Experimental Erl.

‘the Erl-King is the most innovative and experimental of the narratives’ how far does this quotation support the statement?

‘The woods enclose and then enclose again, like a system of Chinese boxes opening into another; the intimate perspectives of the wood changed endlessly around the interloper, imaginary traveler walking towards an invented distance that perpetually receded before me. It is easy to lose yourself in these woods’

Angela carter is experimental in a variety of ways within the telling of The Erl-King, with many of these aspects being shown in the extract above. 

One of the key aspects that make this narrative so experimental and innovative is the shifting between different narrative perspectives, for example the narrator refers to herself in the third person ‘interloper, imaginary traveler’ while then switching to the first person ‘perpetually receded before me’. This is a very transgressive choice that is not evident in ant of the other texts within the collection, the transgression within this short story is key due to it being an important aspect of the genre in which it belongs to. This short story (and the collection) belongs to the genre of The Gothic; one of the key aspects of this genre is the idea of transgression, which this short story seeks to achieve. This idea of the reader not being sure if the narrator is within the forest of simply viewing it from the third person is key to the theme of ‘blurring boundaries’ this idea of the reader not being sure about eh position is also not seen in other stories in this collection such as ‘the snow child’ and ‘the bloody chamber’.

Carter furthers the idea of transgression with the inclusion of the description of ‘Chinese boxes’ this involves aspects of a different culture in which the story it set, this brings the idea that that this transgression is blending different cultures together which itself is an experimental act. This blending of cultures from different countries is not evident within the other tales within this collection, thus it makes this story stick out as more innovative than the rest of the collection. Furthermore, the description of an ‘invented distance that perpetually receded before me’ is used by Carter to add to the idea of ‘blurring boundaries’ as this description does not contain any specific details of the surrounding the narrator is within, this leaves the reader to question what is and isn't real, thus blurring the boundaries of reality.  

Overall, this quote clearly illustrates how the Erl King is the most innovative and experimental of the texts within the collection, due to Carter's control on perspective, language and setting.

Thoughts on power levels

Women and men are portrayed in a variety of power levels within this collection of texts. Those females that are seen to be more powerful (such as the narrator in the final paragraphs of The Erl-King) have gained these powers after transforming themselves due to the negative actions of men. There is a change in the mind-set of the female narrator which in this text is displayed through the change of narrative perspective. This suggests that women need to change in order to gain equality, when the real cause of this oppression is the male dominance, so surely a change for the males should also be targeted within the literature?

Well a change other than murder...

This also conveys the idea that men cause women to transform into this more violent nature through their actions of oppression (this is also seen in The Bloody Chamber when the mother kills the Marque) to 'lower them to their level' so to speak. Furthermore, it suggests that women have to accept the more violent traits of the male in order to gain equality (and maybe power?) over males. Therefore would it not also make more sense for Carter to suggest how males could remove these violent traits rather than encouraging females to also use these more violent and oppressive acts in order to gain equality?

But, then again, not all males are presented as purely attempting to force women into a violent murderer in order to survive them. For example, the piano tuner in The Bloody Chamber is presented as a 'good' character than remains equal with the narrator. This could be argued because he has been freed from the obsession that men apparently find regarding women's looks, this could be an attempt by Carter to suggest that a fairer less aesthetic society is not only beneficial for women, but also creates a better life for men.

What do you consider to be the key themes of this short story? Does the story have one or more messages for the reader? If so what might these be?

The story of the Bloody Chamber follows the narrative of a young girl who marries a mysterious Marquis who attempts to murder her; however she is rescued by her mother who shoots the Marquis thus saving her daughter.

One of the main themes of this short story I believe to be the negative impacts of capitalism and the upper classes. In example, the narrator is shown to be marrying the Marquis for the financial security rather than her feelings which is seen in the quote ‘I’m sure I want to marry him’ when she is questioned if she loves him or not. This presents the upper classes in a negative light as they transform a ceremony such as marriage (which is traditionally associated  with feelings of love) into a financial deal rather than the traditional meaning. This links into the Gothic theme of entrapment, as the narrator is entrapped within the relationship for financial reasons, rather than her own choice. Furthermore, the fact that the upper class male (the Marquis) is the one that is seen to be ‘saving’ the narrator from poverty he is seen to be the more powerful character in the story due to his financial situation. Also, the narrator is taken from a world that is not said to be negative, into the upper class world that almost leaves her dead. This questions the reader’s ideas surrounding wealth and the quality of life that the members of each social class receive as they automatically presume that due to her lower status she is existing within a ‘worse’ environment but it is revealed in the story that she lives a superior life when she does not have wealth.
Aspects of Marxism are also evident within this text, especially references to Karl Marx’s theory of false consciousness, the idea being first conceived but then named and developed by Engels. This can be seen when the narrator ‘faints’ and reawakens in a far more alert and ‘awakened’ sense. This could be a reference to the narrator breaking through the false consciousness and become aware to the class oppression that she is suffering at the hands of the Marque, this is also when she becomes aware of the actions that she must take in order to try and remain alive. This also provides a link to the Gothic theme of entrapment, however within this part of the text the narrator becomes aware of this entrapment and then begins to try and escape it.

