The Courtship of Mr. Lyon
As a young girl, I was captivated by the story of The Beauty and the Beast. Whenever I take an online "What Disney Princess Are You" quiz, my answer is always sputtered out to be the same: Belle. It didn't take me long to pick up on the parallels between the two stories.
People often do not look at the true meanings behind certain fairy tales. I related to this one because I was captivated by the way that one can look at this story in terms of a masculi
ne/ feminine w
ay. It is the reaction to the "otherness."-Comparison to "Taming of the Shrew?"
-Differences in genderings...genetic vs. natural-ness
-Male potential to violence
-Even at young ages, men know they are strong and have an acclivity toward violence
**Mr. Lyon shows his wildness, but he is loved anyway!
-Parable to masculinity/violence...femininity/disgust to the masculinity
The Bloody Chamber
-Perhaps women are the ones who unlock the violence within men
-The "bloody chamber" could also symbolize the womb... bleeding on her wedding night. The act of consummation as stabbing...
-Room= womb; Room= potential for male violence
-She is taking charge of her sexuality
-The mother rides in at the last night to save her daughter from execution
-The piano tuner is a male and has the violent potential, but his blindness has muted his masculine potential
-->He cannot see the red mark... think Scarlet Letter! Her red mark marks the knowledge she has in her head now.
-She is impressed with her own corruption.
-When she enters chamber, she is realizing her ability to be corrupted (sexually and physically)
-->Falling more and more away from natural human discourse. She sees the "murkiness."
-"We're all looking for a piano-tuner husband who will accept you for who you are, despite all your knowledge."
-This may be a representation of normal discourse between a man and wife. Some part of that man must be "tamed" into a piano tuner. This may be telling the facts better than the true facts tell the facts.
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