The Delineation of the Homme Fatale in Angela Carter’s “The Bloody Chamber”

Year 2021, Issue: 10, 322 - 330, 15.08.2021

Harith Turkı Tavgah Saeed

https://doi.org/10.21733/ibad.880221

Abstract

Angela Carter’s “The Bloody Chamber” is her most anthologized short story among all her other short stories. The importance of this story stems from the fact that it shows the writer’s most talented art of short story writing and also the most interesting themes a postmodern writer would ever deal with. One of the most interesting themes of this short story is the role of the homme fatale. This word homme fatale is derived from French, which means the fatal or destructive man. This man first tempts his victims and then enjoys killing them. Carter’s entire story is concerned with the Marquis’ acts of torturing and killing his wives. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to examine the role and the portrayal of the main villain of the short story, the Marquis, and his monstrous acts of torturing and killing his wives very sadistically. As an homme fatale, the Marquis first seduces his wives and entraps them in order to marry him, then after enjoying them sexually he tortures and kills them. The only survivor of his wives is in fact the narrator of this story, who shows aptly the real features of the Marquis.

Keywords

Homme Fatale, Gothic, Carter, The Bloody Chamber

Angela Carter’ın Kanlı Oda adlı Kısa Öyküsünde Homme Fatale Erkeğin Portresi

Abstract

Angela Carter’s “The Bloody Chamber” is her most anthologized short story among all her other short stories. The importance of this story stems from the fact that it shows the writer’s most talented art of short story writing and also the most interesting themes a postmodern writer would ever deal with. One of the most interesting themes of this short story is the role of the homme fatale. This word homme fatale is derived from French, which means the fatal or destructive man. This man first tempts his victims and then enjoys killing them. Carter’s entire story is concerned with the Marquis’ acts of torturing and killing his wives. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to examine the role and the portrayal of the main villain of the short story, the Marquis, and his monstrous acts of torturing and killing his wives very sadistically. As an homme fatale, the Marquis first seduces his wives and entraps them in order to marry him, then after enjoying them sexually he tortures and kills them. The only survivor of his wives is in fact the narrator of this story, who shows aptly the real features of the Marquis.

Keywords

Homme fatale, Gothic, Carter, The Bloody Chamber

References

• Abrams, M. H. et al Eds. 1987 The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol. II. New York: W.W. Norton& Company.
• Carter, Angela. 1993 The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories. New York: Penguin Books USA Inc.
• Gamble, Sara. 1997 Angela Carter: Writing from the Front Line. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
• March-Russel, Paul. 2009 The Short Story: An Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
• Sceats, Sarah. “Spring 2001). “Oral Sex: Vampiric Transgression and the Writing of Angela Carter”. In Tulsa Studies of Woman Literature. 107-121.