Carter & The Gaze

The Bloody Chamber

I will now apply my understanding of the male gaze to a critical analysis of Angela Carter’s ‘The Bloody Chamber’ and ‘The Tiger’s Bride’, and demonstrate the techniques that are used within each text and the effects that they produce. Initially, I hope to evaluate Carter’s perspective of the gaze from not only the language displayed in the text, but also from the theoretical writings on Carter. I will start my observation with ‘The Bloody Chamber’ as this story is central to the argument on Berger’s theory on the passive woman.

‘The Bloody Chamber’ presents a romantic allusion of a newlywed couple celebrating their first night together as husband and wife. Rebecca, a young virgin displays the traditional feminine innocence that was reflected in Renaissance paintings. However, her husband, a French Marquis transforms her beauty into a pornographic image and an object of desire to fulfil his own sexual needs. In the chamber the Marquis sets up a dozen mirrors allowing his gaze to inspect every angle of her body. Sage (1994) argues that the figure of Rebecca can be compared to Justine in Perrault’s tale Bluebeard, as she is also presented as “the object of perverse male desires” (p. 138). 

Woman's Masochism

Interestingly, ‘The Bloody Chamber’ consists on a first person female narrator. Sheets (1991) argues that this shows that “she is not trapped in a visual representation. Because she has a voice, she can be heard without seen” (p. 648). However, I would personally challenge this statement as I believe that this is a construct put in place by Carter in order to reflect on the lost voices of women. Not only this, but the narrator repeatedly refers to herself in third person, which I would argue implies that she does not feel comfortable in her own skin and lacks confidence in her own judgements. Day (1998) supports this by suggesting that “she comments on the image of herself in the mirror as if she were an outsider” (p. 154). Furthermore, this idea that woman is an outsider also highlights the Lacanian theory of the “mirror stage” as the woman is “othered”. 

In Rebecca’s narration, she says “when I saw him look at me with lust, I dropped my eyes but, in glancing away from him, I caught sight of myself in the mirror. And I saw myself, suddenly, as he saw me” (Carter, 2006: 6). This example highlights Kaplan’s argument that the woman adapts to a masochistic attitude and views herself from the male perspective (Kaplan, 1983). It also supports Berger’s theory of the gaze, which states that a woman must continually survey herself. More importantly it also suggests the idea that the function of the mirror is to allow a woman to treat herself as a sight. 

The Male Gaze

Furthermore, the Marquis displays what Mulvey explains as the ‘voyeuristic’ gaze as he observes her body with sexual interest as well as watching himself through the mirror as he engages with her in sexual intercourse. Sheets (1991) supports this by stating that the “...Marquis is indeed a sadist – in terms of his sexual practices of his controls of narrative: he has arranged the setting, written the script, and set the plot in motion” (p. 647).  The Marquis’s sadism can be identified when Rebecca finds his decapitated wives. It can therefore be argued that the sexual gratification he receives from gazing upon women encourages this act of torture as he appears to keep the remains of the bodies as relics for the purpose of his pleasure. This is further supported by a quote from the text that reads “there is a striking resemblance between the act of love and ministrations of torture” (Carter, 2006: 26).

To extend this argument further, it can be suggested that the Marquis seems to understand women as meat due to not only his voyeuristic gaze, but also the act of butchering that appears to have taken place. Therefore, the Marquis can be recognised as a slaughter man, this identification is highlighted in the text when Jessica says “I saw him watching me in the gilded mirrors with the assessing eye of a connoisseur inspecting horseflesh, or even of a housewife in the market, inspecting cuts on the slab” (Carter, 2006: 6). This example also supports Carter’s argument on woman as flesh in her Polemical Preface The Sadian Woman. She states that “the function of flesh is pure pleasure” (Carter, 1993: 20). The young woman further describes herself to be as “bare as a lamb chop” (p.11). This therefore suggests that even she recognises herself as meat as she appears to accept the fact that men view her in this way. Sheets (1991) suggests that this distinction commodifies the woman as “he is the purchaser [and] she is the commodity, the piece of meat” (p. 651). This argument on flesh is further expanded in my discussion of “The Tiger’s Bride” in relation to the commodity of bodies.

However, towards the end of the story the male gaze is questioned when the young woman falls in love with the blind piano tuner. After glancing at herself in the mirror she is confronted with the bloody mark that stains her forehead, she says “I am glad he cannot see that red mark on my forehead...I know he sees my clearly with his heart – but because it spares my shame” (Carter, 2006: 42). Here the blindness of the piano tuner signifies him as castrated (McLaughlin, 1995). As already established, Freudian theory suggests that woman signifies castration due to her lack of the phallus. Therefore, due to his blindness he is unable to hold the male gaze, and instead becomes feminised as the receiver of the gaze. As a result of this, it could be argued that she now holds the male, voyeuristic gaze as she will now take on the active role in the relationship. This supports Kaplan’s argument as it suggests that the gaze is not always male and can be reversed suggesting the possibility of a female gaze.

