Task nine: developed questions

11)      Carter’s description of their first sexual encounter is thoroughly unpleasent. The word ‘impaled’ implies pain rather than pleasure. It also has connotations of force rather than willingness. Furthermore, the narrator adopts a third person tone, showing that she is telling a retrospective tale.

22)      Carter uses language with connotations of entrapment, ‘chains’, in order to show the control and power the Marquis holds over his wives. This theme of entrapment is also recurrent in the gothic genre. The painting symbolises the Marquis’  greed for material possessions as well as his desire for control.

33)                             – ‘reddenned’, shows the embarrassment of the wife, told from the Marquis’ perspective                         so it is used to sexualise the woman, also a very sexualised description of her, shows he                       had power over her

-          ‘brown girl’, gives the impression that the girl is plain, from a Marxist persepctive makes the narrator seem harsh, lower class than the narrator and Marquis

-          ‘thin white face’, gothic, mirrors the skull in the bloody chamber

-          ‘green flame’, seems supernatural, another gothic feature, green for jealousy over other wives

-          ‘red firelight’ , sounds initially romantic, could also be hellish fire, foreshadowing the bloody chamber itself

44)      The phrase ‘all the better to see you’ comes from the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood. Carter uses it here to emphasise the fairy tale genre of the story, and also to reflect how predatory the Marquis is. It also reflects the innosence of the narrator.

55)      Carter’s use of florid prose emphasises the fact that the narrator, whilst of a lower class than the Marquis, is not quit working class. From a Marxist perspective this would be a reason why she can have power of Jean-Yves, as she is of a higher social status. Furthermore, the use of florid prose makes the structure of the story flow more. Her use of intertextual references adds another dimension to the story, and allows the reader to draw the meaning from what Carter is saying more easily.