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Essay / "The Tiger's Bride and Post-War Feminist Ideas
Fairy tales can be seen as a way of communicating a certain message or lesson to its audience. In Angela Carter's case, she uses her short story "The Tiger's Bride", an adaptation of the famous tale "Beauty and the Beast" by Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villenueve, to emphasize one of the ideologies that followed the post-war feminist movement in countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States. War feminists had the right to sexual equality. At the time this story was written, women were seen as sexually oppressed in the sense that the desires of their male counterparts were seen as dominant. nothing in return, as this was considered their duty as a woman. By following the journey of the female protagonist of “The Tiger's Bride,” the reader can see her fight for sexual equality and how it resembles a form of sexual liberation. Postwar feminists were also fighting. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay In 1979, the year “The Tiger's Bride” was published, a change in direction toward women's equality was underway. Women did not have to succumb to the gender roles imposed on them by society and gained more freedom. Author Ann Jones says: “Instead of external rules, the new sexual doctrine pushed a woman's own desire for 'self-actualization' to serve as policeman. This mobilized her individual and isolated search for “sexual adjustment,” obscuring the social and political concerns common to all women. As an instrument of social control, sex was powerful and worked. This form of control has been observed throughout history, notably when the Tiger asked “Beauty” to undress for him. Instead of following his demands, she created her own conditions for the Tiger, implementing her own control over herself. Some of the acts of liberation experienced by "Beauty" in "The Tiger's Bride" resemble the type of encounters women wanted to have in real life at the time this story was published. Angela Carter was able to advance the ideology of sexual equality, sought by many feminists of the time, through the sexual encounters experienced by the main character of “The Tigers Bride”. At one point in the story, the main character, “Beauty,” goes to the river with the Tiger. At the river, the tiger gets naked for her and then she gets naked for him too. This action shows that “Beauty” undressed of her own free will, instead of being forced to do so by the Tiger to appease his desires without getting anything in return. This is an example of the equal domination desired by feminists. In another act of sexual freedom, “Beauty” achieves her sexual independence from her father by claiming her virginity. “Beauty’s” lack of ownership over her body in the very first sentence of the story: “My father lost me to the Beast at cards.” » Author Patricia Brooke mentions that "she occupies the position of a revered property – 'pet' evoking both a beloved and domesticated animal", meaning that she truly had no form independence and even less sexually. Since "Beauty" was a virgin, she was able to be exchanged for the Tiger at the beginning of the story. Her virginity was considered a “prize” over which she had no control at the time and she acknowledges this. At the end of the story, when she no longer owes her father, “Beauty” finally takes control of her own body and finds comfort in transforming herself..