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Pornography, Fairy Tales, and Feminism: 's "The Bloody Chamber" Author(s): Robin Ann Sheets Reviewed work(s): Source: Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol. 1, No. 4 (Apr., 1991), pp. 633-657 Published by: University of Texas Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3704419 . Accessed: 08/05/2012 20:24

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http://www.jstor.org Pornography,Fairy Talesr and Feminism: Angela Carter's'sThe Bloody Chamber" ROBIN ANN SHEETS Departmentof Ex,glish and ComparativeLitergture Universityof Cincintzati

B RITI S H AUTH O R AngelaCarter holds a problematicplace in thede- batesabout pornography that have polarized Anglo-American feminists) originallyover issues of sadomasochismand other sexual practices, and morerecently over questions of artisticrepresentation. In Carter'scase, muchof thecontroversy has come to centeron TlgeSgdeian Woman and the IdeoloCgyofPornosgraphy (1978). Carter defends Sade because "he treats all sexualreality as a politicalreality" and he "declareshimself unequivocally forthe rightof womento filck''as aggressively,tyrannously, and cruelly as men.1In thisessay) I proposeto reassessCarter's stance on pornographyby readingThe Sadeian Woman in conjunctionwith "TheBloody Chamber" (1979),one of hermost brilliant "adult tales," and by situating both works in relationshipto the feministdebates on pornographythat began during the mid-1970sand continue to the present.Such an approach makes two assumptions:(1) thatfiction constitutes an important part ofthe contem- porarydiscourse on sexuality;and (2) thatan interdisciplinary approach is necessaryfor reading imaginative literature about sexuality. Recent works by feministphilosophers, psychologists, and film critics fiurnish new in- sightsinto the issues Carter explores in "TheBloody Chamber," such as the linkbetween sexually violent imagery and male aggression, the meaning of

I wouldlike to thankMichael Atkinson, Gisela Ecker, Tom LeClair, and Ellen Peel for their helpfillsuggestions. I would alsolike to cxprcssmy appreciationto the TaftPoundation for a summergrarlt to supportthe initialresearch for this essay. lAngela CarternThe Sadetan Woman and theIdeology of Pomo,grgthy(New York,1978), p. 27; filrtherreferences to this work,abbreviated S will be includedin the text.The book was publisheda yearlater in Londonlmder the title of TheSteian Woman:An EJcercisein CxituralHistory.

[Joxrnalf theHBaryof Sexlity 19913vol. 1) no. 4] C)1991 by The UniversityofChicago.All ri«ts reserved.1043-4070/91/0104-0004$01.00

633 634 ROBIN ANN SHEETS masochismfor women, andthe relationshipof pornographyto otherliter- aryand artisticforms. Afterproviding a briefaccount of TlseSadeiax Woman,I wiLlanalyze the relevantissues in the feministpornography debates, including the argu- ments about sadomasochismthat were so divisivein the late 1970s and early 1980s and the discussions about representationthat became in- creasinglyprevalent during the 1980s. Becausethe written debate was earlier,more extensive, more explicit, and more theoretical in Americathan in GreatBritain,2 I relyprimarily on Americanpolemicists, such as Andrea Dworkin,Robin Morgan,Gayle Rubin, and Pat Califia, for mattersof sex- ual practice. For issues of representation,I draw upon British and Americanfilm theorists and cultural critics, such as LauraMulvey, Annette Kuhn,Susan Kappeler, Mary Ann Doane, andLinda Williams. In offering a detailedstudy of one story,I am strivingfor the "fullyrealized feminist thematicreading" of pornographyadvocated by SusanRubin Suleiman.3

In 1978 The Sadeian Womanseemed isolatedand idiosyncratic.Sade ex- isted as "apotent vacancy" in Britishliterary circles because publication of his books had been curtailedin responseto a highlypublicized murder tri- al.4 Public discussion of pornographywas shaped by two opposing factions,neither of whichwas particularlyhelpfill to feminists:(1) the lib- eralconsensus represented by the WilliamsAmmittee on Obscenityand Film Censorship,which in its 1979 reportallowed the circulationbut not the displayof pornographicmaterials; and (2) the religiouslybased, right- wing, pro-censorshiplobby led byMary Whitehouse and the NationalFes-

2ManyBritish commentators base their theoretical aanalyses of pornographyon American texts. For example,in their article about lesbian sacsomasochism,Susan Ardelland Sue O'Sullivandecry the "almostcomplete absence of talkingor writing aboutsex" in England ("Upsettingan Applecart:Difference, Desire and Lesbian Sadomasochism," FeministReview 23 [June1986]: 41). A. W. B. Simpson,a memberoif the WilliamsComlriittee, notes that "virtuallyeverything which has been produced by the radicalfeminist movement on the sub- ject is Arnerican"(Pno,grgphy and Politiss: A LookBack to the WilliansCommittee [London, 1983], p. 67). 3SusanRubin Suleiman,'sPornography, Transgression, and the Avant-Garde:BataiLle's Storyof the Eye," in ThePoetics of GenderS ed. NancyK. Miller(New York,1986), p. 130. 4Justinewas firstpublished in mass-marketpaperback in 1965 andquickly went through four editions. But when the presscovering the Brady-Hindleytrial revealed that the mur- derershad torturedtheir victims in imitationof particularscenes in Sade'snovels, some politiciansand editorialwriters urged that respectablepublishers refilse to handleSade's works.According to JohnSutherlarld, 'sSince 1966, no Britishpublisher has beenprepared to put his nameto the Divine Marquis'smore notoriousbooks" (Ofensive Literature: De- censorshipinBritain, 1960-1982 [London,1982], p. 72) Porno,graphy)Fairy Tales, and Feminism 635

tival of Light.5In the late 1970s, representativesof variouswomen's groupstestified before the Williams Committee, critiques of pornography appearedin magazineslike Spare Rib) and('Reclaim the Night"marches beganin Londonand other cities. Rejecting traditional definitions that emphasizecontent (the explicitrepresentation of sexualorgans or ac- tivities)and intention (tQ arousethe audience,generally assumed to be male),feminists sought to redefinepornography as a formof violence againstwomen and to classifyas pornographic those representations which eroticizemale domination. Organized atacks on sex shopsand "adult" bookstoreswould begin in 1980, andthe 1981 publicationof booksby AndreaDworkin and Susan Griffin, fenonists active in theAmerican arlti- pornographymovement, would bring new urgency to the discussionsin GreatBritain.6 Unlikeliterary critics in Franceand America) Carter was not interested in defendingpornography in aestheticterms. She did not followtradi- tionalpolitical approaches liberal or conservative;nor did she pursue argumentsbeing formulated by feministsactive in the earlyphases of the antipornographymovement. Yet in retrospect,publication of TheSadeian Wonxanmarked the beginningedge of a controversythat would be at the centerof feministdiscourse for more than a decade. AlthoughCarter assumes that most pornography is reactionary because it serves"to reinforce the prevailingsystem of valuesand ideas in a given society,"she envisionsthe possibilityof a "moralpornographer" who woulduse the genre"as a critiqueof currentrelations between the sexes." As a critic,the moralpornographer would "penetrate to the heartof the contemptfor women that distorts our culture." As a visionaryhoping to transformsociety and human nature, such a personwould create "a world of absolutesexual licence for all the genders"(SE pp. 18-20). Carterac- knowledgesSade's misogyny- his fantasies of "woman-monsters"and his "hatredof the motheringfimction''-but she commends Sade "for claim- ingrights of freesexuality for women, and in installingwomen as bcings of powerin his imaginaryworlds't (SE pp. 25, 36). Sadeinvented women who suffer)most notably the innocentand always abused Justine, but he also inventedwomen who causesuffering, such as Justine'ssexually ag- gressiverwhip-wielding sister, Juliette. Sade believed <'it would only be throughthe medium of sexualviolence that women might heal themselves

