The Bloody chamber' is a reinvention of a fairy tale by Angela Charter it takes the fairy tale well known by all and changes the social and sexual hierarchy to reflect a feminist point of view. The male characters who are often seen as morally unprincipled and are the source of interest.

The first story 'the bloody chamber' the narrator is a 17 year old who marries an older man for the wealth he could provide her. This story is originated from the fairy tale ‘Bluebeard’ unlike the girl from Bluebeard she marries the Marquis of her own accord instead of having been forced into it. It is clear that she does not agree with love marriages from the way she talks about her mother who married for love and was left with ‘a legacy of tears that never quite dried’. This shows independence and power as she is able to make decisions on her own.

The husband who is given the title of a Marquis is the remnant of Marquis de Sade who was famous for his love of pornography. Like Marquis de Sade the Marquis in this story is obsessed with his pornography and calls them ‘prayer books’ as if they are religious items to be celebrated. He also treats the narrator as a child on to be sexually attracted to her. This reflects the Marquis’s sexual perversion. Throughout the book the Marquis is compared to a lily ‘one of those cobra-headed, funeral lilies’ that stain the things they touch.

In 'The Bloody Chamber' the image of the colour red is predominant especially concerning the chocker which presents the narrator as a sacrificial victim and the Marquise possession 'he made me put on my chocker' foreshadows her chosen method of death, as if her neck has been cut. the chocker is also a sign of ownership much like a dog collar put on her. It is clear that the Marquise does not view his wife any more that 'horseflesh'. She is his he trophy house where he can carry out his rather masochistic acts and the narrator has unwittingly becomes involve in the soda-masochistic relationship

John Burger said 'men look at women and woman watch themselves being look at' the image of being watched runs through the story. The Marquise is always watching the narrator even putting mirrors in their bedroom 'our bed and surrounded by so many mirrors'. This allows the husband to see his perverted acts reflected several times from several angles. This objectifies the women and turns their relationship into nothing more than a financial transgression, something purchased for ones amusement. The reference to being looked at also shows how women accept their position as men's point of sexual desire and accept their husbands view of them 'he would trust me with keys to his office, although I was only a baby'.

The only other male character if Jean-Yves who is the only person to be named in the story. This removes the mystery from his character. He is also blind which means he cannot objectify the narrator with his eyes like the Marquis does. However despite his innocence he is rather dull and uninteresting which makes us realise that the Marquis’s moral degeneration adds suspense and energy into the novel.

However the morally deteriorated male charters are not the only source of energy. In the third story ‘The tiger’s bride’ the tiger and the narrator are the

source of interest however neither character can be seen as ‘morally unprincipled’. This story is written in the first person, which allows the narrator a control over how the story is told. ‘My father lost me to the beast at cards’ the first line of the story grabs our attention as it very memorable and makes us question its meaning. The father who is presented as the moral inferior to the beast has a gambling addiction and uses his daughter in his card game ‘his hand shake as he deals the Devil’s picture book’; this shows that the child is nothing more than an object for financial transaction to him. ‘Everyone who comes to the city must play a hand with the grand seigneur’ as if having to deal with the devil, this shows her contempt for gambling and her father’s need to play the ‘Devils picture book’. The Beast is ashamed of his animal appearance and attempts to look as human as possible. He wears a mask with a perfect man's face painted. The narrator mentions that despite his animalistic nature ‘the beast not much different from any other man’ false and pretentious. He smells so strongly of cologne that the narrator wonders what sinister smell he is trying to conceal. His actions are awkward because he forces himself to act human ‘has an air of self-imposed restraint, as if fighting a battle with himself to remain upright when he would far rather drop down on all fours’.

Suddenly comprehending what he has done, her father sobs, ‘I have lost my pearl, my pearl beyond price’. However beautiful they are ‘pearls’ are nothing more than a possession. Angela Carter uses the theme of the objectification of women to transform the heroine from mere possession into a strong and powerful narrator.

The valet arrives to take the heroine away, bearing a bouquet of white roses. When her father asks for one as a sign of her forgiveness, she pricks her finger on it by accident and hands it to him ‘all smeared with blood’ She is furious to have to endure such ‘humiliation’ The narrator wonders what kind of creature The Beast is. She recalls her nursemaid's stories of a tiger-man who would ‘gobble her up’. This is a reference to little red riding hood where a girl strains of the path set for her by her parents and a warning that if she strained off the path she will be punished.

‘The six of us, mounts and riders both-could boast amongst us not one soul ... Since all the best religions in the world state categorically that not beasts nor women were equipped with the flimsy, insubstantial things’. For this reason, she feels closer to Beast, the valet, and their horses, than she ever has to a man after all, the men who claim to possess souls consider her no more than an item of physical worth.

In "The Courtship of Mr. Lyon," Beauty is content when she lives in the country, away from society's influence. But when she moves to the city, she transforms into a spoilt young woman obsessed with her looks and belongings. She is content with living as a 'social construct of femininity.' The heroine in "The Tiger's Bride" realizes that men treat her like an inferior, that no matter how hard she tries to equal them they will always see her as a poor 'imitation' of a person. Suddenly, she is no different from The Beast, who wears his mask painted with a man's face in order to pretend he is a man. The perfection of this mask appeals to the narrator because it represents the model of

perfection, civility and tameness. She does not want to be an object and therefore is disgusted that he looks like one. The heroine again expresses her hatred of objectification when she throws her present of diamond earrings into a corner.

The internal struggle of the beast and the strength of the female narrator gives this story the energy and interest and not their moral degeneration or sexual perversion.