The Courtship of Mr Lyon

Characters
1. Beauty
  1. 'his Beauty, his girl child, his pet'
    1. his= possession- patriarchal dominance of father
  2. She looks as if she were 'made all of snow' that 'resembles bridal satin'
    1. suggestion of virginity and purity, the inevitability that it will be corrupted
      1. 'Spilled' uncontrolled- foreshadowing her self-absorption in London
  3. She describes herself as: 'Miss Lamb, spotless, sacrificial'
    1. Sex as dirty and corruptive etc
  4. 'The pearly skin of hers was plumping out a little with high living and compliments... she looked at herself in mirrors a little too often , these days.'
    1. The mirror is an object in which we see women in a defined role as 'Beauty'
    2. Vanity as negative as it is to please how others (males) see her?
2. Father
  1. 'Beauty's father'
  2. 'Do not think she had no will of her own... she would gladly have gone to the ends of the earth for her father whom she loved dearly.'
    1. Comparing to tiger's Bride- her father appears blameless
    2. Argues that this is not an act of female subjugation, but one of choice?
3. Mr Lyon
  1. 'his shaggy mane'
    1. symbol of masculine strength and power
  2. '...He sprang from the room and she saw, with an indescribable shock, that he went in all fours.'
    1. The constant battle to contain beastly nature
      1. literally externalising the internal nature of humans, accepting their own beastly nature
      2. 'Beauty and The Beast', the two characters are polar
        Yet a level of unity and equality by the end
    2. Thus Carter is extracting the latent content
      1. Thus intending to cross the liminal space into our minds by shocking etc
Symbolism
1. The rose
  1. 'one last, single, perfect rose.'
    1. connection with the girl- perfection, innocence etc
      1. Yet in this story, her corruption of innocence is one of vanity, the influence of wealth
        Materialism, external reflecting the internal
Form and structure
1. Comes just before The Tiger's Bride, which appears to be a complete reversal of this story
2. Begins in 3rd person, yet slips into 1st person by end
  1. Perhaps reflects Beauty's transformation to become somewhat selfish and vain when she moves to London
Setting
1. Mansion
  1. 'seemed to hide itself shyly'
    1. Reflects the outcast Beast himself- victimised, shamefully hiding
    2. Otherness, outcast
  2. 'Pervasive atmosphere of a suspension of reality'
    1. Reflection of rich living under a different set of rules
      1. The rich transcend society's rules
    2. Marxist
  3. 'So many, many flowers... that it seemed the whole of spring drew him into its warms with a refund intake of perfumed breath.'
    1. Entrapment/ intoxication that beauty causes
    2. Both pain and pleasure, entrapment yet happiness
      1. Like 'pretty cages'? Erl King
  4. Feminine place
2. London
  1. 'you are never at the mercy of the elements in London, where the huddled warmth of humanity melts the snow before it has any time to settle.'
    1. the Beast is a victim as he is trapped in the mansion, away from
    2. Place of masculinity and corruption?
3. 'Mr and Mrs Lyon walk in the garden.'
  1. Pre-lapsarian?
    1. Still not fully accepting of fallen state and thus fall is inevitable and necessary?

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The Courtship of Mr Lyon

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	Created by Robyn Horne about 9 years ago