5Fora feministcritique of the WilliamsCommittee, see SusanneKappeler, The Porno,gr- phy of Representation (Minneapolis,1986), pp. 19-34; for filrtherinformation on Mary Whitehouse,see RosemaryBetterton) cd.7 Lookin,g On: Ima,gesof Femininityin the VisualArts and Medig (London,1987), p. 145; andespecially Ruth Wallsgrove)"Between the Devil and the TrueBlue Whitehouse3' in Betterton,ed.) ppF170-74. 6sutherland,p. 143- 636 ROBIN ANN SHEETS oftheir sociallyinflicted scars, in a praxisof destructionand sacrilege" (SE p. 26). Askingthat we "givethe old monsterhis due,"Carter asserts that Sade '(putpornography in the serviceof women, or, perhaps,allowed it to be invadedby an ideologynot inimicalto women"(SE p. 37). Initialre- viewswere positive, but asthe feministarltipornography movement gained momentumin Englandand North America,The Sadeian Womgn was de- nouncedby AndreaDworkin as ';apseudofeminist literary essay."7

II When Robin Morgan characterizedwomen who opposed the antipor- nographymovement as "Sade'snew Juliettes,"she revealedhow deeplythe issuehad dividedfeminists of the early1980s. Accordingto Morgan,writ- ers like Ellen Willis, Gayle Rubin, and Pat Califiahave no right to call themselvesfeminists. By supportingpornography, they have chosen a sexu- al practice based on domination, aligned themselveswith Juliette,the power-madprotagonist of Sade'snovels who enslavedothers in pursuitof her own pleasure,and given up "all hope of connectingwith regl sexual energy.8 Morgan'sscornfill comment about other women writers is typicalofthe intenselyacrimonious debate in its sense of rigid oppositions-"for" or "against,""feminist" or "antifeminist" andin its relianceon unstatedas- sumptionsabout woman's nature. No matterhow the conflictingpositions arelabeled, each side perceives the other "asfalling into the dominantview of women associatedwith the right or left: virgins or whores, prudesor sexualobjects, victims or consentingparticipants."9 Feminists who defend pornography,such as Willis, Califia,and Rubin, often presentthemselves as "badgirls," adventurous sexual outlaws daring to breakrestraints They

7AndreaDworkin, Porno,graphy: Men Possessin,g Women (New York,1981), p. 84. 8RobinMorgan, Anatomy of Freedom:Feminism, Physics, and GlobalPolitics (New York, 1982), pp. 116-17, my emphasis. 9AnnRusso, "Conflicts and Contradictions among Feminists over Issues of Pornography andSexual Freedom," WomennsStgdiesInternationalForum 10 (1987): 106. Criticshave util- ized a varietyof termsto definethe opposingpositions in the feministpornography debates: "anti-porn"versus C'pro-porn"(Russo); "radical"versus "libertarian" (Cheryl H. Cohen, "The FeministSexuality Debate: Ethics and Politics,"HSatig1 [1986]: 71-86); "cllltural feminists"versus "radical feminists" (Alice Echols, "The Taming of the Id: FeministSexual Politics,1968-83," in Pleasxreand Danger: Ensplorin,gFemale Sencuality, ed. CaroleS. Vance [Boston, 1984], pp. 50-72); "puritans"versus "perverts" (Joanne Russ, MagicMon^nas, TrewblixgSisters, Psritans and Perverts:Feminist Essays [Trumansburg, NY, 1985]); "good girls"versus "bad girls" (Lisa Orlando, "Bad Girls and 'Good'Politics," Voice Literary Supple- ment [December7, 1982], pp. 1, 16-19); "anti-pornographyfeminists" versus "social constructionists"(Linda Williams, Hard Core: Power; Pleasure, and "TheFrenzy of the Visible'9 [Berkeley,1989])......

Pomo,graphyD,Fairy TaZesJ, and Beminism ns X

depictthe antipornographyessayists as "goodgirls"-sentimental, naive, andsexually repressed. These ';new Juliettes') regard Morgan and other antipornographyactivists as the "newJustines": by theirconstant com- plaintsagainst male brutality, they make themselves into perpetual victsms. RobinMorgan issued the rallyingcry of the feministantipornography movementduring the mid-1970s: "Pornography isthe theory, and-rape the practice."10Some activistsdistinguished between "pornography,"con- demnedas causeof women'soppression, and "erotica"celebrated by GloriaSteinem as 'Camutually pleasurable, sexual expression between peoplewho haveenough power to be thereby positivechoice.''l1 More radicalfeminists, such as AndreaDworkin) opposed all heterosexual rela- tionships,claiming that the violenceand aggression of pornographyare essentialcharacteristics of malesexuality. According to antipornography feminists,pornography does not producesexual pleasure; instead, it dis- playsmale power-CCthe power ofthe self,physical power over and against others,the power of terror,the power of naming,the power of owning,the powerof money,and the power of sex.''12Pornography is not simply a form Otexpress1on; rat 1er) lt 1San act1on agatnst women. Althoughsome critics have attempted to centerdiscussion on a category called'sviolent pornography,)'l3 many argue that all pornographyis vio- lent:in its content whichinvolves scenes of bondage,rape, mutilation andtorture-and in its structuresof representation,which silence, objcc- tify,and fragment the female.In the pornographicscenario analyzed by SusanneKappeler, 'sThe woman object is twiceobjectified: once as object of the actionof the scenario,and once as object of the representation,the objectof viewing.''l4Drawing upon theories of the malegaze introduced byfilmmaker Laura Mulvey and defining sadomasochism quite broadly "as anysexual practice that involves the eroticizationof relationsof domina- tion and submission,)'l5these feministsmaintain that pornography encouragessadomasochism by placingthe maleviewer/reader in the sa- dist'sactive position while assigning the masochist'spassive role to the femaleviewer/reader. Antipornographyfeminists decry the harm done to womenin the pro-

l°Robin Morgan,Goia

l6AndreaDworkin, OurBlood: Prophecies andDiscourses on SencualPolitics(London, 1982), p. 111. 17Thebest knowncampaigns were those in supportof the MacKinnon-Dworkinordi- nances in Minneapolis(1983) and Indianapolis(1984). The legal complexitiesof the MacKinnon-Dworkinargument are beyond the scopeof thisarticle. Interested readers shollld see DonaldAlexander Downs, TheNewPoliticsof Porxography (Chicago, 1989); and Catharine A. MacKinnon,Feminzsm Unmodif ed: Discourseson Life and Law (Cambridge,MA, 1987). l8EllenWillis, "Feminism, Moralism, and Pornography," in Powers of Desire: ThePolitics of Sexxatity, ed. Ann Snitow,Christine Stansell, and SharonThompson (New York,1983), p. 464. Pornosgraphy,Fairy Tales, and Fesninism 639 tation and violence"rather than sexual or affectionalpreference.19 The protestsof Pat Califia,Gayle Rubin, and other membersof Samois,a self- defined"group of feministlesbians who sharea positiveinterest in saclo- masochism,"helped shape arguments against the antipornography movement.Although proponents of sadomasochisminsist that power is an integralpart of sexualrelationships, they deny that one personkeeps the other in a stateof submission.Emphasizing fantasy, theatricality-scripts, costumes,and props-and play,they presentsadomasochism as "anerot- icized exchange of power negotiated between two or more sexual partners."20Under the termsof this analysis,sadomasochism does not rep- licatethe structuresof oppression.Rather, it is C;thequintessence of non- reproductivesex" and iithemost radicalattempt in the fieldof sexualpol- itics to promote the fimdamentalpurpose of sex as being simply pleasure."2l Althoughconcerns about sexual practices dominated the earlyphases of the debates, by the mid-1980s questions about representationwere be- coming equallydivisive, especially in artisticand academiccommunities. Using increasinglybroad definitionsof pornography,antipornography feministschallenged the lines betweenhard-core and soft-core,pornogra- phy andart, popular culture and high culture;they alsocut acrosshistorical boundaries.For example,in her analysisof objectification-a key charac- teristicof pornography Dworkinlinks the philosophyof ErnestBecker, "everysoap and cosmeticcommercial," the prose of NormanMailer, and the poetry of John Keats.22Although such juxtapositionsare often provocative,polemicists like Dworkinand GriEn tend to ignorevariables of genre,audience, and context. Moreover,when CatharineMacKinnon declares that pornography"is a formofforced sex,"she identifiesthe representationof a rapewith the rape itself.23There is no differencebetween image and act: "Whena manlooks at a pornographicpicture pornographicmeaning that the womanis de- finedas to be actedupon, a sexualobject, a sexualthing the viewing is an act an actofmale supremacy.... Pornographyisnot imageryinsomerela- tion to a realityelsewhere constructed. It is not a distortion, reflection, projection,expression, fantasy, representation, or symboleither. It is sexual

l9PatCalifia, "A Personal View ofthe Historyofthe LesbianS/M Communityand Move- mentin SanFrancisco," in Cotnin,gto Power: Writin,gs and Graphics on Lesbian S/M) ed. Samois (Boston, 1982), p. 270. Many feministswho defendsadomasochism speak from a lesbian

