Comparing Books on Women Empowerment: The Bloody Chamber

Perrault’s “Blue Beard” and Carter’s retelling of the same work is both very different, but it also can have similarities. The use of Nickerson’s retelling named “Strands of Bronze and Gold”, as well as Brontë’s “Jane Eyre”, will also be compared to the original and Carter’s “The Bloody Chamber”. This will show how different variations of the same type of events, can have different impacts and meanings depending on who is writing the tale. Also, just because something is connected to or based off another, doesn’t always mean it needs to follow a strict guideline or theme.

First of the major differences between Carter’s retelling and Perrault’s story, is the detail. With the original, the wording is very clear and to the point, not adding anything to the tale that would take away the idea and moral of the tale. While with the Carter’s story, there is quite a lot of detail that goes into getting the reader to be immersed in what is written. Such elements include, but not limited to: the train and how it moves, his scent and how it affected her, the sky, or scenery, and its array of beautiful coloring. Being immersed into a book, you can get a better idea of how a character feels and the reason behind what they do and when can become clearer. While a direct approach to writing is good, and doesn’t leave room for nonsense, the level of involvement from those reading can be low if it is not easily followed.

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Another difference between the two tales is what happens with the forbidden room and wife. With “Blue Beard”, the wife was curious as to what was out of reach, and so was impatient to find what she wasn’t supposed to. On the other hand, in “The Bloody Chamber”, the wife was trying her best to get to know him better. She was the young mistress of this estate, didn’t know a lot about her new husband, and was quite eager in her attempt to gain his heart and attentions, in a sense. It was more about learning and being curious about him, not as much as going to what was forbidden. She had also not purposely chosen that particular room to enter, as she let the keys fall to the ground from their designated ring and then chose a key at random from the pile. She thought that going into his private area would help in getting to know the real him, and not just what he portrayed to everyone (Carter).

The appearance of the husbands is another dissimilarity between “Blue beard”, whom had a very blue beard, and “The Bloody Chamber”, where the husband is said to have black curls (Carter). The townspeople and neighbors surrounding the estate were so put off by the sight of the man with a blue beard they refused to be seen by him or go onto his property until he was gone from it. However, the same could not be said about Carter’s tale, where there is little to no mention of the surrounding people, except for the estate workers. In fact, when anyone else is mentioned, they show no fear or dislike, as he is quite normal looking. So the man with the blue beard looks more like a monster than the black-bearded man, although both carry on with the same acts of disposing of their wives.

While in Perrault’s story, it is left a little unclear if the wife would have joined the multitude of his previously alive wives if she did not look in the closet, or upset him, but with Carter’s it is very clear what he intended to do. By giving the new wife the ruby-imbedded choker, the husband marked what he envisioned to do with her from the very beginning. Although it does appear he liked to obsess over the wife a time before he did indeed kill her in the way he intended.

In Carter’s book “The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories”, it shows that with a different perspective, females can be shown as not so weak. It also shows that they are able to not only defend themselves, but also land a devastating hit. Example is that in the book “Blue Beard”, it is the brothers that come to the rescue of the wife and slay the man. While in “The Bloody Chamber”, the mother senses something is instantly wrong with her newly wedded daughter and come to the rescue to slay her captor. A different example is “The Werewolf” in the same book, with the girl given a hunting knife by her mother and knowing how to use it to defend herself, to which she does. Feminism is a big part of some of Carter’s tales, the need to show that it isn’t just males that can do the rescuing, and the blind male in “The Bloody Chamber” isn’t pushed aside. He gets an equal chance at saving and even gets the girl in the end.

Comparing the two previously mentioned tales to other retelling of “Blue beard” such as “Strands of Bronze and Gold”, there is quite a few differences between these as well. In Nickerson’s tale, the main female is not the wife, but instead the goddaughter who goes to live with a wealthy, and slightly unstable man who has become her guardian. She indulges in any and all wealth he provides to her on a regular basis, both jewels and exotic clothing. It is later found out he disposed of his previous wives, all whom had bronze colored hair, the same color as the goddaughter. While this story is also quite detailed and can be described as slow-paced, it does show other aspects of history, although not always accurate. The wealthy godfather had bought and kept slaves for a variety of reasons, and although the goddaughter tried to sympathize with them, she was still a naive child. Another great retelling is “Jane Eyre” by Brontë, although at first glance it is not easily spotted. In Brontë’s version, the lady goes into the home of a wealthy man, who also hides a dark secret. She ends up marrying the gentleman only to then discover what he is hiding a, very much still alive, wife. After finding out, she escapes the situation, only to return a little time after to him.

In all tales discussed, the females all got bit of an idea or feeling of what was happening or sensed a few red flags. Whether that is before they discover the dark secret, or during, said discovery. Although looking into the reason behind the uneasy feeling would often be a good idea, as stated in Perrault’s first moral in “Blue Beard”, curiosity does not always lead to good and happy endings.

The males all got comfortable and did not take too much effort to hide any of their actions in the end. It was evident that the husband in Carter’s book knew instantly when he got home, his wife had been in the room. He just sat there in despair, almost like he was not quite ready to kill her yet. It was possible that while he enjoyed the kill, the husband like to play around with his wives and lovers first. This is of course what led to them being ‘defeated’ in the end. They also all had an obsession that they needed to see through, with Carter’s story, the husband kept a private museum of the interesting ways he could kill a person. He also was intrigued by not only her innocence and the chance to take that away and claim it, but also her ability to play the piano (Carter).

In conclusion, a lot of different stories can be based on a single thing, moral, or idea, and still be showing vastly different angles. It is shown that although all the stories have the same small connection to Perrault’s fable, and it is clear that they are based off, they don’t all follow the same path exactly. As long as the story follows a consistent line, and doesn’t add excessive amounts of detail, it can be not only easily to read, but followed along with. Whilst curiosity is an important part of all the stories mentioned, it would be wise to be careful as to what you do with it. This does not always mean bad things, as curiosity can save you from instances and harmful situations further on in life. It also goes to show that people are not always how they appear to be, some can have a mask, and it’s the terrible self they are hiding that should be feared.

Works Cited:

1. Carter, Angela. The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories. 1st ed., Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1979.
2. Perrault, Charles. Histories, or Tales of Past times: Blue Beard. 1697. Translated by Robert Samber,
3. 1729. Course Readings, University of Newcastle.
4. Nickerson, Jane. Strands of Bronze and Gold. Alfred A. Knopf, 2013.
5. Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Smith, Elder & Co., 1847.