Violence and sex are two themes that intertwine themselves within the bloody chamber, these can most clearly be seen in the quote from the Marquis ‘"There is a striking resemblance between the act of love and he ministrations of a torturer" these shows that the Marquis sees the act of sex and murder as the same or a similar thing. The Marquis is seen to be in a routine of marrying a girl, having sex with her and then killing her, he sees all these actions as a single thing. Thus, this could be interpreted to show the connection between sex and violence within this short story. This links to the gothic theme of transgression as it links together two themes that would not normally be put together, but instead blends them together (this theme can also be seen in different stories within the collection of The Bloody Chamber).

Female objectification is also a key theme within The Bloody Chamber (and throughout all the different stories) mirrors are a key contributor to this objectification of women. For example, the first time that mirrors are seen in The Bloody Chamber is within the bedroom seen in the quote ‘surrounded by so many mirrors’. These mirrors then reflect her simply as a pornographic image, thus objectifying her as a simple sexual image. The fact there are multiple mirrors that provide the same reflection shows how changeable she is and she is simply ‘another’ image rather than seen as an individual thus furthering her objectification.
Furthermore, objectification is seen in the planes that the Marquis has for the narrator. He plans to turn her into a literal object for his own personal display within his ‘bloody chamber’ this is reflective of the patriarchal society, as he does not just kill and take control of the females within his life he also intends to construct his elaborate displays of these dead bodies, thus showing that he craves not only power over the women when they are alive, but also when they are dead.

In conclusion, the Bloody Chamber has many different themes which are highlighted throughout the text. Many of the other short stories that exist within the collection also focus on these themes; however the Bloody Chamber seems to contain the most of these themes.

When and where is the story set? Why might this be?

When and where is the story set? Why might this be?

The Erl King follows the story of a girl entering a forest, meeting the Erl King (who then turns her into a bird) and she then ends up killing him.  The tale is set within a forest which is often described in great detail to have a variety of effects. However, the time period is not mentioned at all during the telling of the story (just the period of the year) this could be thought to have been done for a reason to reflect certain things.

The open of this story begins with a highly detailed description of a forest such as ‘it struck the woods with nicotine stained fingers’ the description of the setting this way is key. The description of the ‘nicotine stained fingers’ is something that is associated with humans, which could be considered to mean that it is in fact symbolic of man’s influence on nature. As it is described to ‘struck’ which is very aggressive language associated to physical abuse, which could be interpreted to show humanities negative influence on nature. This setting description also links to the gothic genre of the text as the description is something that is associated with decay and death, with death being a key part of the gothic genre. In this way this opening could be interpreted to be an attempt to awaken the public to man’s influence to negative, which at time was a very transgressive view to hold, therefore it could also be linked to the gothic genre in this way.

There is no direct mention of the time that this story happens within, the reader is instead provided with a rough time setting within a month. However, the removal of any specific mention to a year could be thought to reflect how the events of the story are relevant to all times, rather than in the past or the present. This allows the story (and more importantly its messages) to be relatable to audiences at any point. However, the time frame that the reader is given is that it is a ‘cold day in late October’ this is a time point in the year that is associated with Halloween. Therefore it could be argued that the use of this foreshadows the supernatural elements in the story, such as the shape shifting and the vampire. Furthermore, the end of October is a time which is associated to seasonal change in which the weather becomes colder, this use of time could be thought to foreshadow the ‘change’ which occurs within the power levels in the forest (when the narrator manages to escape and strangle her captor the Erl King).

The fact that the tale is set within a forest is also key to the readers understanding of the text. A forest is often an area that is associated with uncertainty and ‘monsters’ which is key to the supernatural being that is the Erl King. A forest/wood is also something that features heavily within fairy tales, in which is where parts of the narrative are taken from. Furthermore, a forest is often thought to be a very enclosed area which links into the gothic theme of entrapment, this setting also presents the idea that the Erl King has entrapped the narrator in the forest before he even physically entraps her in the cage as a bird. This could also be argued to be foreshadowing of this act.

Overall, setting and time is employed by carter to have a variety of functions that help the narrative story to progress and also to allow the story to fit within certain genres and to promote the texts meanings.