INTERTEXTUALITY
Intertextuality – compare any two treatments to a single source text
Introduction
The best type of referencing in short stories Blue Beard by Charles Perrault and Bloody Chamber by Angela Carteris the reference to the source text defined as an undisputable and everlasting connection between the two literary pieces.’[1]The two stories are enduring since the hyper-text will not occur if the hypo-text is absent. Nevertheless, these two texts have many other types of inter-textual referencing.[2] Theseare references to other literary works, such as references to religious practice and other folkloric works,other than the source text.Thus this paper will analyze the intertextuality between Blue Beard by Charles Perrault and Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter concerning historicaland religious contexts since the two artistic productions have standard features relating to the two references. The same analysis will be done considering the intertextualitybetween the movieEx-Machina by Alex Garland and the short story Bluebeard by Charles Perrault.
Intertextuality between Blue beard by Charles Perrault and Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter.
Angela Carter’s Bloody Chamber has which excursions provide concrete, proves that her work deep into education and tradition is encompassing knowledge of both modern and ancientcivilization worldwide over. She indicates in her work misconceptions about Bluebeard’s historical events of the most common character Opal. In the story, she demonstrates the ring which was offered to the blue beard’s bride belonged to Catherine, and this portrays the groom’s cruel actions. Angela writes that opal jewelry is asymbolof bad luck. She continues to say that the opal jewelry belonged to Catherine’s mother, her grandmother’s, and mothers before that. The ring wasgiven to them by her ancestor, and every bride wore it when they came to the castle. Thus this ring had a symbolic meaning of historical inheritance. In the bloody chamber, a jewel with symbolicmeaning isalsoused. When a woman protagonist wore the ruby choker symbolizes vengeance and blood.’[3]
The use of jewelry, luxurious interiors, clothes, and traditional art trace way back to ancient times. Blued Beard was betrayed in the Bloody Chamber, symbolizing the remainder of the Egyptian eyes on historicalmonuments. Angela says that a huge and enormous man with dark and motionless eyes resemble the eyes of the ancient Egyptians that were painted upon their coffins. These paintings suggest that artists are aware of the world and are well knowledgeable of the historical arts. She continues to write that music played in Christine’s room and on the wall. At the same time, there was awedding on the same wall where the image of Cecelia appears at her spiritualorgan.The image reappears at the end when Blue Beard calls his wife only to murder her using the nameof Cecelia, who appears as the saint. This is amisconception of religion, and it also shows how women become victims in their own homes. Angela writes;
“Shall I come up to heaven to fetch you down, Saint Cecelia? You wicked woman, do you wish me to compound my crimes by desecrating the marriage bed?”[4]
What brings to the fore the intertextuality in these two stories more vividly can be found in the instance where these men want to travel, and as such, they want to leave their wives to be in charge. Thus, they give their women access to the premises by giving them keys to every room that is in the home. In Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter Records:
“Then, slowly yet teasingly, as if he were giving a child a great, mysterious treat, he took out a bunch of keys from some interior hidey-hole in his jacket–key after key, a key, he said, for every lock in the house. Keys of all kinds–huge, ancient things of black iron; others slender, delicate, almost baroque; wafer-thin Yale keys for safes and boxes. And, during his absence, it was I who must take care of them all.”[5]
In the two stories, the men require that in the event of their absence, the women are to be left in charge. Also, in both cases, the women are handed over keys by their husbands.[6]In Blue beard, Perrault record that during the time that the man with the blue beard was to travel, he called his wife and implored her that during his absence, he wanted her to enjoy herself and that she can even bring her friends to give her company if she so wished.[7]Upon telling her this, Perrault records:
“Here,” said he,” are the keys to the two great wardrobes, wherein I have my best furniture. These are to my silver and gold plate, which is not every day in use. These open my strongboxes, which hold my money, both gold and silver; these my caskets of jewels. And this is the master key to all my apartments. But as for this little one here, it is the key to the closet at the end of the great hall on the ground floor. Open them all; go into every one of them, except that little closet, which I forbid you, and forbid it in such a manner that, if you happen to open it, you may expect my just anger and resentment.”[8]
The exciting part of both stories that the men give their wives access to all the rooms, except one. The women are instructed to use all the keys except one. In Blood Chamber, Angela records:
“Every man must have one secret, even if only one, from his wife,’ he said. ‘Promise me this, my whey-faced piano-player; promise me you’ll use all the keys on the ring except that last little one I showed you. Play with anything you find, jewels, silver plate; make toy boats of my share certificates, if it pleases you, and send them sailing off to America after me. All is yours, everywhere is open to you–except the lock that this single key fits”[9]
The man with a blue beard gives to his wife almost the same instruction as the man in Blood Chamber. Perrault records:
“And this is the master key to all my apartments. But as for this little one here, it is the key to the closet at the end of the great hall on the ground floor. Open them all; go into every one of them, except that little closet, which I forbid you….”[10]
