Objectification of women

Context
1. In the Gothic:
  1. the ‘predator’/femme fatale
    1. dangerous yet powerfully attractive; she helps portray the pain/pleasure paradox that has come to be synonymous with Gothic literature
  2. the 'victim'
    1. fragile and vulnerable, she gives the heroes something to rescue, and is often the prize for their brave endeavours
    2. often a virginal maiden
The Bloody Chamber
1. The Marquis turns the narrator into a pornographic image reflected 12 times over
2. he dictates that she wear the collar of rubies- likening her to a dog
  1. "the bloody bandage of rubies"
  2. "he would not let me take off my ruby choker"
3. he plans to murder her and keep her in his bloody Chamber as a trophy
The Courtship of Mr Lyon
1. Beauty becomes an object when her father uses her as payment for his debt to the Beast
2. Although Beauty lives luxuriously, she is treated as an object and the property of men- her father and the Beast
Tiger's Bride
1. the heroine's father considers her one of his belongings- he wagers and then loses her to The Beast.
2. seen as merely "a pearl" or "a treasure," prized for her beauty and nothing else.
3. She escapes objectification by rejecting the role of woman entirely and turning into a tigress.
Snow Child
1. the Count created a perfect girl for his own enjoyment
  1. blood red lips, skin as white as snow- made in his perfect image
  2. she does not speak and does only what she is asked to do by him
  3. he rapes her
    1. once he has had sex with her she disappears into mere objects.
      1. "a feather a bird might have dropped; a bloodstain [...] the rose"
The Lady of the House of Love
1. The Countess is the only character who objectifies men
  1. "like to caress their lean brown cheeks and stroke their rugged hair"
2. she can't have a loving and fulfilling relationship- her insatiable hunger means that she preys on men
  1. "she loathes the food she eats"
  2. "hunger always overcomes her"

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Objectification of women

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	Created by katherine.crick over 9 years ago