The Tiger's Bride (Late Edition)

First off, a few notes. Sorry that the blog is like, quite late, but I've been busy and ill so it cant really be helped. Also, in case you haven't been told hypertext is now intertext, but there both the same thing- hypertext sounds cooler though...

Okay, so this quote "I'm all for putting new wine in old bottles, especially if the new wine makes the old bottles explode" was mentioned with emphasis before we began reading- it was judged to me adding new conventions to an old conceptions, such as the changing of the story of The Beauty and the Beast into The Courtship of Mr.Lyon by adding gothic elements. It could also mean the changing of the gothic genre itself, but ultimately the judgement of its meaning rests with the person reading it.

We then looked at an extract from the Mr.Lyon book, which I have since then unfortunately misplaced, and we analysed some of its key features.

• It was first pointed out that the landscape reflected the woman, the purity of the snow a direct relation to her. The "white and unmarked" snow "possessed a light of its own", an unquestionable relation to purity- which is then tied to the woman "so you would've thought she, too, was made of all snow"
• It was then pointed out that the narrative switched between 1st person ("Outside her kitchen window") to 3rd person ("Father said he would be home before nightfall"). We were told to consider what effect this had, and to look out for any similar occurrences in other stories.
• Another thing that was highlighted was the evidence that the woman was domesticated, following the conventions of the era that the story was written- "chores", being in the "mean kitchen", and having been there "all day" in the name of her "Father". Later reading revealed that this was not evident in every story in "The Bloody Chamber", namely in the Tiger's Bride.

Still looking at The Courtship of Mr.Lyon we examined the meanings of animal, or beast, references. The sheepskin coat that the girls father was a contrast to the lion's head of the beast, the divide between the failure and success. More interestingly perhaps, is the relevance of the furs given to the young maiden as a gift. Her acceptance of them is apparently representative of her developing as a sexual being, as she wears a garment that makes her more similar to the beast itself- her returning at the end of the tale shows the acceptance she has of her new self, as when she kisses the beast he becomes a man- there is no longer any difference between them, and he changes from a predator to her lover. Helpful people may explain that better in their comments...

Now, its PICTURE TIME, in which I post a picture related to the Tiger's Bride, although I'm not sure if its entirely appropriate. It appeared at the top of the page...

I actually have surprisingly little notes for when we read Tiger's Bride, for which I must apologise for- I was just sooo engrossed in the story itself. One interesting note that I did make however states "The woman can look to the beast and judge him for his appearance, but cannot truly see whats within him", which means that she passes constant judgements upon him without truly seeing what is behind his mask, emphasising that they are perhaps just hollow words. This is reaffirmed when the mask is removed, and the young maiden gets a drastic change of opinion.

Now, intertextual references are things that make recurrent appearances in The Bloody Chamber and perhaps other gothic-style books, and have a singular meaning throughout. Some that we found in class include:

1. Russian Dolls
2. Chinese Boxes
3. Roses

There are almost definitely more of these, so remember to look out for them. I'm sure we'll go over them in more detail in class at some point, but until then feel free to come up with your own opinions and share them in your comments.

~Well that concludes my blog, if you feel anything was missing I cant stress enough that you should mention it in your comments for the benefit of all.

HOMEWORK
1) Research and compare the Cat Tales, perhaps look up "Tyger Tyger" and "The Lamb" for a better insight.

2) Comment on the blog~