In both stories, the women fail to resist the temptation not to open the forbidden rooms, and in both cases, the women find the previous lovers of their husbands killed in the places that they were told not to open. In both stories, when the women realize that they have broken the promise that they had given to their husbands, they are gripped by fear, and in the process, they drop the key, and the keys become stained in blood. At that moment, both women realize the danger that they are in now that they have broken the promise that they had made to their husbands. It is a classic case of a patriarchal society.[11]
In the process of covering up, they attempt to clean the keys so that their husbands may not find out that they had violated their oaths. However, in both stories, the more they tried to clean the keys, the more conspicuous the bloodstains of the keys became clear. For instance, Carter records:
“But the key was still caked with wet blood, and I ran to my bathroom and held it under the hot tap. Crimson water swirled down the basin but, as if the key itself were hurt, the bloody token stuck. The turquoise eyes of the dolphin taps winked at me derisively; they knew my husband had been too clever for me! I scrubbed the stain with my nail brush, but still, it would not budge. I thought how the car would be rolling silently towards the closed courtyard gate; the more I scrubbed the key, the more vivid grew the stain.”[12]
Concerning the bloodstain on the key, Perrault also records:
“Having observed that the key to the closet was stained with blood, she tried two or three times to wipe it off, but the blood would not come out; in vain did she wash it, and even rub it with soap and sand. The blood remained, for the key was magical, and she could never make it quite clean; when the blood was gone off from one side, it came again on the other.”[13]
In both stories, when the husbands come back, the wives try to behave as if everything is normal and that they had remained faithful to the promise that they had made of not opening the forbidden room. However, the husbands already know that they had violated the oath. What is interesting is that the inquiry about the keys to the forbidden rooms in the two stories is somewhat similar, and the reactions of the wives of these men in the two stories are kind of same. In Bluebeard, the husband demands the keys that he had given to the wife, which she gives to him, but the key to the forbidden room is missing. Perrault records:
“The next morning, he asked her for the keys, which she gave him, but with such a trembling hand that he easily guessed what had happened.
“What!” said he, “is not the key of my closet among the rest?”
“I must,” said she, “have left it upstairs upon the table.”
“Fail not,” said Blue Beard, “to bring it to me at once.”[14]
When the wives are ordered to bring the keys to their husbands, both are very hesitant. In Bloody Chamber, we see the wife trying to convince her husband to wait until the morning since she had left the keys in the music room. Carter records:
“…….’ Go and get them.”
“Now? This moment? Can’t it wait until morning, my darling?”[15]
In Bluebeard, the wife is also very hesitant to give her husband the keys when he demands of them. Perrault records:
“After several goings backward and forwards, she was forced to bring him the key….”[16]
When the keys are brought, the husbands pronounce that the wives must die. In Bloody Chamber, the husband declares:
“My virgin of the arpeggios, prepare yourself for martyrdom.”[17]
In Bluebeard, the husband also declares that the wife must die. The writer says:
“You must die, madam,” said he, “at once.”[18]
Immediately the husbands pronounce that the wives must die. Both the women agree that they must die, and ask permission from their husbands to prepare for their death. In the process of delaying the execution, the wife in the Bloody Chamber is rescued by her mother, and the brothers save the one in Blue Beard. In both stories, the men are finally killed.
Intertextuality between Ex-Machina by Alex Garland and Bluebeard by Charles Perrault.
Like in Bloody Chamber, Ex-Machina has a lot of intertextuality with Bluebeard by Perrault since the movie seems to be similar to Bluebeard in many ways. This is even though these two works are from entirely different genres. The intertextuality is noticeable in the characters. In Bluebeard, the main character, who is a man with a blue beard, who is perceived by many women to be ugly, and this man is looking for a wife. This man with a blue beard despite his ugliness is wealthy. In Ex-Machina, the Main character by the name Nathan, is also a rich man who also has a beard. Caleb, in the movie-Ex-Machina, seems to take the role of Bluebeard’s wife. The same way Caleb is invited to stay with Nathan is the same way the wife to Bluebeard is invited(Married) to remain in the home of a blue beard.[19]
The similarity between the two works is vividly illustrated by the fact that the same way Bluebeard’s wife is given limited access to the rooms in the house, Caleb also is given Limited access to the places in Nathan’s premises through his restricted key card. Similarly, the same way Caleb cannot trust Nathan and avoid going into the restricted room, he can’t avoid the temptation of accessing the room that he had been forbidden to enter. This is the exact way that the wife of Bluebeard can’t resist the temptation of accessing the forbidden rooms. In fact, by being forbidden not to enter this room, Caleb seems more motivated to access this room the same way Bluebeard’s wife was motivated to enter the forbidden room. In Ex-Machina, when Caleb enters the forbidden room, he discovers body parts of AI attempts by Nathan that had been unsuccessful. This is very similar to Bluebeard, where when the wife enters the forbidden room, she is shocked to find the bodies of her husband’s previous lovers.