. . vlewpolnt. 20Samois,ed.) p. 288. 2lJeffireyWeeks, Sexuality and Its Discontents:Meanin,gs, Myths and ModernSexualities (London,1985), pp. 239-40. 22Dworkin,Por¢o,graphy (n. 7 above),p. 115. 23MacKinnon,Feminism UnmodiJiedn p. 148, my emphasis. 640 ROBIN ANN SHXETS reality.t'24In ThePornoflraphy of Representgtion,Susanne Kappeler insists thatthe pornographerand the artistdo the samething <'in terms of repre- sentation,and with respect to theobjectification ofthe femalegender.... Whatfeminist analysis identifies as the pornographic stmcture of represen- tation-not the presenceof a variablequality of 'sex,'but the systematic objectificationof womenin the interestof theexclusive subjectification of men-is a commonplace of artand literature as well as of conventional pornography.'Given current political conditions, Kappeler concludes that a committedfeminist cannot be a committedartist.25 The problem is clear. As KathyMyers has argued,if feministsaccept such "perceptual essen- tialism"and agree that all forms of representationare harmfill to women, thenthey will lose the ability to communicate)relinquish the right to repre- senttheir own sexuality, and deny themselves pleasure.26 i'Good girls' will haveneither voice nor vision; all the artistswill be "badgirls." Althoughscholars in severaldisciplines now express dissatisfaction with the generalizedand ahistoricalpronouncements of the feministanti- pornographymovement, the mostpromising recent work has come from filmcritics who also refilte some ofthe traditionaltenets of psychoanalytic thcorywhile giving carefill attention to economicand sc)cial contexts. Con- vincedthat previous theories of representationand audience response have provedto be inadequate,Gaylyn Studlar, Tania Modleski, and Kaja Silver man call for a reconceptualizationof the pleasuresof masochism. Determinedto understandwhat masochism means to women,Mary Ann Doane,Carol J. Clover,and Linda Williams propose carefill distinctions amongdifferent types of materialsand narrow their focus to a particular genre,such as the i'paranoidwoman's film" ofthe 1940s,the slasher film of the 1970sand 1980so or thestag fiJm; in analyzingaudience response, they seeka theoryof thespectator that has historical and sexual specificity. Like manyother critics of thevisual arts, they object to Mulvey'saccount of the malegaze because it reducesthe woman to objectand denies her pleasure. As analternative theory, Doane suggests that viewers might identify with the femaleprotagonists who exercise'

III In herprotests against the repressionof women'ssexual desire, her deter- minationto breakthe ideologicallink between sex and romance, and her apparentwillingness to acceptsadomasochism asan eroticized exchange of powernegotiated between partners, Carter anticipates many of the argu- mentsmade in supportof pornographyduring the 1980s.Indeed, in The SadeianWomann Carter appears to beone of thenew Juliettes, a "badgirl" promotingan aggressive,power-oriented sexuality. Jarnes Sloan Allen de- scribesCarter as an ';authorof pornography";Arnanda Sebestyen calls her

28Williams(n. 9 above))pp. 215, 217. 29Ibid.,p. 259. 642 ROBIN ANN SHEETS i'thehigh priestess of post-graduateporn."30 According to AvisLewallen, Carteris caughtin Sade'sscheme of binaryoppositions; according to Kap- peler,she has fled to a "literarysanctuary" where she treatsSade as a culturalartifact beyond the reach of politicalcriticism.3l In contrast)I will argue that Carter is practicingintensely political crit- icism.Her stance on pornographyresists easy categorization. Indeed, the thematicsof "TheBloody Chamber" align her with the antipornography feministswho havebeen among her most vehement critics. In this story, malesexuality is death-orientedthe male xnurders with his eye, his penis) his sword.Pornography becomes a displayof malepower, expression arzd causeof men'saggression againstwomen. The pornographyrepresentedin the storydoes not offerthe womana wayto be a sexualrebel; instead, it subjectsher to harm.Has Carter become one ofthe "goodgirls" repudiat- ing pornography,even at the risk of endingheterosexual relationships? Or doesshe seek to escapefrom dichotomles altogether, including the C'good girl/badgirl" dichotomy that has divided feminists at both the practical andthe theoreticallevelst Inhercollection,TheBloodyChgmberaxd OtherAdultTales (1979)! Car- ter retellssuch well-known fairy tales as '4Bluebeard,''"Beauty and the Beast,"","and "." "I was using the latentcontent of thosetraditional stories," she told an interviewer."And thatlatent content is violentlysexual "32 Carter associates traditional tales with the "subliteraryforms of pornography,ballad and dream.'X33 ';Thc BloodyChamber" the firststory in the volume,continues but also qualifies theanalysis of semalityand culture that Carter had begun a year earlierin TheSadeign Woman. Drawing upon that study, I willread "The BloodyChamber) against three kinds of fiction:(1) thefairy tale of CCBlue- beard"and the interpretivetraditions surrounding it during the nineteenthand twentieth centuries;- (2) pornographicfiction! especially Justine(1791), the Sadenovel Carter describes as ';ablack, inverted "(SE p. 39)>and (3) Freud'stheory offemale development) which is, accordingto Carter,an account"of such extraordinarypoetic force that . . . it retainsa culturalimportance analogous . . . to themyth ofthe crimeof Eve"(SE p. 125). Cartertakes the basicelements of herstory from Charles Perraults ('La

30JamesSloan Allen, CCWhereEgo Was,)'Nation 229 (October6, 1979): 312; Amanda Sebestyen,;'The Mannerist Marketplace," New Socialist47(March 1987): 38. 3lAvisLewallen, "Wayward Girls but WickedWomen? Female Sexuality in AngelaCar- ters TheBloody Chamber," in Pe7spectivesonPornoBraphy: Sexuality in Filmand Literature, ed. GaryDay andClive Bloom (New York,1988), p. 146; Kappeler,p. 134. 32KerrynGoldsworthy, "Angela Carter,"Meanjin 44 (March1985): 6. 33AngelaCarter, "Afterword," in her Pireworks:Nine ProfanePieces (London, 1974) p. 122. Porno,graphy)Fairy Tales, and Feminism 643

