'The Lady of the House of Love'

'The Lady of the House of Love' is Angela Carter's re-told version of 'Sleeping Beauty'.

In the story's opening we are introduced to the story's protagonist. The Vampire Countess. Although this character is described with the physical attributes of a typical Gothic femme-fatal or monster, she actually has the personality traits of a victim.

She is described as being 'so beautiful she is unnatural. Her beauty is a deformity.' In this sense she is a victim within her own body. The only company she keeps his a caged bird, this is symbolic of her. She is forever locked within her castle and unable to escape, and she takes delight in torturing the creature in order to make herself feel wanted.

Another way in which the Countess is trapped is through her vampirism. This is also described using the typical Gothic animalistic elements of a monster. Carter described how, as a child the Countess would 'crawl on all fours' for her prey, however this animalistic nature is subverted as Carter then goes on to describe how the Countess would have 'loved to have taken the rabbits home.' This evokes sympathy from the audience, which is ironic as Carter has described her her as having the typical features of a Gothic monster and femme-fatal.

Carter also brings in elements of the supernatural into the story through the Countess' use of Tarot Cards which she spends her days reading. This has links to Paganism/ Wicca as the Countess is using a form of magic to predict, or try to predict, her future.When the cards finally reveal the lovers ('Les Amoureux') Carter intertexulises this fairy story with that of 'Jack and the Beanstalk' through the quote of; 'Fee, fie, foe, thumb I smell the blood of an Englishman.' This creates a sense of foreboding as the audience knows what the Countess intends to do with the Englishman. Also, in taking these fairy stories and combining them with elements of the Gothic, Carter is removing the innocence away from them and stripping them back to their bases which were originally documented by the Brothers Grimm, however, she has added her own twist to them through the use of the theme of sexuality. Thus making these stories transgress into more complex and adult-like, sort off fairy stories for adults.

We are then introduced to the Englishman, who has arrived in France to take-part in World War I. Here, we see Carter intertwining her re-worked fairy stories with actual historic events. This gives more weight to the story and blurs the lines between fantasy and reality. In doing this Carter brings the story into reality and a reader is able to believe in it more.

The character of the Englishman, like the Countess, is subverted. He is described using all of the physical attributes of a stereotypical, Gothic, female victim. He is described as having 'blond hair' and 'blue eyes' and there is a lot of emphasis on the fact that he is a 'virgin'. But as we see later on, he is not your typical Gothic victim.

Upon his arrival in the deserted town of the Countess, Carter uses Biblical references in order to hint at the Englishman's heroism. 'He gratefully washes his feet in the fountain.' This quote has dual meaning. Firstly, there are links to Baptism, which, supposedly gives someone protection from Hell. This is significant as later, we see that the Englishman walks away from the Countess, unharmed and thus protected. Another link could be to the Last Supper where Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, Jesus was the savior, therefore, we can assume that perhaps the Englishman is the savior of the Countess.

Another Biblical link would be; 'He hopes to find a friendly inn...' This has links to the Nativity story where Mary and Joseph try to find an inn, in which to rest upon reaching Bethlehem. This quote shows the contrast between good and evil, Christ, a force of good was born in an inn and the Countess lives in a castle, which has become her prison, again, all this points to the Englishman being the savior of the Countess.

In the final scene of the story we witness the death of the Countess after she becomes human. This is ironic as it is, in becoming the thing she wants to be most, she dies. Her death clearly echoes 'Sleeping Beauty' as she pricks her finger on a rose, this is a clear subversion of the ending of the fairy tale as the Englishman, permanently puts Sleeping Beauty to sleep as appose to waking her up. In this sense, the Englishman could be considered the villain of the piece, as appose to the savior, as he causes the death of the Countess, then goes off as planned to fight the war in France.