A Study Of The Subversion Of Patriarchal Power In Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber And Other Stories

Angela Carter is considered as one of the most influential female writer since 1945.Carter's early work,The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories is one collection consists of her rewrite of classical fairy tales that bears her unique traits.This thesis will probe into the process of how Carter has subverted the patriarchal power and its value through rewriting these tales.The first chapter mainly discusses the influence from Sade to Carter during her subversion.Carter's rereading of Sade's Justine and Juliette in Sadeian Women is where she finds the starting point of her rewriting.How Carter subverts the patriarchal knowledge Sade stands for can be seen through the comparison between Carter's female characters and these two Sadeian women.Carter transcends such characters in her rewriting.The second chapter analyses how Carter presents and uses women's body and their desire in her rewriting of some classical fairy tales such as "Beauty and Beast" and "Red Riding Hood".To challenge the traditional knowledge of these elements is another method for Carter to realize her subversion.The last chapter sees into how Carter attempts to break the stereotype built on patriarchal power.Carter gives her female characters phallic power and at the same time reshapes how male characters used to appear in traditional tales and their masculinity in her rewrite in order to achieving the subversion.