Angela Carter’s The Bood Chamber Essay - 1774 Words

In Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber, the theme of transformation appears throughout the short story cycle. The hero/heroine’s virginity acts as a source of strength that protects them from harm. Their lack of fear also saves them from death. Virginity acts as power of potentia, either literally or symbolically and results in a release of an observed transformative power. The bloody chamber serves a different symbolic purpose of transformation for Beauty in â€Å"The Courtship of Mr Lyon†, the heroine in â€Å"The Tiger’s Bride† and the Countess in â€Å"The Lady of the House of Love†. Each of these characters will embark on a journey that questions their selfhood in circumstances that are presented to them and ultimately each will go through a†¦show more content†¦This foregrounds potential of narcissism within Beauty. The Beast allows Beauty to go back to London to be with her father under the condition that she must return before winter is over. While in London, she, â€Å"[sends] him flowers, white roses in return for the ones he had given her; and when she left the florist, she experienced a sudden sense of perfect freedom, as if she had jus escaped from an unknown danger† (48). With this gesture, Beauty feels all her debts are settled and she no longer has an obligation to the Beast. When she puts on her robe of fur, she becomes her own beast, showing a parallel between her and the Beast. Beauty undergoes a physical alteration essential for her negative transformation, due to her susceptibility to corruptibility. Since â€Å"she was learning at the end of her adolescence, how to be a spoiled child and that pearly skin of hers was plumping out, a little, with high living and compliments† (48–49). Beauty transformed into a snobbish woman who became obsessed with materialistic objects and her looks. Her epiphytic moment for redemption occurs when the spaniel is at the door, thinking the Beast has come to collect her. She acts as a supplementary element, who offers companionship to the Beast. She is a loyal hybrid figure, half human half beast and despite being, â€Å"[a] well brushed, jewelled dog† (49) she demonstrates human capacity for compassion,