Overall Analysis of The Courtship of Mr Lyon and The Tiger's Bride, Angela Carter and the Gothic for the AQA A2 Lit B Exam

Overall Analysis of The Courtship of Mr Lyon and The Tiger's Bride, Angela Carter and the Gothic for the AQA A2 Lit B Exam

Task 1.

1.How does carter transcend ideological limitations which fairy tales traditionally review?

 by having the Narrator refuse be the submissive one "carter subverts the gaze" and tradition "as the bride refuses to be undressed before the tiger, he decides to unveil himself." 

2. what is Freud's "famous polarity active/passive"?

This is Freud's belief that women were inherently passive and that in opposition to this men were active, from what I can tell Freud meant this throughout all relationships and society as a whole

3.instead of the 'masculine' and 'feminine' texts, what does carter suggest?

Carter apparently suggests "a fusion of the opposites; male/female, human/no-human, nature culture. She (apparently) suggests a new kind of gender, free from social constructions, a creation of an androgynous being" 

4. who was/is Pauline Palmer? (author of this article?)

She is currently a lecturer at Birmingham university, she describes herself as working "in the field of contemporary women's fiction and lesbian writing, discussing texts in the context of feminist and queer theory"

5.what is androgyny? 

It  is the combination of masculine and feminine characteristics. Sexual ambiguity may be found in fashion, gender identity, sexual identity, or sexual lifestyle.

Task 2.

Fairy tales are generally about dominance and obedience, perpetuating patriarchal ideology, Carter writes to expose this and then to flip it on its head, to show female desire and sexual liberation, "playing a game with the reader.".

Carter sought to change and expose the binary opposites that are present in so many fairy tale, male/female culture/nature, Carter sought to do this by presenting her character as ambiguous, having a character present both sides of the binary opposites.

Carter reveals that Fairy tales are their to drill in behavioural and aspirational lessons, especially in women, Carter points out Man's wish that women almost become like the 'simulacrum' without subjectivity or how women are drilled to aspire to the right body in an almost narcissistic fashion.

Carter also shows us that beneath our layers and our "artificial skins" we are all the same, this is shown by the removal of the Narrator, in the tiger's bride, "artificial skins" and her "transformation into a beast" sharing her inner beast with everyone else's.

Carter wishes to remove all gender differences as social constructions and instead an androgynous creation, made up of a fusion of the opposites of human and non-human, nature and culture, one which "could transpose gender and sex"

1. reversal

2. contradiction

3. Indoctrinate

4. Masks

5. unification

The article is about Carters look at what she see's as Fairy tale's truly representing; binary opposites, patriarchal society and the repression and passivity of women in society by the patriarchal society. The article also discusses how Carter looks at these and then completely reverses them in her own take on Fairy tales. With active women, with characters having both attributes of a binary opposite cultured/natural e.g. the tiger and his mask. The article also discusses Carter’s proposal for a single androgynous gender in novels, composed of binary opposites, but also free from society’s gender constructions. (98)