The intertextuality does not end here; the similarities between the two plots is evident in the ending of the story and that of the movie. In Bluebeard, Bluebeard’s wife calls out the sister who is watching and waiting for the brothers to come and save her so that she can escape from the wrath of her husband due to her disobedience. In Ex-Machina, Caleb devices a plan to escape with Eva, who is an AI that Nathan had invited him to interact with. In Ex-Machina, Caleb is acting as the brothers who had come to save their sister from Bluebeard. This implies that both characters, after violating the promise that they had made not to access those forbidden rooms, they are hopeful of escaping from the consequences of their disobedience.
Conclusion
As illustrated from the discussion, it is very evident that words and phrases that we use in day to day communication may have been used before. The only difference is in the way the words and phrases are organized from story to story, movie to movie, or form one communication to the other. This has been clearly illustrated in the similarities between those characters and the themes that are found in Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter, The Bluebeard by Charles Perrault, and the Movie Ex-Machina by Alex Garland. The above intertextuality analysis has proven that the bloody chamber is a collection of parodies and has a relationship with the blue beard both in the way the two authors have linked their artistic works toancient and modern-day life. The analysis of the hyper-text also connects the two texts’ similarities whereby the transformational meet to develop a modern version of writing.
Bibliography
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Carter, Angela. “The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories. 1979.” London: Vintage (1995).
Haberer, Adolphe. “Intertextuality in theory and practice.” Literatūra, 49, no. 5 (2007): 54-67.
Jones, Katie. “Bluebeardean Futures in Alex Garland’s Ex Machina (2015).” In Gender Forum: An Internet Journal for Gender Studies, vol. 58, p. 20. 2016.
Lokke, Kari E. “Bluebeard” and” The Bloody Chamber”: The Grotesque of Self-Parody and Self-Assertion.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies (1988): 7-12.
Perrault, Charles. “Bluebeard.” The Classic Fairy Tales (2008): 144-148.
Locke, Kari E. “Bluebeard” and” The Bloody Chamber”: The Grotesque of Self-Parody and Self-Assertion.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies (1988): 7-12.
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Steiner, George. In Bluebeard’s Castle: some notes towards the re-definition of culture. Faber & Faber, 2006.
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[1]van Zoonen, Liesbet. “Intertextuality.” The International Encyclopedia of Media Effects (2017), 1-12.
[2]Locke, Kari E. “Bluebeard” and” The Bloody Chamber”: The Grotesque of Self-Parody and Self-Assertion.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies (1988), 7-12.
[3]Warner, Marina. “Tales of Bluebeard and His Wives from Late Antiquity to Postmodern Times/Bluebeard: A Reader’s Guide to the English Tradition.” (2011), 222-223.
[4]Carter, Angela. “The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories. 1979.” London: Vintage (1995), 243
[5]Carter, Angela. “The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories. 1979.” London: Vintage (1995), 243
[6]Steiner, George. In Bluebeard’s Castle: some notes towards the re-definition of culture. Faber & Faber, 2006.
[7]Lokke, Kari E. “Bluebeard” and” The Bloody Chamber”: The Grotesque of Self-Parody and Self-Assertion.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies (1988), 7-12.
[8]Perrault, Charles. “Bluebeard.” The Classic Fairy Tales (2008), 145
[10]PerraultCharles (n 8), 145
[11]Andersson, Alexandra. “Fairy Tales and Feminism: Gender Equality, Patriarchal Oppression, and Objectification in Angela Carter are the Bloody Chamber and Other Stories.” (2016).
[13] Perrault Charles (n 8), 146
[14] Perrault Charles (n 8), 146
[19]Jones, Katie. “Bluebeardian Futures in Alex Garland’s Ex Machina (2015).” In Gender Forum: An Internet Journal for Gender Studies, vol. 58, p. 20. 2016.