The Bloody Chamber Revision Map (title story)

A revision map for the first story in the Bloody Chamber. More in the series to come. 

?
View mindmap
  • The Bloody Chamber
    • The title story
      • Takes Bluebeard and writes it
    • Sexuality/virginity
      • Idealisation and objectification of women
        • "young girl's pointed breasts and shoulders"
        • “I sensed in myself a potentiality for corruption that took my breath away”
      • The girl is make to look very innocent linking to her youth and virginity
        • Lots of references to the colour white
        • "My little nun has found the prayerbooks, has she?"
      • “tender, delicious ecstasy of excitement”
    • Feminism
      • The way in which carter makes this a 1st person narrative from a girl's perspective makes it seem like girls have more power and are able.
        • The protagonist uses language such as "lugubrious" which make her seem intelligent
      • Strength of the mother coming to save her - change from the normal male figure
        • Mother checks if her daughter is sure - wants the best for her daughter
      • ‘Are you sure you love him?'
    • Wealth
      • Contrast between the two houses - wealthy and poor
        • "spectre of poverty"
        • "iced champagne"/ "red velvet"
    • Isolation
      • "The faery solitude of the place"
      • "cut off by the tide from land for half a day"
    • Masculine Power
      • The Marquis is wealthy, giving him power
        • Wealth
          • Contrast between the two houses - wealthy and poor
            • "spectre of poverty"
            • "iced champagne"/ "red velvet"
      • The Marquis has beastial qualities that make him seem strong and powerful
        • "dark, leonine shape of his head"/ "streaks of pure silver in his dark mane"
        • "forced to mimic surprise"
        • "parted like the red sea"
        • "A whiff of the opulent male scent of leather and spices"
        • "All the better to see you" is a Red Riding Hood quotation, specifically Wolf
        • “a dozen husbands approach me in a dozen mirrors” “he approached his familiar treat with a weary appetite”
        • "My skin crisped at his touch"
      • He is powerful enough to be able to change the laws of nature
        • "ordered me a sky"
    • Mystery/curiosity
      • The whole story, and Bluebeard, is based around the trouble behind curiosity
        • “No paint nor powder can mask that red mark on my forehead"
      • Lots of clauses in the sentences, showing the continuous discovery and mystery - the horror is never ending. "And the skull...the final image of a bride".
      • Exclamations used to enhance the horror - "oh, horrors!"
    • Flowers
      • Common theme in Carter's work
        • The use of lilies, which are generally death-related flowers is foreboding of things to come
        • "ordered me a sky"
    • Most of the themes in the Bloody Chamber link back to the Gothic.
    • “A choker of rubies like an extraordinarily precious slit throat"

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar English Literature resources:

See all English Literature resources »See all The Bloody Chamber resources »