Puss in Boots | initial response

- Only male narrator in The Bloody Chamber.

- Talking cat - fairytale-like

- Refers to himself in the 3rd person - 'Figaro here; Figaro, there, I tell you!' (76)

- Way in which it is written (Alliteration/ disjointed structure/ linguistic acrobatics) reflects his acrobatic character. 'tangerine tessellations' (76)

- Sexually promiscuous 'this little Figaro can slip into my lady's chamber' (76)

- Long sentence structure - Attention grabbing, makes the reader slow down.

- 'For all cats have this' (77)- aware of his audience, suspends disbelief.

‘The Bloody Chamber’ & ‘Visual Pleasure & Narrative Cinema’

I found a few quotes which I think makes the link between the two a strong one...

‘With the assessing eye of a connoisseur inspecting horseflesh.’ ‘inspecting cuts on a slab’ (6) - this is very impersonal/ objectifying her a just a piece of meat.

‘The chauffer eyed me; he was comparing me’ (8) - again, objectification, not seeing her as a person, comparing her to other women.

‘I have acquired a whole harem for myself!’ (10) - just looking at her as another ‘object of lust’.

‘as if he were stripping the leaves off an artichoke’ (11) - comparison to preparing food, a menial, everyday task.

Mulvey: 'The Gaze' & 'Visual Pleasure & Narrative Cinema'

"The Gaze"

Describes the act of looking; began as the study of the objectification of women in visual texts.

The commonality of female nudity - display implies subordination

Internalization of the gaze, changes women's perceptions of themselves and makes them think of themselves as objects

Objectification as a source of pleasure (for both the looker and the looked-at)

Men as the dominant group have been the looker (the subjects; women the objects)

Links back to another aspect of the feminist critique of Freud - the degree to which Freudian theory is based on visual dynamics.

Invading privacy & such

Count Dracula himself regularly invades the privacy of his victims; sneeking into their rooms while they're sleeping, biting them on the neck (which is seen as an intimate place) etc. The book itself is written in the form which invades the privacy of its characters. First, and most obviously, with Harker's journal. This insight to his private thoughts and feelings allows the reader to engage and enjoy the text by suspending their disbelief. (In this case, the reality is intended to scare the reader) This is reinforced by the use of actual dates and places, creating verisimilitude. Versimilitude is the appearance of truth (& a rather nice word don't you think?) :)