BarbeBleue" (1697), whichis the earliestwritten version ofthe tale. In Perrault'sseventeenth-century conte, a young girl is revoltedby her suitor'sblue beardand suspiciousabout the mysteriousdisappearance of his previouswives. But she is so dazzledby his extravagantwealth andthe seeminglyendless pleasures of his partiesthat she soon marrieshim. Short- ly afterthe marriage,Bluebeard subjects his wife to a test: he departsfrom the mansion,giving her the keysto all the roomsbut warningher against enteringa "littleroom . . . at the end of a darklittle corridor." Consumed, almost immediately,with "the desireto open the door of the forbidden room,"the wife findscorpses of his murderedwives strewn about the cham- ber.In herhorror, she drops the keyon the blood-clottedfloor and is unable to removethe stain.When the husbanddiscovers the bloodykey, he imme- diately realizeswhat has happened.Enraged at his wife'stransgression, Bluebeardorders her to preparefor death.But just as he lifts his cutlassto beheadher, her brothersburst through the door andkill him. The wife in- heritsher husband'smoney, which she uses to help her sisterand brothers and "tomarryherselfto an honest man who madeher forget her sorrows as the wife of Bluebeard."34 According to folklorists,oral versions of this tale were widespread throughoutEurope long beforePerrault composed his conte.In one ver- sion, the maidenwaits for her brothersto rescueher from the murderous ogre; in another,a cleveryoung woman tricksthe ogre, securesher own escape, and saves her sistersfrom his rage.35These oral tales, which are lackingin didacticistn,provide little commentaryon the characters'ac- tions. When Perraultdeveloped the firstliterary version of the Bluebeard tale, he chose the helpless heroine ratherthan the cleverone. He also appendedtwo sophisticatedmorglites in verse:the first, presumablyad- dressedtohiswomen readers, cautions againstthe dangers of curiosity;the secondwarns husbands against making impossible demands on theirwives. Althoughthe morallesson of this prohibition/transgressiontale is "some- what ambiguous,"36it does seem that Perraultis as muchconcerned with the husband'sjealousy as with the wife'scuriosity. However,by the earlynineteenth century, ;'the rich ambiguities attend- ing the curiosityof Bluebeard'swife in Perrault'stale are sorted out and funneledinto two separatetale types by the Grimms.... By the time that the Nurseryand HouseholdTgles appeared[in 1812], 'Bluebeard'had branchedoffinto cwoseparate narratives: one a cautionaryfairy tale about the hazardsof curiosity[such as "Mary'sChild"], the other a folk tale de-

34CharlesPerrault, 'CBluebeard,5' in Sleepix,g Beauty and OtherFavounte Fairy Tales,trans. AngelaCarter (New York,1984), pp. 20, 34, 39. 35ArlttiAarne, The T:ypesof the Folktale,trans. and enlarged by StithThompson (Helsinki, 1964), pp. 101-2. 36JeanneMorgan, Perrault'sMoralsforModerns (New York,1985), pp. 110-11. 644 ROBIN ANN SHEETS

picting the triumphof a cleveryoung woman over a bloodthirstyvillain [suchas "Fowler'sFowl"]."37 Tales of femaletriumph abound in the folk tradition,38but it was the other type-the diclacticstory warning against female curiosity-- that gained popularityon the stages and in the book- stalls of nineteenth-centuryEurope. Maria Tatar has found that "nearly every nineteenth-centuryprinted version of 'Bluebeard'singles out the heroine'scuriosity as an especiallyundesirable trait."39 Thus by the nine- teenth centurythe wife's disobediencehad becomea much more serious issuethan the husband'sviolence. Twentieth-centurysympathizers with the wife have sometimesrecast hertransgression as a heroicsearch for knowledge.40But in the most influ- entialmodern interpretation of the story,psychoanalyst Bruno Bettelheim emphasizesthe wife's wrongdoing, which he defines in explicitlysexual terms.According to Bettelheim,the blood on the key "seemsto symbolize that the woman had sexual relations"with the castle'sguests. For Bet- telheim,this is "a cautionarytale which warns:Women, don't give in to yoursexual curiosity; men, don'tpermit yourselfto be carriedaway byyour angerat being sexuallybetrayed.''4l Writingaffixst the interpretivetradition that emphasizesthe wife'sil- licit sexualcuriosity, Angela Carter makes four importantchanges in the tale. First,she depictsthe husband,whom she renames"the Marquis," as a patronof the arts and collectorof pornography,thereby demonstrating a culturalfoundation for his sadismand suggestinga relationshipbetween artand aggressiors. Second, she grantsmoral complexity and narrative con- trol to the wife, who tells the tale fromher own point of view.Third, she developsthe characterof the secondhusband so that he standsas an alter- nativeto the type of masculinityrepresented by the Marquis.Fourth, she restoresto prominencea figurewho is strikingly,ominously, absent from

37MariaTatar, TheHard Facts of the Grimms'FairyTales (Princeton,NJ, 1987), pp. 171, 178. 38Talesof triumphantwomen indude tlle English"Mr. Fox," where Lady Margaret out- wits herwife-murdering suitor before the marriage;the Italian"Silver Nose," where a young girlrecognizes the dernonicmale and rescues her sisters from the hellishfires of his forbidden chamber;and the Grimmbrothers' "Fowler's Fowl," where the heroinefinds the mutilated bodies of her sistersin the secretroom, magically restores them to life, andtricks the blood- thirstywizard into takingthem home to theirparents. 39Tatar,p. 158. 40See,for example,Maeterlinck's play Ariadne et Barbe-Bleuein MauriceMaeterlinck, "SgsterBeatrice"and 'Ariadne and BarbeBleue," trans. BernardMiall (New York,1910) and SylviaTownsend Warner's , "Bluebeard's Daughter" (in herThe CatJsCradleBook [NewYork,1940]) 41BrunoBettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment:The Meaning and Importanceof Fairy Tales (New York,1977), pp. 301-2. ; f Porno,graphy,Fairy Tales, and Feminism 645 fairytales, from pornographic fiction, and from the Freudiantheory of femalcdcvelopment: the strong,loving, and couragcous mother.42 AlthoughCartcr follows hcr scvcntccnth-century sourcc by making thc husbandwcalthy, shc moves beyond Perrault by dcpicting the husbandas a devotccof opcra,an admircr of Baudelairc,and a collcctorof booksand paintings.Hcre shc drawsupon thc popularFrcnch tradition of associat- ing Bluebcardwith Gillcs de Rais( 1404-40), companion-in-armsto Joan of Arc,Marshal of Franccunder Charlcs VII, rcfincdpatron of thc arts, axd child-murdcrcr.43Intcrest in Gillcsdc Raishad "suddcnlyrcvived" duringthe ninctecnthccntury, exactly whcn it couldbc fittedinto a ncw catcgoryof crimc:sex-killing.44 With his atrocious crimcs and hisacsthet- ic scnsibilities,Gillcs dc Rais becamcan importantfigure in dccadcnt litcrature,most cspcciallyin J. F. Husman'sLa-bas (1891), a copy of whichis lavishlydisplaycd in thc Marquis'slibrary. Thc Marquis'sshim- mcringcastlc by the scasccms to comefrom an imaginarwrworld. But b locatingit in Brittanyand by dcscribingthc villagcrs'fears of thc blood- thirstyMarquis, Carter also cvokcs thc brutalfcudalism of the historical Gillcsdc Rais.Unfortunatcly, abuscs of malcpowcr social,cconomic, cultural,political, and sexual arc not confinedto pastsocictics. The Marquis'spurchascs, such as the wardrobcby Poiret,bring thc storyinto "morcdemocratic timcs,"45 thc carlypart of the twcnticthcentury. Rcfcr- cnccsto the tclcphonc,thc stockmarkct, and thc intcrnationaldrug tradc idcntifythc Marquis as a modcrnbusincssman and cstablish thc cconomic basisof his artcollcction. With his wcalth,thc Marquiscan offerthe youngwoman tickets to Trzstan,a Bcchsteinpiano, an carlyFlemish primitivc of SaintCecclia. Fromcourtship through consummation, hc uscsart to aidin seduction. ThusCarter situates the storyin the traditionof "acstheticsadomasoch- ism":works that ccnteron thc "educationof one personin the sexual fantasyof anotherthrough complcx rolc playing cued to worksof artand