I will now further explore this idea of the “female” gaze in my analysis of “The Tiger’s Bride”. In support of Kaplan’s argument, the story questions the idea that supposes that the gaze is subjectively male. Throughout the text Carter uses the theme of performance in order to argue the social constructs of gender and identity.  

The Tiger's Performance as Man

In contrast to ‘The Bloody Chamber’, ‘The Tiger’s Bride’ appears to argue against the ‘male’ gaze as it is the Beast who displays Berger’s passivity. He is described to us as a “delicate...[and] gentle creature” (Carter, 2006: 74) and therefore ironically represents the feminine figure. The narrator of the story (Beauty) critically observes the physical appearance of The Beast and states “he wears a mask with a man’s face painted most beautifully on it” (Carter, 2006: 58). Here the word “beautiful” can be typically expected in the description of a woman, however not of a man and as a result feminises The Beast. Interestingly, this is told through the perspective of Beauty, a woman, and therefore suggests the possibility of a role reversal regarding the male gaze. We are further told that he also “wears a wig...the kind you see in the old-fashioned portraits” (Carter, 2006: 58). This therefore supports Berger’s theory of the male gaze with regards to the women reflected in Renaissance paintings. These descriptions reinforce the theme of performance in the story, as The Beast physically performs his gender as a man. Sage (1994) states that “The Beast is a prisoner” (p. 141), a prisoner of his body. It could therefore be argued that he is possibly a woman trapped in the social constructions of a patriarchal society in which he must hide his true identity. 

With regards the male gaze his mask is described as “the mirror image of the other, too perfect, uncanny” (Carter, 2006: 58). Therefore, in contrast to ‘The Bloody Chamber’ here the man is represented as the Lacanian other. It can be argued that his mask reflects a false identity of a man that he wishes to be. However he will never fully become this man in the mirror, as this is not a true representation of his ego.      

The "Female" Gaze?

In support of Kaplan’s theory “Is the gaze male?”,it could be argued that the Beast is frequently positioned as the receiver of the gaze, whilst Beauty controls the gaze and directs it upon his body. For example Beauty explains how his “yellow eyes...strayed, now and then, from his unfurled hand towards myself” (Carter, 2006: 57). Therefore, this suggests that he does not possess the male gaze and appears uncomfortable in his position as a male spectator. Furthermore, whilst being interviewed by The Beast she states that “my eyes were level with those inside the mask that now evaded mine” (p. 64-5). This implies that she controls the immediate gaze which supports Kaplan’s argument that “the gaze is not necessarily male” (Kaplan, 1983, 8), as she displays here, what we may consider as the “female” gaze.  

In comparison to this Beauty also performs her role as the object of desire. Day (1998) argues that she recognises herself as a commodity and as flesh to be sold or auctioned for the pleasure of others (p. 140). In the story Beauty identifies herself as a “flesh object” (p. 140). Beauty uses her identification as the object of desire to her full advantage by embracing in the power of beauty that she possesses. Day (1998) argues that this proves that “Beauty refuses [to play the] role of [the] victim...she refuses to be the lamb” (p. 143). Instead she understands that as a commodity and The Beast’s winning prize, she must accept the contract that he proposes which includes his demand to see her naked. This supports Carter’s argument in the Sadeian Woman, stating that “all wives...fuck by contract. Prostitutes are at least decently paid on the nail” (Carter, 1993: 9). 

Revealing the Flesh

In return, however, Beauty demands to see the Beast naked. In support of this Day (1998) states that she expects to “see the Beast without his mask of humanity” (p. 142). This therefore suggests that for Beauty to take off her clothes she would lose her humanity and reveal her animalistic attributes the same as the Beast. In doing this, Beauty risks sexual exposure, and as a result may be considered unworthy of the male gaze as she will no longer reflect the pure feminine figure found in the paintings, but rather a grotesque, animalistic whore. Here Carter “uses the image of animals to signify a libido that has been culturally repressed in some women [as a result of the male gaze]” (Day, 1998: 147).

To conclude, I personally believe that the ideas reflected ‘The Tiger’s Bride’ reinforce Carter’s argument for equality amongst gender especially regarding the act of sex. Her argument seems to imply the idea that we are all sexual predators, both men and women and therefore sex should not be a sacrificial act, but instead a joint experience of pleasure.

Within the both texts Carter successfully reflects all angles of male gaze debate. However, she seems particularly interested in the argument that Kaplan makes referring to the ‘female’ gaze. Her stories could be interpreted as an argument against the male gaze by suggesting that the theory needs revising as it does not support contemporary feminist criticism. Sheets (1991) explains that “we need to learn to recognise a tradition of mutual gazing that expresses a different voice and a different kind of gaze that we have not heard or seen before” (p. 655). To summarise, in Carter’s words “the lamb must learn to run with the tigers” (Carter, 2006: 71) and until this is achieved woman will remain as nothing but a mere reflection in the evaluating eyes of the male gaze.