppression of her physically also destroys her from within. The Marquis’ violent nature is also seen in the wedding gift that the narrator receives, the gift she receives is ‘a choker of rubies’ this is important to the context at the time as a red ribbon was worn by surviving French aristocracy who escaped the French revolution without being decapitated. This foreshadows his attempt to decapitate her with the ‘ceremonial sword’ this shows how the character of the Marquis had this attempt planned before he presented her with this gift, thus showing him to be a selfish character that is driven purely by violent desires. In expansion of this, it could be thought to represent the dangers of greed and oppression of the middle classes. This is because the narrator comes from a working class background, but is then given the ruby choker (representing the decapitation of the upper classes) which foreshadows her attempted murder, thus showing the dangers of greed and trusting the upper classes. This shows the Marquis to be a manipulative character and also as the representation of the dominance and greed of the upper classes.

Overall, Carter builds the character of the Marquis with various images of violence and dominance. This could have been done to try and illustrate the dominance and oppression that women feel within a marriage, thus opening the reader’s minds to these problems.