42Insome variants ofthe Bluebeardtale, thc mothcris the causeofthc daughtcr'scnslave- ment.The storybegins whcn the motheris imprisoncdand decidcs to giveher daughter to the tyrantin ordcrto savchcr own liSc. 43Accordingto ReginaldHyattc, Pcrrault did not basehis characterizationof Bluebeard oll Gillcsde Rais.Rathcr, it wasthe pcoplcof Brittanywho traditionallyassociated the histor- icalchild-murderer with thc fictionalwiSc-murdcrcr (Lau,ghterfortheDevil: The Triab ofGilles deRais, Companion-in-ArmsofJoanof Arc [Rutherford,NJ, 1984], p. 25). Comorrethe Curscd (ca. 500), a Brcttonchieftain who murderedhis wivcswhen they becamcpregnant, has also bcensuggcstcd as a historicalantcccdent for Bluctward. 44DcborahCamcron and Elizabeth Frazcr, TheLusttoKill:A FeministInvest,iyationof Sex- ualMurder(Ncw York,1987), p. 22. 45AngclaCarter, The BloodyChamber and OtherAdult Tales(New York,1981), p. 36; sub- scquentreferenccs to this work,abbreviatcd BC, will be incorporatcdinto the text. 646 ROBIN ANN SHEETS imagination."46As the brideis being undressed,she realizesthat her hus- band has arrangedtheir encounterto resemblean etching. "Andwhen nothing but my scarlet,palpitating core remained, I saw,in the mirror,the living image of an etching by Rops from the collection he had shown me . . . the childwith her sticklikelimbs, naked but for her buttonboots, hergloves, shielding her face with herhand as though her face were the last repositoryof her modesty; and the old, monocledlecher who examined her,limb by limb"(BC, p. 12). The gentlemandisplays age, wealth, experi- ence, andthe powerofthe eye;the child-likefemale is reducedto an object of the malegaze. Perhapsthe narratorcalls this the "mostpornographic of all confrontations"(BC, p. 12) becauseshe realizesthat by giving herselfto be lookedat, she has enteredwhat Jonathan Elrner calls "the classic porno- graphiccontract."47 Laterthat day,the young wife is shockedby illustrationsin one of her husband'sbooks: "I hadnot bargainedfor this, the girlwith tearshanging on her cheekslike stuckpearls, her cunt a splitfig belowthe greatglobes of her buttockson which the knottedtails of the cat were aboutto descend, while a man in a blackmask fingeredwith his free hand his prick,that curvedupwards like the scimitarhe held. The picturehad a caption:'Re- proof of curiosity"'(BCn p. 14). Throughthe caption, Carterlinks the flagellationscene, a stapleof nineteenth-centurypornography, to the Blue- beardtale. Moreover,by representingthe male as a Turkishsultan raising his scimitar,Carter acknowledges the orientalizingof the tale which oc- curred among dramatists and illustrators.48Another engraving, "Immolationof the wives of the Sultan,"stimulates the groom to takehis brideto bed in a mirror-linedroom in broaddaylight. "All the betterto see you,"he says(BC, p. 15). In both episodes- the disrobingand the defloration the contrastbe- tweenthe husband'saction andthe wife'simmobility seems to supportthe theoryofthe malegaze articulated by filmcritic E. ArrnKaplan: "To begin with, men do not simplylook; their gaze carries with it the powerof action andpossession that is lackingin the femalegaze. Women receive and return a gaze, but cannotact on it. Second,the sexualizationand objectification of women is not simplyfor the purposesof eroticism;from a psychoanalytic point of view, it is designedto annihilatethe threatthat woman (as cas-

46Williams(n. 9 above),p. 224. 47JonathanElmer, "The Exciting Gonflict:The Rhetoricof Pornographyand Anti- Pornography,"Cultural Critique 8 (Winter1987-88): 67. 48Asexamples of the way the tale hasbeen orientalized in England,Juliet McMaster dis- cusses George Coleman'spopular pantomime, Blue-beard, or Female Cunosity (1798) and WilliamThackeray's illustrations to TheAtut Htstory of Blue Beard (1833) (see her "Blue- beard:ATale o5Matrimony,"ARoom of Ones Own 2 [Summer/Fall1976]: 10-19). Porxo,graphy,Fairy Tales, axd Feminism 647 trated, and possessing a sinister genital organ) poses."49According to LauraMulvey,"thewoman as icon, displayedforthe gazeandenjoyment of men, the activecontrollers of the look, alwaysthreatens to evokeanxiety." The maleunconscious might escape from this castrationanxiety by becom- ing preoccupiedwith 'ithe re-enactmentof the originaltrauma"; Mulvey calls this reaction, which involves investigating and demystifyingthe woman,"voyeurism": "Voyeurism . . . hasassociations with sadism:plea- sure lies in ascertainingguik (immediatelyassociated with castration), assertingcontrol and subjectingthe guiltyperson through punishment or forgiveness.This sadisticside fitsin well with narrative.Sadism demands a story,depends on makingsomething happen, forcing a changein another person)a battleof will andstrengh, victory/defeat, all occurring in a linear time with a beginning and an end."50Carter's voyeuristic Marquis is in- deed a sadist in termsof his sexualpractices and in termsof his controlof narrative:he has arrangedthe setting,written the script,and set the plot in motion. Accordingto the bride,the initialsexual encounter taught her the truth of Baudelaire'sstatement: "There is a strikingresemblance between the act of love andthe ministrationsof a torturer"(BC, p. 29). The husband'spoet- ic allusionsand his penchantfor forcinghis nude wife to wear a jeweled collarshow his allegianceto Baudelaire,while his title, his sexualpractices, andthe furnishingsin his forbiddenroom link him to Sade.The Marquis's bloody chamberrecalls several rooms inJustine,such as the monks'pavil- ion, which is reachedthrough a winding undergroundtunnel and filled with "scourges,ferules, withes, cords,and a thousandother instruments of torture,''5land Roland's subterranean cave, which is hungwith skulls,skel- etons, bundlesof whips,and collections of sabers.Carter's Marquis bears a 49E. Ann Kaplan,"Is the GazeMale?" in Snitow,Stansell, andThompson, eds. (n. 18 above), p. 311. Some psychoanalyticcritics such as SusanLurie ("Pornographyand the Dreadof Women:The Male SexualDilemma," in Lederer,ed. [n. 11 above],pp. 159-73) questionwhether the boy is traumatizedby the possibilityof his mother'scastration; as Linda Williamsexplains, a boy'sreal fear may be thathis motheris not mutilated.Thus, the notionof womanas castrated man may be "acomforting, wishfill fantasy intended to combatthe child's imagineddread of what his mother'svery real power could do to him" (LindaWilliams, "Whenthe WomanLooks," in Doane,Mellencamp, and Williams, eds. [n. 27 above],p. 89). The theoryof the malegase is being questioned,revised, and refilted, especially by feminist filmcritics trying to finda placefor the femalespectator. I emphasizeLaura Mulvey ("Visual Pleasureand Narrative Cinema," Screen 16 [Autumn1975]: 6-18) andKaplan ("Is the Gaze Male?"and Womenand Film: Both Sides of the Camera [New York,1983] ) becausetheir theo- rzs have the most explanatorypower for "The Bloody Chamber"and The Sadeian Woman. 50Mulvey,pp. 13-14. 51D. A. F. de Sade,Three CompleteNovels, trans. Richard Seaver and Austryn Wainhouse (New York,1965), p. 567. 648 ROBIN ANN SHEETS particularlyclose resemblanceto the (Comtede Gernande,the aristocratin J?stinewho equipshis apartmentwith strapsto bind his wives andsurgical devicesto bleed them to death. Both the Marquisand Gernandehave al- readykilled three wives; both havea lustfor blood.Unlike most libertines, they arecommitted to torturingwomen within marriage. Forthese malecharacters, sex does not appearto be a pleasurableexperi- ence. Accordingto Carter,the libertinetsorgasm is "annihilating,appall- ing,')marked by screams,blasphemies) and fits; it requireshim "to die in pain and to painfilUlyreturn from death"(SE pp. 149-50). The brideof "TheBloody Chamber"gives a similardescription of her husband:"I had heardhim shriekand blasphemeat the orgasm."For this ('one-sidedstrug- gle,"the Marquisbrought his brideto "the carved,gilded bed on which he had been conceived"-and presumablyborn (BC, p. 15). Immolating the woman upon his ancestralbed becomesan act of protest againsthis mother. In The SadeianWoman Carter explains that the libertine feels "greed,envy andjealousy, a helplessrage at the organsof generationthat boreus into a worldof painwhere the enjoymentofthe sensesis allthat can alleviatethe dailyhorror of living. . . . Sade'squarrel, therefore) is not only with the mother,who can deprivehim of love and sustenanceat will; it is the very factof generationthat he findsintolerable" (SE p. 135). Perhaps the Marquis,like the Sadeianlibertine, C'cannot forgive the other,not for what she is, but for what she has done-for having thoughtlessly,need- lessly inflicted life upon him" (SE p. 135). This animositytoward thc motheralso helpsaccount for the emphasison the Marquis'sgaze. Accord- ing to Kaplan,'CThe domination of women by the male gaze is part of men'sstrategy to containthe threatthat the motherembodies, and to con- trol the positive and negative impulses the memory traces of being motheredhave left in the maleunconscious."52 While the husbandis defeated,reduced earen before death to one of 'Cthoseclockwork tableaux of Bluebeardthat you see in glasscases at fairs" (BCnp. 45), the wife survivesto tell the story of her moraldevelopment. Unlike the women in the illustrations)she is not trappedin a visualrepre- sentation.Because she has a voice, she canbe heardwithout being seen.To be sure, the use of a femalenarrator does not in and of itselfconstitute a challengeto the conventionsof pornography.As Kappelerhas arguednthe 'Cassumptionofthe Semalepoint of view andnarrative voice the assump- tion of linguisticand narrative female 'subjectivity' -inno waylessens the pornographicstructure, the indamental elision of the woman as sub- ject."53 Sade'sJuliette personifies "the whore as story-teller,"using narra- tive to entertainher captorsand evadedeath (SE p. 81). Yetunlike the

