How Does Carter Present the Character of Beauty in the Opening Paragraphs of The Tiger s Bride?

? The Tigers Bride is written in the first person narrative of the main character, this gives the reader a deeper look into the layers of emotion that she expresses. In the opening line of this short story, the girl is the least important subject in the sentence My father lost me to The Beast at cards. Her father and The Beast are capitalized, will she is objectified by being lost by her father, because this is in a first person narrative it shows she thinks of herself as less important and overshadowed by the other two characters. She often sees herself as victimized and stepped on The candles dropped hot, acrid gouts of wax on my bare shoulders. From her point of view she is being attacked by the candles, the fear that everything is against her shows she lacks self confidence and has always been a victim. That the first sentence is also paragraphed alone shows her feelings of loneliness and solidarity, and this technique doubles the sentences impact and strengthens the emotions expressed within it. However she is also aware of her obvious beauty. This beauty is her one power over men, and it has shaped her vain, sarcastic personality. I scarcely managed to make out a thing she said except, when she saw me; Che Bella! Here Carter presents her as vain as she has only picked up the speech complimenting her, this makes her seem quite childlike and nave, which is in contrast to the vivid and beautiful descriptions she gives earlier in the text showing she has some level of intelligence in her sophisticated speech suggesting she is from a reasonably privileged upbringing. Her beauty is the thing that has got her through life, and her narrative shows that she believes things are always happening for or to her, in this sense she could be considered self-centred and unwise The sun spills fruit for you- In this quote she believes the sun is offering the fruit for her specifically, similar to hw many men would have tried to charm her. Her beauty has lead to her being objectified even in her own opinion My father lost me which is a stereotypical view of women that she must believe, a view that women are objects of beauty and for nothing more than sex and trophies. Carter presents her as a very emotional character. She uses sarcasm to show her frustration, which also makes her seem young and childish What a burden all those possessions must have been to him. This frustration has most likely derives from her fathers gambling and drinking problems. However she still has love and admiration for her father as she blames the cards mostly for his evils the Devils picture books. There are examples of her speech which show a challenging side to the heroine, Who could refuse the invitation his valet bought to our lodging? this shows that her beauty has made her often look down on things and be spiteful. Phlegmy, bronchitic speech This extract shows her looking down on the unfamiliar speech of the Italian woman, implying she has led a sheltered life. In The Tigers Bride, Carter uses a lot of alliteration in the opening paragraphs - Lovely land where the lemon trees grow. This example of alliteration shows a poetic side to the heroine, and uses the soft sounding letter L which gives the narrative a gentle tone and reveals the innocent side of the character. Perpetual pleasure is another example of alliteration in the opening paragraphs, but this one uses plosive sounds which show another, harsher and bitter dimension to the character and builds up aggression in her tone. There are also examples of syntactic parallels which give the narrative a powerful tone into the stones, into your bones, into

the spongy pith of the lungs; this particular example exaggerates the damp and chill of the place she is staying, which again shows she may have led a sheltered and privileged upbringing. In conclusion, Carter uses a range of techniques to introduce the character of beauty in The Tigers Bride. Using techniques presented in a first person narrative shows the inner workings of the characters mind. She is frustrated, vain and childlike, yet shows hints of sophistication and poetry in her language though alliteration and paralleling, which in my opinion tells us she is trapped between innocence and experience in her teenage years. Carter presents the heroine as thinking highly of herself and vain, traits that have stemmed from a life time of attention for her obvious beauty. This character is currently trapped in the stereotype of a woman of this time; a trophy, a possession to be seen and not heard, and this oppression has twisted her opinions and views.