The Courtship of Mr Lyon

A few notations on Mr Lyon.. (even though we haven't finished it yet).

Immediately 3^rd person narrative – different to the bloody chamber.

‘Lyon’- similar to ‘lion’ – suggests he is going to be violent and beast-like, similar to the Marquis. However the ‘courtship’ suggests he will be the one doing the wooing.

The girl is presented initially to be a very innocent character, similarly to the Bloody chamber. Her ‘inner light’ with skin all of ‘snow’ indicates she is pure and ‘lovely’. She is also doing ‘chores’, something we often see within the traditional female role in fairy tales.

Her thoughts interrupt the narrative – we are giving an insight in to her feelings, “father said he would be home before nightfall”.

We see paternal love – “I hope he’ll be safe”.

She is a seemingly good virtuous girl.

We are introduced to another useless paternal figure (in contrast to the powerful maternal figure in the Bloody Chamber).

We are disconnected from the outside world and suspension of the reader’s disbelief is emphasised – “barred all within it from the world outside the walled, wintry garden”. The magic which surrounds the setting suspends our disbelief (out of reality anything is possible). “Where all the laws of the world her knew need not necessarily apply” further distancing from reality. “Suspension of reality” enforces this idea further. “Drink me” and “eat me” remind the reader of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and we are aware that Alice comes across this situation once she is down the rabbit whole, once she is in another world – reminds us that we are in a special place in the story and rules of reality are suspended.

There is personification present. “The crystals of the chandelier tinkled a little, as if emitting a pleased chuckle”, “door of the cloak-room opened of it’s own accord”, we get the idea that the house is alive, that it is humanlike.

Slight indications of the ‘male gaze’ however it seems corrupted. “With a strange kind of wonder” – The beast is captivated by the girl, suggests an inverted male gaze, her eyes pierce him, he is affected by her.

He also seems in awe of her. “Master his shyness” and “hesitantly” in the way he acts around her suggests this. He has no confidence and she seems more in control.

Direct contrast to the bloody chamber in terms of the scene with the library. “French fairy tales about white cats” – the imagery is completely innocent and opposite to what the reader was subject to in the Bloody Chamber.