angela carter the bloody chamber and other stories

The Beast’s valet takes the heroine to a mansion, where The Beast wants to see her naked. In “The Tiger’s Bride” a Russian man gambles away his daughter to a mysterious nobleman called The Beast. She finds him in his bed and kisses his hands, and he turns into a man. Beauty forgets her promise and only returns when the Beast is dying.

When her father grows rich she leaves, promising to return before winter ends. Beauty agrees, and she spends the days alone and the nights talking with the Beast. The Beast makes Beauty come to dinner, where the Beast asks her to stay with him, promising that her father’s fortunes will be restored. On his way out he takes a white rose and then the lion-like Beast appears. In “The Courtship of Mr Lyon,” Beauty’s father seeks refuge from a snowstorm at an empty mansion. The heroine inherits the Marquis’ fortune and she, her mother, and the piano tuner live happily together. Just as he swings his sword the heroine’s mother appears and shoots the Marquis. The Marquis learns what the heroine did and prepares to behead her. The heroine tells a young piano tuner what she saw and then the Marquis returns. He leaves and the heroine uses the forbidden key, which leads to a torture chamber containing the bodies of the Marquis’ three previous wives. The Marquis then gets a business call and leaves, entrusting his keys to the heroine and only forbidding her from one room. The heroine moves to the Marquis’ castle, where she loses her virginity and finds a collection of sadistic pornography.

In “The Bloody Chamber” the heroine, a young pianist, marries a rich Marquis who had three earlier wives.

Angela carter the bloody chamber and other stories