The Male Gaze in The Tiger's Bride
In what you could describe as a contrast to The Bloody Chamber, The Tiger’s Bride appears as if it argues against the opinions of Mulvey that the gaze is male, as in The Tiger’s Bride, it is the Beast who displays the passive nature that Berger and Mulvey associates with the feminine. The beast is defined to us as someone who is ‘delicate... a gentle creature’ (Carter, 2006:74) and therefore, it can be stated fairly certainly that, the beast her, is an ironic representation of the feminine character by Carter. There are many reasons why Carter may have done this, but I believe that the main one is that she is empowering women. She is taking away the controlling gaze of the male, and giving it to the female, and in its place, the beast gains the so-called feminine qualities of self-awareness. This reversal of roles is shown in the picture to the right, as the bride has exposed her naked flesh to the beast, yet she is gazing at the beast, and the beast is looking away.
When discussing the male gaze and its role in The Tiger’s Bride, a key component to analyse would be the mask that the beast wears. This mask is described as “the mirror image of the other, too perfect, uncanny” (Carter, 2006: 58). Here we learn that the beast is taking on the role of the feminine as he is concealing his true, imperfect appearance with that which is too perfect. Therefore, it can be said that, in a similar fashion to the unnamed heroine in The Bloody Chamber, the beast becomes a representation of the Lacanian other. One could surmise that the mask of the beast may emulate the actual identity of a man that he wishes to be.
At one stage in The Tiger’s Bride, Beauty is having a discussion with the Beast, in which she narrates to the readers that “my eyes were level with those inside the mask that now evaded mine” (Carter, A, 64:2006). Here we can see that it is there is once again a reversal in the roles of the male gaze as defined to us by Mulvey, as here we see that it is not the male, the beast, who is in control of the gaze, it is the female, Beauty. Once again, by doing this Carter is giving a sense of empowerment to the feminine by assigning Beauty the role of the male in the male gaze.
However, it’s not as if Beauty lets go of her expected feminine role as the object of desire. It is argued by Day that Beauty identifies herself to be a service to the gaze; and as flesh for the desire of others. (Day, A, 140:1998) In The Tiger’s Bride, Beauty uses this identification as the desirable to her advantage by accepting the power her beauty has.
In Conclusion, what Carter is doing here is different to that of what she is doing in The Bloody Chamber, in which she shamed the patriarchal society using the male gaze and representing its effects on women, whereas with The Tiger’s Bride, Carter is empowering women by showing that they too can also be in control of the male gaze, and that it is sometimes the masculine who hide their true ego and true selves behind a mask.
When discussing the male gaze and its role in The Tiger’s Bride, a key component to analyse would be the mask that the beast wears. This mask is described as “the mirror image of the other, too perfect, uncanny” (Carter, 2006: 58). Here we learn that the beast is taking on the role of the feminine as he is concealing his true, imperfect appearance with that which is too perfect. Therefore, it can be said that, in a similar fashion to the unnamed heroine in The Bloody Chamber, the beast becomes a representation of the Lacanian other. One could surmise that the mask of the beast may emulate the actual identity of a man that he wishes to be.
At one stage in The Tiger’s Bride, Beauty is having a discussion with the Beast, in which she narrates to the readers that “my eyes were level with those inside the mask that now evaded mine” (Carter, A, 64:2006). Here we can see that it is there is once again a reversal in the roles of the male gaze as defined to us by Mulvey, as here we see that it is not the male, the beast, who is in control of the gaze, it is the female, Beauty. Once again, by doing this Carter is giving a sense of empowerment to the feminine by assigning Beauty the role of the male in the male gaze.
However, it’s not as if Beauty lets go of her expected feminine role as the object of desire. It is argued by Day that Beauty identifies herself to be a service to the gaze; and as flesh for the desire of others. (Day, A, 140:1998) In The Tiger’s Bride, Beauty uses this identification as the desirable to her advantage by accepting the power her beauty has.
In Conclusion, what Carter is doing here is different to that of what she is doing in The Bloody Chamber, in which she shamed the patriarchal society using the male gaze and representing its effects on women, whereas with The Tiger’s Bride, Carter is empowering women by showing that they too can also be in control of the male gaze, and that it is sometimes the masculine who hide their true ego and true selves behind a mask.