Literary Culture Shift In The Tiger's Bride

Angela Carter’s Literary Culture Shift in The Tiger’s Bride

Angela Carter was a vocal feminist and advocated women’s empowerment. This is often apparent by the strong female characters in her work which is quite famous for her representations of femininity. Carter’s portrayal of women opens up a lot of discussion on the feminist sociological perspective. When Anna Katasavos interviewed Carter, she described how Carter believed that women were represented in a negative light with very minor roles in the world [Bristow 12]. At first glance it seems people are taken aback by the sexuality and grotesqueness of her stories however upon looking at the deeper structure it draws towards the changing role of women that was taking place in reality
The movement transformed the lives of many women and the effects exerted a major effect through the decades. Feminist writing flourished during the movements of the 70s and 80s, especially in the US and Britain. In the United States research concentrated on a separate women 's culture, the growth of all-female institutions, the family and sexuality [Snitow 7]. Carter was mainly influenced by the feminist movement in the United States whose biggest branch a school of thought was called “sex-positive feminism.” Sex-positive feminism was a movement that began within the feminist movements of the 1970s and 80s, they believed sexual freedom is essential to women’ freedom. They oppose legal or social efforts that control sexual activities between consenting adults, regardless of who tries to oppress this behaviour, including other feminists [Snitow 9]. Their ideology is perfectly summed up by Gayle Rubin a prominent sex-positive feminist:
“One tendency has criticized the restrictions on women 's sexual behavior and denounced the high costs imposed on women for being sexually active. This tradition of feminist sexual thought has called for a sexual liberation that would work for women as well as for men. The second tendency has considered sexual liberalization to be inherently a mere extension of male privilege. This tradition
Women are presented as the civilizing agent in the relationship with men, who succumb to their "beastliness," giving way to their animalistic, wild side in Madame de Beaumont’s Beauty and the Beast, while in Angela Carter’s The Tiger’s Bride, the reverse is in that true women are the ones who open up to the beast in them in relationship with men instead of being the civilizing agent [Bristow 135-7]. In the conclusion which conforms to this ideal, Madame de Beaumont’s Beauty remains mainly passive and makes her decision of marrying in conformity with her kindness and gentleness that cannot hurt others. The version of “Beauty and the Beast” by Madame de Beaumont (1757) was written during the Enlightenment Era [Beaumont 27], and was created for young women of marriage-age as an instruction for proper conduct, “...good manners, good breeding, and good behaviour...[Beaumont 26]”, and to provide comfort when faced with the prospect of an arranged marriage [Beaumont 27-8]. A woman was expected to accept her role in life as an object to be possessed, almost an accessory for men; to be the recipient of man’s sexual desires and to merely be the instrument for reproduction; to perform her duty for her family’s gain, may it be monetary, status or to pay off a debt and