A05- Knowledge Organiser
The author- Angela Carter
-She writes from a feminist lense after she was "radicalised" in Japan
-She was facinated by the works of the Marquid de Sade and beleived his sadistic book in which women
are portrayed as sexualised beings as feminist due to its liberation of female sexuality
-She claims when writing The Bloody Chamber collection her "intention was not to do "versions"... but
to extract the latent content from the traditional stories and use it as the beginnings of new stories"
-She didn't want women to be "Passive victims of circumstance"
- She was inspired to utilise traditional fairtales after her medievil study of literature.
-suffered from anorexia
-married and divorced Paul Carter
-inspired by feminist Betty Freidmen
The time-
Writing at the beginning of the second wave of feminism.
Greater availability of female contraception.
Margaret Thatcher in power 1979.
Time of political unrest
The Bloody Chamber collection
- Origins come from tales such as; Bluebeard, Snow White, Beauty and the beast, red riding hood.
- Explores fairytale tropes such as 'Happily ever after', one evil character, a hero and a victim. royal and
privileged characters. supernatural.
-Not versions of old fairytales but entirely new stories using latent content
-Graphic or shocking stories in order to emphisise Carters political agenda
Critics
-Marquis de Sade " moral pornographer"
-Patricia Duncker "Carter has too many ideolographies"
-second wave feminism
-marxism
Dracula
Author- Bram Stoker
-Irish Author and assistant of Sir Henry Iving
-influenced by ancient vampire legends
-" The Vampire" and "Camilla" influenced texts
-Whitby is where he based some sce nes of the novel and discovered the name "Dracula"
-Dracula didnt become famous until after the death of Stoker
-Sickly child entertained by his mothers tales
The time
-The novel Reflects contempory issues such as change from new to old
-Metaphor for the spread of STD or foreign ideas invading English culture
-contrast between religious and scientific beliefs
-sexuality is demonised
Dracula
-Epistolary novel (collection of newspaper clipping and journals ect)
-science religion the occult and sex are all themes
-dramatic irony appears throughout the story
Critics
-Francis Ford Coppola version puts emphisis on how dracula drains the life and energy out of Harke by
showing the revese aging process.
-Nosferatu is a silent film. It lacks sublty in presenting the vampore as a traditional monster
-Mark Gattis is humeous while also giving us insight in Harkers interactions with the nuns which stoker
did not emphisise. It mocks religion via the character of the unbeleiving nun.
The Gothic-
-Themes of isolation are typical to gothic "extemes of setting" due to this throghout most gothic texts
there is a reoccuring motifs of setting such as desolate castles.
-extremes of accepted ideas
-Superstition ( occult myths such as witches werewolves and vampires)
-The story is retrospective
-romance
-innocence and its corruption
-popular in the victorian era
The Southern Gothic
-sub genre of gothic literature
-began in 19th century americia via the stories of authors such as Edgar Allen Poe
- peak popularity between 1940s-1960s.
-The stories often focus on grotesque themes. While it may include supernatural elements, it mainly
focuses on damaged, even delusional, characters. (an example of the wouldbe the character of Blanche
from Tennessee Williams "A Streetcar Named Desire")
-The aim was to expose problems the author saw in society so stories often revolve around themes such
as madness, death and the supernatural.
-Some well known examples of this genre and Frankenstein and Dracula
-Morality of the characters is often questioned as the protagonist has a defining flaw
Dworkin
-Her work was underappreciated in her lifetime
-the sexual presentation of women
- critics stata acceptance of her beleifs would change the way women act
- her text was titled "intercourse" and was deemed unsuitable for men as it "moves through a world of
dominance and dubmission"
-she beleives the female voice to be silenced to a whisper due to male violence and control
-pornography and prostitution are female explotation not liberation
-sex isnt equal for woman as its male dominated
-sexual desire is greatly stigmatised for women bt men are free to act as sexual animals without shame
or remorse
-"In Dracula, there are two virgins, Lucy and Mina. The young men who are their suitors may well be
virgins too, but in human society men are rarely ontological virgins."
-lucys flirtatious personality contrats with minas loyalty
-mina plays the role of the new woman
-Dworkin is critical of Lucy as she is demeaning a womans purpose soley to picking a husband
-lucys corruption after dracula attacks and return to her virginity after death
-the symbolism of the blood tranfusions from all men to lucy
-dracula is a sexual preditor his attacks are comparible to sexual assault
-vampirism is a metaphor for intercourse. Lust and desire makes Lucy evil after she is corrupted by
Drcaula she goes so far as to attack a baby
-intercourse itself being partnered with blood has aspects of sadism and suggests an act of violence
