What do you consider is the function of metamorphosis in the Angela Essay

What do you consider is the function of metamorphosis in the Angela Carter collection (The Bloody Chamber) - Essay Example In other words, metamorphosis functions to transform fairy tales from a male oriented reading to that of a female oriented reading. Fairy tales have notoriously depicted male dominance over women. Carter resorts to gender metamorphosis in that she liberates women and stresses the female sexual liberation and desire and reverses conventional feminine and masculine roles. In doing so, Carter unveils repressed female sexuality and sexism and the male dominated construction of the female self (Makinen 1996, p. 41). The Bloody Chambers The Bloody Chamber is based on the fairy tale Bluebeard. The original tale, Bluebeard did not give voice to the female protagonist’s own feelings and thoughts relative to her own tumultuous marriage (Roemer and Bacchilega 2001, p. 94). In Carter’s metamorphic retelling of Bluebeard in The Bloody Chamber, Carter’s female protagonist comes across as poignantly informed and instructed by the experience of her marriage (Carter 1993). Not on ly is this purely female perspective told in the first person narrative, but delivered in a direct and informative manner. Carter’s The Bloody Chamber immediately informs that the narrator is a female whose metamorphosis from girl to woman has resulted in an informed and mature woman with a voice and feelings. The short story opens with the female protagonist’s reflection of her journey to womanhood. She recalls with â€Å"excitement† that is likened to: The train that bore me through the night, away from Paris, away from girlhood, away from the white, enclosed quietude of my mother’s apartment, into the unguessable country of marriage (Carter 1993, p. 7). Carter masterfully, lets the female protagonist narrate the fairy tale from her own perspective and by taking this approach, she is transformed into a sympathetic character. The original tale may have conjured up images of the perpetuated image of the female as the biblical Eve: an object of temptation (Roemer and Bacchilega 2001, p. 94). Carter’s metamorphic depiction, allows for a revisionist version of conventional perspectives entrenched in Christian presentations of the Eve myth. Carter presents a strong female and invites a more positive perspective on the Eve myth. As Roemer and Bacchilega (2001) puts it: Carter’s literary revision of Bluebeard undercuts the Christian doctrine of original sin. Her heroine’s agonizing ordeal, so similar to Eve’s, is portrayed as a necessary and bold initiation into self and worldly knowledge rather than as an act of foolish disobedience (p. 95). In the original fairy tale, Bluebeard’s female protagonist marries an older man who subsequently takes a leave of absence. Before leaving he gives his bride the keys to the palace and instructs that she may have access to all the rooms in the palace, save for one. The bride however, soon gives into temptation and enters the forbidden room. In doing so she finds the corpses of her husband’s previous wives. Despite the fact that the bride is shaken by the discovery, the tale presents her as inconsequential and disobedient. She apparently experiences no self-growth as a result of this experience (Roemer and Bacchilega 2001, p. 96). In Carter’s metamorphic depiction of Bluebeard, the female protagonist has a voice and is not inconsequential. Carter’