The Erl-King Questions

How is the Erl-King presented?

The Erl King is presented, by Angela Carter, through contradictory gender roles. He is portrayed as the 'perfect man' as he conflicts the binary opposites of stereotypical gender roles by being good to a woman. The Erl King is described as "an excellent housewife" which implies that he is a  passive character. In his innocence he also has great power over the female protagonist suggesting his active role in the relationship as "he winds me into the circle of his eye on a reel of bird song" portraying his dominance as a man over her. Here, he abides by the binary opposites of stereotypical gender roles as he is seen as strong and active as it is him controlling her through the power of his gaze. Carter presents the Erl King as an emotional character due to the innocence he shows as "his touch both consoles and devastates me". This suggests both the male and female express emotion here as he consoles her in his touch yet she feels devastated by it. She fits the binary opposites of stereotypical gender roles however he shows a dichotomy towards them at times due to him expressing his emotional and passive side in their relationship.      

How is the narrator presented?

The female protagonist narrator is firstly presented as naive, private, irrational and weak- the more stereotypical female traits of gender binaries. The narrator finds it 'easy to lose yourself in the woods' showing her irrationality and naivety as she is easily influenced and lost in other things. Further on, the narrator is shown to be perhaps more thoughtful than emotional and she recognizes that 'The Erl-King would do me grievous harm'. She is showing that she is more wise than the Erl-King thinks, and crosses over the gender binaries of thought and emotion as well as rational and irrational. This again is presented when she realises that 'the birds don't sing, they only cry because they can't find their way out of the wood' giving the female protagonist a heads up and the chance to make her choice of either going along with The Erl-King's wishes or taking her own revenge. Towards the end of the story, the female protagonist makes her decision which had her 'take two handfuls of his rustling hair(...) and (...) I shall strangle him'. This completely obliterates gender binary opposites as the woman is taking control and killing off the man - showing her passing over from weak to strong and active to passive. At the very end of the story the female protagonist states that 'she will string the old fiddle with five single strings of ash-brown hair', using the Erl-King as an object rather than her being used as his singing bird.

What are do the symbols suggest in the novel?

Carter uses symbols in the narrative. The Erl King's eyes are described as "quite green" which symbolizes jealousy as it can be associated with the 'green eyed man'. However his eyes can remove the innocence from him and display the evil in him and the fear he emits as "some eyes can eat you". This suggests that he consumes her, sexually and emotionally. The birds can symbolize women as a whole. They are trapped as they are passive and kept private by the Erl King as he sees them as his possession which fits the binary opposites of stereotypical gender roles. The cages symbolize the oppressiveness and control men have over women. The birds symbolize women and the cages symbolize the lifestyle they are trapped in as men remove their freedom by resulting them to passivity and privacy.

How does Carter use allusion to tell the story?

Carter uses elements of fairy tales such as Little Red Riding Hood (a naive little girl going into the woods), Alice In Wonderland ('Eat me, Drink me'), Light sufficient to itself (Emily Dickinson's line used) as well as intertextuality with the motif of 'The Green Eyed man' and Othello (The Green Eyed monster).

How is The Erl-King the most innovative and experimental of the stories?

‘The Erl-King’ can be seen as the most innovative and experimental of the narratives as it plays around with the voice of the narrator and tenses of the the text. "The woods enclose and then enclose again" is in third person, present tense yet "It is easy to lose yourself in these woods." reverts to second person. This suggests that the Erl King is the most experimental as none of the other texts do this. 

How does The Erl-King fit with other TBC narratives?

The Erl-King is the middle story of the collection and therefore isn't completely transcending of the binary opposites and isn't completely supporting of them either. It involves similarities with the fact that the setting is isolated and there is a female narrator (the same with all the stories minus Puss In Boots). The protagonist kills the male figure (the same with The Bloody Chamber, and company of wolves).

Possible questions

Women face 'the soft face of oppression' in literature as opposed to blatant physical violence

The Yellow Wallpaper may be read as a 'dynamic feminist demand for liberation from the maddening claustrophobia of patriarchy'

'The notion of phallocentrism involves fundamental ways of how the phallus can be equated by power, authority, presence and the right to possession'

'The Yellow Wallpaper takes the heroines madness as a perverse triumph over the imprisoning domesticity in which she is trapped by patriarchy' (Jacobus)

Independent Reading- Chapter 18

Introduction to: Literature, criticism and theory (Third edition) by Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royle

What does all-pervading mean?
occurring or having an effect through or into every part of something.
Phallogocentric/Phallocentrism definition?
In critical theory and deconstruction, phallogocentrism is a neologism coined by Jacques Derrida to refer to the privileging of the masculine (phallus) in the construction of meaning. It is a portmanteau of the older terms phallocentrism, putting the masculine point of view central, and logocentrism, giving a central place to spoken language in assigning meaning to the world.
What does equivocal mean?
open to more than one interpretation; ambiguous.
Desedimentation? 
Similar to erosion

• Is Gilman implying that the only way out of patriarchy is madness?
• The unconscious knows no contradictions, she is mad and not mad at the same time. She is and is not the woman behind the wallpaper at the same time
• There is a deeper analysis to just gender roles
• Patriarchy isn't just the behavior of men but women as well
• Phallogocentrism gives importance to the person with a penis

reduced to 5 words

• To escape patriarchy, be mad
• You do you because (of) influences
• Question more than is known
• No patriarchy (if) women allowed (it to) happen
• Phallogocentrism central importance with penis

One key word/ idea

• Suffering
• Alter-ego
• Advanced
• Imbalance
• Phallogocentrism

The essay introduced me into new theories and ways of looking at things. Phallogocentrism is a new term I have learned from this and I think it is a huge influence on feminist texts because of the male usually being the focus. The critical essay also introduced me to ideas linking to Freud and the example 'both your mother and not your mother but someone else at the same time' which i took away as everyone being viewed differently by groups of people, for example my mother is my mum but is also some peoples vocal coach, or perhaps just plainly she is my mother but is also a human being with her own life. From The Yellow Wallpaper, it drew upon ideas that it is a metaphor she literally is not behind the wallpaper but she feels trapped as though she is.

Reading Critical Essays: The Tigers Bride and The Courtship of Mr.Lyon

Overall Analysis of the Courtship of Mr Lyon and the Tiger’s Bride by engmisskp

Task 1- 
What is defloration? 
A fancy word for saying someone is no longer a virgin

What is psychic transformation?
A mental transformation 

What does perpetuate mean?
To continue

Task 2- 
5 key sentences: 

1. A woman always seems to branch off of a man
2. Carter strongly emphasises the woman desire and sexual liberation
3. Carter brings in ideas of androgyny (which links to the equality and acceptance of people)
4. Female body culture is deeper routed in our culture
5. Perhaps the reason women are oppressed in texts is because men dominated the retellings of old wives tales.

• androgyny   
• domination
• liberation

The above article really goes in depth concerning feminist issues and includes a lot of information about the male character as well as the female protagonist. It really focuses on how women are objectified and used to just produce the next generation. Interesting concepts were shown eg. Body and Soul binary opposites and the inclusion of androgyny as well as supplying information to enrich my knowledge on voyeurism and the patriarchy in the stories.