Motherhood, Sexuality, and the (Fe)Male Gaze in Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber

Abstract

In my paper, I want to explore the idea that the heroine in Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber is a “woman in process” (Kathleen E. B. Manley 1998, 71), focusing on three main aspects connected to this journey of self-discovery. One is the presence of the mother and the mother-daughter relationship. Another is sexuality and how the heroine’s attitude towards it changes over the course of the story. Finally, the third is the significance of gazing, proposing that by the end of the story, a female gaze emerges.