How does Carter present women in her story collection 'The Bloody Chamber'?

As exemplified in her story 'Wolf Alice', Carter rescues women from the "Old bottles" of outdated patriarchal ideals with the "new wine" of her Second Wave Feminist agenda. In contrast to the traditions of the fairytale genre, in 'Wolf Alice' (the final story of the collection) titular Alice saves her male counterpart the Duke from his crushing state of limbo, allowing him to find his identity and escape the identity imposed upon him by society: "with her soft, moist, gentle tongue, finally the face of the Duke." As the final story in the collection, Carter uses this as a key structural event, allowing the collection to close upon an image of female empowerment, thereby refuting the common fairytale trope of the damsel in distress.

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Answered by Jenny R. English Literature tutor

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