52Kaplan,"Is the GazeMale>" p. 324. 53Kappeler(n. 5 above),p. 90. PornoBraphy,Fairy Tales,axd Feminism 649 femalenarrators who have such a prominentplace in thehistory of porno- graphicfiction, Carter's narrator is not usinglanguage to providesexual entertainmentfor male readers.54Roland Barthes would see the pro- tagonist'scontrol of languageas evidence of a shiftin power:"The master is he who speaks,who disposesof the entiretyof language;the objectis he whois silent,who remains separate, by a mutilation more absolute than any erotictorture, from any access to discourse,becallse he doesnot even have any rightto receivethe master'sword."55 Susarl Griffin would see the femalevoice as constituting a challengeto pornography,a genre which as- sumesmale control of languageand C'expresses an almostmorbid fear of femalespeech."56 Theyoung woman not only escapes from silence; she also avoids the di- chotomizedtreatment of femalecharacters in fairytales and pornographic fiction.In TheSadeian Womgn, Carter argued that Sade's "straitjacket psy- chology"-his beliefthat virtue and vice areinnate "relateshis fiction directlyto the blackand white ethical world of fairytale and fable" (SE p.82). Fairy tales, as Andrea Dworkin indicates, offer only "two definitions of woman":"There is the goodwoman. She is a victim.There is the bad woman.She must be destroyed.The good woman must be possessed. The badwoman must be killed,or punished.Both must be nullified."57The womanin "TheBloody Chamber' is not modeledafter either of thepro- tagonistsin the traditionalBluebeard tales described by MariaTatar: the victimwho is rightlypunished for her curiosityor the avenger,the tri- umphantheroine who singlehandedlydefeats the tyrant.Nor doesshe fit the Sadeiancategories, for she is neitherJuliette, the aggressor,nor Jus- tine,the helpless martyr who aspires to be 'Ctheperfect woman." According to Carter,Justine defines virtue in passiveterms of obedienceand sexual abstinence.Unable to act,unchanged by experience, she is "theheroine of a black,inarerted fairy-tale":

54Thenarrator addresses the readeras Gyou33 at sevenpoints in the story.On two occa- sions, the narratorrecognizes the reader'sright to judge her and issues a modest plea for leniency(BC, pp. 9, 17). On two otheroccasions, she doubts her ability to conveythe quality of herexperience to the reader:she cannot transmit the intensityof horrorshe felt upon seeing herhusband's car return (BCn p. 36); norcm sheid mphing in the reader'sexperience com- parableto the strangesight of hermother riding to her rescue(BC) p. 45). In wo places,she assumesthat she andthe readerhave some commonexperiences: the readerhas seen "clock- worktableaux of Bluebeard"at fairs(p. 45); the readermight also sharesome knowledgeof practicesin the brothel.But the narratordoes not want the readerto indulgein too much fantasy:in the next paragraph,she tellsthe readernot to imagine"much finesse" in herhus- bandSsritualistic foreplay (BC) p. 12). 55RolandBarthes, Sade, Fogrier, Loyol«, trans. Richard Miller (New York,1976), p. 31. 56SusanGriffin, Porno,graphy and Siten: Culture'sReven,ge aBainst Nature (New York, 1981), p. 89. 57AndreaDworkin, Waman Hatin, (New York,1974), p. 48. 650 ROBIN ANN SHEETS

To be the objectof desireis to be definedin the passivecase. To existin the passivecase is to die in the passivecase-that is, to be killed. This is the moralof the fairytale aboutthe perfectwoman. [SE pp. 76-77] In Carter'sanalysis, "Justine marks the start of a self-regardingfemale masochism";she, not Sade, personifiesthe pornographyof the female conditionduring the twentiethcentury (SE p. 57). In contrast,the pro- tagonistof "TheBloody Chamber" learns that she is not a perfectwoman; she hasthe rightto act, to experiencethe consequencesof herdecisions, to learnfrom error. Hence she achievesa muchmore complicated sense of mo- ralitythan Bluebeard'swife or Sade'sJustine. That morality is, however, founded on her sense of "shame"(BC, p. 46).58 In Sade'snovel, the everpure Justine was ableto havethe brand on her shoulderremoved by a surgeon.In contrast,Carter's young bride must beara permanentmark on herforehead: a "heart-shapedstain" from the bloodykey (BC,p. 40).59 Reflectingon her experiences,the narratorfeels ashamedof the mate- rialism that drove her to marry the Marquisand of her complicityin sadomasochism.Carter casts her protagonistin genteel povertyto show "relationshipsbetween the sexesare determined by . . . the historicalfact of the economicdependence of womenupon men"(SE pp. 6-7). Raised by a widowed motherwho "beggaredherself for love,"the young woman wears"twice-darned underwear " and"faded gillgham'' so thatshe can con- tinue herstudy of music(BC, pp. 2, 6). Whenthe Marquisappears offerirlg operatickets and an opal ring, the protagonistwillingly forsakes her moth- er's shabbinessfor his extravagance:"This ring, the bloody bandageof rubies,the wardrobeof clothesfrom Poiret and Worth, his scentof Russian leather all had conspiredto seduceme" (BC,p. 8). She laterrealizes that she soldherselffor "a handfill of coloredstones and the peltsof deadbeasts" (BC, p. 16). At the end of Perrault'stale, the protagonistkept Bluebeard's moneyto filrtherher happiness and that of herfamily; Carter's protagonist distributesher inheritanceto charity,retaining only enoughto starta small musicschool. The narrator'sunderstanding of sexualityalso changes. Her motherhad

