Sexuality, Corruption, and Power Dynamics in the Bloody Chamber
Sexuality, corruption and power dynamics in The Bloody Chamber
Sexuality is a prevalent theme in Angela Carter’s story The Bloody Chamber. Sexual violence within a relationship often reveals aspects of each party’s identity and character as well as affects its power dynamics. Carter depicts sex both explicitly and implicitly in the story through the heroine’s own thoughts of her newfound sexuality and her sexual experiences with the Marquis. Carter’s implicit and explicit portrayals of sex and sexuality in The Bloody Chamber reflect changes in the power dynamic between the heroine and the Marquis throughout the text, develop the identity of the heroine and reveal aspects of the Marquis’ character, and challenge notions of gender.
The first incident of an implicit portrayal of sexuality occurs during the narrator’s train ride away from her childhood home towards her new life with her future husband, the Marquis. No physical act of sex is described, but it is the first time that the reader sees the heroine’s sensual side and departure from innocence through Carter’s use of sexual language. It is as if the train ride away from home symbolizes her departure from innocence and into womanhood. Carter uses words such as “ecstasy”, “burning”, “pistons thrusting”, shuddered”, and “throb” to convey the heroine’s newfound sexual arousal and her thoughts about sex. Carter’s description of the heroine’s “young girl’s pointed breasts and shoulders” depicts her innocence and virginity (Carter, 8), yet she is consumed with thoughts of sex. This contrast symbolizes the development of the heroine’s identity from childhood to womanhood.
Implicit sexuality is also seen on the train ride when the heroine expresses her anticipation of sex. She says: “for the first time in my innocent and confined life, I sensed in myself a potentiality for corruption that took my breath away.” (Carter, 11). The heroine feels this way because of the way the Marquis watches her with an “assessing eye
Sexuality is a prevalent theme in Angela Carter’s story The Bloody Chamber. Sexual violence within a relationship often reveals aspects of each party’s identity and character as well as affects its power dynamics. Carter depicts sex both explicitly and implicitly in the story through the heroine’s own thoughts of her newfound sexuality and her sexual experiences with the Marquis. Carter’s implicit and explicit portrayals of sex and sexuality in The Bloody Chamber reflect changes in the power dynamic between the heroine and the Marquis throughout the text, develop the identity of the heroine and reveal aspects of the Marquis’ character, and challenge notions of gender.
The first incident of an implicit portrayal of sexuality occurs during the narrator’s train ride away from her childhood home towards her new life with her future husband, the Marquis. No physical act of sex is described, but it is the first time that the reader sees the heroine’s sensual side and departure from innocence through Carter’s use of sexual language. It is as if the train ride away from home symbolizes her departure from innocence and into womanhood. Carter uses words such as “ecstasy”, “burning”, “pistons thrusting”, shuddered”, and “throb” to convey the heroine’s newfound sexual arousal and her thoughts about sex. Carter’s description of the heroine’s “young girl’s pointed breasts and shoulders” depicts her innocence and virginity (Carter, 8), yet she is consumed with thoughts of sex. This contrast symbolizes the development of the heroine’s identity from childhood to womanhood.
Implicit sexuality is also seen on the train ride when the heroine expresses her anticipation of sex. She says: “for the first time in my innocent and confined life, I sensed in myself a potentiality for corruption that took my breath away.” (Carter, 11). The heroine feels this way because of the way the Marquis watches her with an “assessing eye