58Insteadof recognizinga painfulbut ultimatelyhuman pattern of moralgrowth, Avis Lewallen(n. 31 above)argues that it is "unfair"for the womanto be "brandedas guilty" (p. 152). 59KariE. Lokke,who interpretsthe storyas a challengeto sadomasochism,argues that the heartis "alsoa badgeof courage. . . evidenceof the unconditionalpower of love, both the indomitablelove of the motherand the total acceptanceof the gentlemale partner" ("Blue- beardand TheBloody Chamber: The Grotesqueof Self-Parodyand Self-Assertion,"Frontiers 10 [1988]: 11). Porno,graphy,Fairy Tales, and Feminism 651 givenher a legacyof romanceand a bit of factualknowledge. "My mother, with all the precisionof hereccentricity, had told me whatit wasthat lovers did; I was innocentbut not naive,"she recalls(BC, p. 14). During the en- gagement,she discoversher "potentialityfor corruption"when she attends the operawearing the rubychoker given to her by the Marquis: I sawhim watchingme in the gildedmirrors with the assessingeye of a connoisseurinspecting horseflesh,or even of a housewifein the market,inspecting cuts on the slab.I'd neverseen, or else had never acknowledged,that regardof his before,the sheercarnal avarice of it; and it was strangelymagnified by the monocle lodged in his left eye.... And I saw myself,suddenly, as he saw me, my pale face)the way the musclesin my neckstuck out likethin wire.I sawhow much that cruelnecklace became me. And for the firsttime in my innocent andconfined life, I sensedin myselfa potentialityfor corruptionthat took my breathaway [BC,p. 7] Aspectsof this scene arerepeated later during the disrobing.Again, he is the purchaser;she, the commodity,the pieceof meat,"bare as a lambchop." He examinesher throughhis monocle;she watchesin the mirror."And, as at the opera,when I had firstseen my flesh in his eyes, I was aghastto feel myselfstirring"(BC, p. 12). To understandwhy shemight take sexual pleasure in beingobjectified, it is helpfillto turnto the psychoanalyticaccount of women'scastration anx- iety.According to Kaplan: The entry of the fatheras the third term disruptsthe mother/child dyad, causing the child to understandthe mother'scastration and possessionby the father.In the symbolicworld the girl now enters she learnsnot only subject/objectpositions but the sexedpronouns "he"and "she.)5Assignedthe placeof object(since she lacksthe phal- lus, the symbolofthe signifier),she is the recipientof maledesire, the passiverecipient of his gaze. If she is to have sexualpleasure, it can only be constructedaround her objectification;it cannotbe a plea- sure that comes from desirefor the other (a subjectposition).... Women . . . have learnedto associatetheir sexualitywith domina- tion by the malegaze, a positioninvolving a degreeof masochismin findingtheir objectification erotic.60 Giventhat this positioninvolves a "degreeof masochism,"it is not surpris- ing to find the protagonistclinging to the man who impaled her, "as though only the one who had inflictedthe pain could comfort [her] for sufferingit' (BC)p. 16). The Marquisdispsts her,but she craveshim like

60Kaplan,"Is the GazeMale?" (n. 49 above),pp. 315-16, 324. 652 ROBIN ANN SHEETS pregnantwomen crave'ifor the tasteof coal or chalkor taintedfood') (BC, p. 21). In his absence)she searchesthe castlefor CCtheevidence of his reallife" (BCD,pw 25). Like the heroines in the iCparanoidGothic films"of the 1940s-films like Ggslightand Secretbeyond the Door, which are linked to the Bluebeardtale through Robertson Stevenson'sversion of JaneEyte (1944)-the narratorbecomes an activeinvestigator, bringing light into the darkenedcorridors.61 She approachesthe forbiddenroom througha galleryhung with Venetiantapestries depicting i'some grisly mythological subject,"possibly the rape of the Sabinewomen (BC, p. 28). When she entersthe bloody chamber,she finds "a little museumof his perversity,'3a collection of deathly artifacts Etruscanfimerary urns, a medievalrack and great wheel, an "ominous bier of Renaissanceworkrnanship" (BC, p. 29). Here, within the bloody chamber,she discoversher ties to other women. Driven by her 'Cmothersspirit . . . to know the very worst,"she examinesthe physicalremains of the Marquis'sformer wives: the em- balmedcorpse ofthe operasinger, the veiledskull ofthe artisttsmodel, the still-bleedingbody ofthe Romaniancountess (BC) pp. 29-30). Like the wife in a "paranoidGothic film" who findsmutilated traces of other wives in her house, the narratorsees herself"slowly becoming an- other,duplicating an earlieridentity as though history,particularly in the caseof women, were boundto repeatitself.'62 She sobs with pity for 'ithe fited sisterhood"of her husband'sother victims and with anguishfor her own lost innocence (BCnp. 30). As Philip Lewis says in his stimulating reading of Perrault,the bloody floor subsumes i'the blood of con- sanguinity,the bloodshedof violenceand death, and . . . the red blood of womanhood";it is "thedouble agent of the dualperception the wife expe- riencesin discoveringherself, and that Bluebeardexperiences in his turn when the blood appearsto his eyes as a tarnishor a taint on the magic k;ey."63 The revelationthat she, like the other women, has chosen death shocksthe protagonistinto life. Masochismmay haveserved her interests duringthe courtshipand the initialsexual encounter: perhaps she assumed a passiverole as a way to disguiseher curiosityabout sex andher desire for wealth. But she did not contractfor death. 'CMyfirst thought," she saysn "whenI saw the ring for which I had sold myselfto this faterwas how to escape it'>(BC, p. 31). Unfortunately,with her husband'ssudden reap- pearance,she seemsto be trappedin his deadlyplot. Attired only in the ruby choker)her hair drawrlback as it was for the

6lMary Ann Doaneo TheDesire to Desire: The Wom^Ps Film of the 1940's(Bloomington, INo 1987), pp. 123-54. 62Ibid., p. 142. 63Philip Lewis, "BluebeardrsMagic Key,')in LesCoxtes de PertguXt; Lg xntestgtionet ses limites;fti#re, ed. Michael Bareau et al. (Paris, 1987) p. 42. PornoMraphy,Fairy Tales, and Feminism 653

sexualencounter, the brideanticipates her beheading. She is saved,not by her brothersbut by hermother, who burststhrough the gate,with one handon the reinsof a rearinghorse5 and the other clutching her husband's mllitaryrevolver which she has removedfrom her reticule.The mother shootsthe Marquis,frees her daughter, and restores her to a life of emo- tionaland moral integrity. Through this wittyand flamboyantly trium- phantending, Carter rewrites Perrault's fairy tale, the Gernandesection of Justing andthe Freudianaccount of femaledevelopment. In Sade'snovel, the Comtessede Gernande,whose husband was tryingto bleedher to death,asked Justine to carrya letterto hermother; she felt certain that her motherwould "hasten with all expedition to severher daughter's bonds.'t64 But Gernandethwarted that plan: strong and loving mothers do not ap- pearin Sade. In Freudthe motheris renderedpowerless to herselfand to her daughter by herlack of a penis."The turning away from the motheris accompaniedby hostility; the attachmentto themother ends in hate,>'hy- pothesizesFreud (SE p. 125).According to Carterrthe "psychicfiction" of women'scastration does not justaffect individual development; it per- vadesour culture and helps to accountfor the recurrence of sexualviolence. 'CThewhippings, the beatings,the gougings,the stabbingsof eroticvio- lencereawaken the memoryof the socialfiction of the femalewound, the bleedingscar left by her castration, which is a psychicfiction as deeply at the heartof Westernculture as the mythof Oedipus.... Femalecastration is an imaginaryfact that pervadesthe wholeof men'sattitude towards womenand our attitude to ourselves,that transforms women from human beingsinto woundedcreatures who wereborn to bleed"(SE p. 23). In "TheBloody Chamber," the mother certainly does not actlike a wounded creatureborn to bleed.Indeed, her courage sustains the young bride who realizesthat she has inherited her "ncrves and a willfrom the mother who haddefied theDyellow outlaws of Indochina"(BC, p. 29). Themother has performedlegendary feats of maleand female heroism: "Her mother had outfaceda junkfillof Chinesepirates, nursed a villagethrough a visitation ofthe plagueo[and] shot a man-eatingtigerwith her own hand" (BC, p. 2). Similarly,Carter equips the motherwith maleand female Freudian sym- bols, makingseveral references to the father'sgun keptin the mother's reticule.This parent is powerfillenough to serveas father and mother to the youngwoman. Instead of rejectingher, the daughter and her new husband jointhe motherto forma newfamily. Sincethe theoriesof individuationthat permeate our culture stress the necessityofrenouncingthe bondwith the mother thatdarlgerous, archa-

64Sade(n. 51 above))p. 651. JaneGallop discussesSadews treatment of mothers i ThinkinsgthrousghtheBody(NewYork,1988),pp. 55-71. 654 ROBIN ANN SHEETS ic force who would "pull us back to what Freud called the 'lin;iitless narcissism'of infancy"65 somereaders see the protagonist'sreunion with her mother as a regression.But I think that Carter,like psychoanalyst JessicaBenjamin, is challengingthe Oedipalmodels of developmentwhich privilegeseparation over dependence.Benjamin urges women "to recon- ceivethe ideal"of motherhood,not byidealizingfemale nurturance but by acknowledgingthe motheras an independentlyexisting subject, one who expressesher own desire.66The motherin "TheBloody Chamber" has ex- perienced autonomy and adventurein the world; she has also acted accordingto her desires,having "gladly,scandalously, defiantly" married for love (BC, p. 2). Carterseems to anticipatethe recentwork of women filmmakersand critics who believethat "somepart of Motherhoodliesout- sideof patriarchalconcerns . . . andeludes control"67 andthat recognizing the motheras sexualsubject might provide a solutionto the representation of desire, especiallyif she is also grantedaccess to the outside world of freedom. In addition to criticizingthe position of the mother in pornography, popularliterature, and psychoanalytic theory, Carter also challenges defini- tions of masculinitybased on domination.In Perrault's"Bluebeard," the secondhusband seemed to be an afterthought,part of the rewardaccorded to the wife at the end ofthe story.In "TheBloody Chamber," he appearsas the bride'shumble friend and confidant. A poor pianotuner, Jean-Yves has neitherthe powerof the Marquisnor the glamorof a fairytale prince.Be- causeof his blindness,he will neverlook at the materialsin the Marquis's library;nor will he see the markof shameon the narrator'sforehead. Jean- Yves is not perfect:when he tells the bridethat she, like Eve, should be punished for her disobedience,he revealsthat his attitudes have been shaped by myths of feminine evil. Despite this limitation,he is a sym- patheticlistener, loyal, tender,and sensitive,as he offersto "be of some comfort . . . though not much use"to the despairingbride (BC, p. 42). The Marquistreated the narrator'smusical talent as a stylishaccomplish- mentto be displayedin his mansion;Jean-Yves expresses reverence for her art.The Marquistook the youngwoman away from her mother; Jean-Yves helpsopen the courtyardgate so that the mothermight return. However,in a culturethat eroticizesdomination, it is not surprising that some readersare reluctanttO acceptJean-Yves as the hero. His rela- tionship with the narratordoes not appeartO have a sexualdimension. AccordingtO PatriciaDuncker, "while blindness, as symboliccastration,

65JessicaBenjamin, TheBonds of Love: Psychoanalysis, Femintsm, and theProblem ofDomina- tion (New York,1988), p. 135. 66Ibid.,p. 82. 67Kaplan,Women and Film (n. 49 above),p. 206. Pornogrgphy,Fairy Tgles) and Feminism 655 maysignal the end of malesexual aggression, it is alsomutilation. As suchit cannotbe offeredas the answer,the new maleerotic identity."68 In reject- ing pornography,did Carterfeel compelled to eliminate all signs of a physicalattraction? Must women choose between a dangerousbut exciting sexualitybased on maledominance, or a sweet,safe, and utterly asexual re- lationshipbetween equals? Anddoes that "equality"demandthatthe male be disfigured? Perhapsif Carterwere to continuethe story,she would developa male sexualitycentered on smell,touch, and sound; indeed, this is alreadyim- plicit in Jean-Yves'sextreme sensitivity to music. After the narrator relinquishesher position as object of the male gaze, she may eventually glimpsethe "benignsexuality" that eludedJustine (SE p. 49). But in as- sumingthe subject'sposition, she hasnot yet foundthe languageto express her desire. In other words, the new relationshipmay have erotic pos- sibilitiesthat the narratordoes not know how to representand that we do not know how to read.Perhaps Jackie Byars's argument pertains: we need to learnto recognizea traditionof mutualgazing that "expressesa 'differ- ent voice' and a differentkind of gaze that we've not heardor seen before becauseour theories have discouragedsuch 'hearing'and 'seeing."'69In the meantime,mother and daughterwill be the only membersof this householdwho cangaze lovinglyat one another. Has Angela Carterbecome a "moralpornographer" exposing the mi- sogyny that distorts our cultureand envisioninga new world of sexual freedom?Although "The Bloody Chamber"does, I think, use pornogra- phy as a critiqueofthe currentrelations between the sexes,Carter's hopes for a worldof "absolutesexual licence" seem subduedand her attitudeto- ward Sade more criticalthan in The SgdeignWoman. Carter refuses to definepornography as the primarycause of women'soppression, for she believesthat complicatedeconomic, social, and psychologicalforces con- tributeto the objectification,fetishization, and violation of women.But in "TheBloody Chamber" Carter moves closer to the antipornographyfemi- nists: she assumesthat pornographyencourages violence against women andthat the associationof sex, power,and sadomasochism in pornography is part of society'scommon prescriptionfor heterosexualrelations. Like the feministsopposed to pornography,she urgeswomen to challengeas- sumptions about female masochismand to define a sexualityoutside of dominant-submissivepower relations.

68PatriciaDuncker, "Re-Imagining the FairyTale: Angela Carter's Bloody Chambers," Literature and History 10 (Spring1984): 11. 69JackieByars, "Gazes/Voices/Power: Expanding Psychoanalysis for FeministFilm and TelevisionTheory," in FemaleSpectators: Looking gtFilm and Television,ed. E. DeidrePribram (London,1988), p. 124. 656 ROBIN ANN SHEETS

'CTheBloody Chamber') ultimately fillfills Kappeler's definition offemi- nist critique:iiIt shows up and criticizesthe folldorenature of the pornographicplot, the rearticulationof an unchangingarchetype, reiter- atedin thepatriarchal culture at large, which recites the same tale over and overagain, convincing itself through these rearticulations of the impos- sibilityof change.t'70Carter refilses to isolatepornography-as a genreor as a socialproblem. Instead of treatingpornography as a specializedsub- genreappealing to a smallgroup of maleconsumers, Carter employs a complexseries of allusionsto link pornographyto fairytales, psycho- analysis,and other forms of fiction.With Catharine A. MacKirmon)she treatspsychoanalysis and pornography as '\Cepistemicsites in the sameon- tology5" ismirrors of eachother, male supremacist sexuality looking at itself lookingat itself*"7lThus Carterachieves Annette Kuhn's goal: to de- constructndebunk5 md demystifypornography. Such an approach "insists thatpornography is not afterall special, is not a privilegedorder of repre- sentation;that it sharesmany of itsmodes of address,manyofits codes and conventions,with representationswhich are not lookedupon as a iprob- lemtin the waypornography is. Thishas significant consequences for any feministpolitics arotmd pornography in particularand around representa- tion in general."72 In a debatethat has castwomen in the veryoppositions defined by Sade - I amthirlking again of RobinMorganns characterization of femi- nistswho defendpornography as "Sadesnew Juliettes"73-it is impos- sibleto categorizeArlgela Carter as a goodgirl or a badgirl, for she, like her protagonist,has escaped from absolutes. She rejects the argument offemi- nistswho defendthe rightto engagein sadomasochisticpractices on the groundsof essentialismor psychologicaldeterminism. She also finds the claimthat "femlnists should not desire or bearoused by physical manifesta- tionsof dominanceor submission"naive because "it tc)o ignores the social andpolitical realities in whichour sexuality is constructed."74Carter in- siststhat the youngwoman understand why she finds her objectiScation erotic.A recentcritic of "ThcBloody Chamber" complains, "We are asked to placeourselves imaginatively as masochisticvictims in a pornographic

70Kappeler(n. 5 above),p. 146. 7lCatharineA. MacKinnonoiiSexuality) Pornography, md Method 'Pleasureunder Patriarch>"tEthics 99 (1989): 342. 72AnnettcKohnX The Power of the Imwe: Essgyson RepresentMion gnd Sencxality (London, 1985), p. 22. 73Morgan,Axatomy of Freedwm (n. 8 above),pX 116.

74KarenRia117 "Sadomasochismand the SocialConstruction of Desire>>inA

75Lewallen(n. 31 above),p. 151.