Wednesday, October 5, 2016

"The Tigers Bride" by Angela Carter

The story of the The Tiger's Bride is about a young girl, who was gambled away by her father. They had just moved from Russia to Italy, and it is was a tradition in the city that newcomers must play a game with the most powerful figure in the city, the grand seigneur, or the beast. The beast wears a mask with a mans face painted on it. He also wears gloves and cloaks, to cover his body, and an old-fashioned wig. The beast was much better at cards than the father, and soon he had nothing left to offer, besides his only daughter. He was confident in his hand of cards, but the beast had a better hand, and won. The beast and his valet return the next day of her and her belongings. Her father is begging for a rose as forgiveness, and as she breaks the stem she pricks her finger, getting blood on it. The beast's castle was not beautiful, but rather in a secluded area and vacant. His intention were not to keep the girl as prisoner, but to see her undressed one time, and then she would be returned to her father. She agreed to his wishes and was brought to her cell. She finds her maid there, but with a music box where her heart should be. Her maid tells her that no humans live in the castle, and that she is a machine, ready for her service. A few days after she arrives there the beast gets his wishes. She learns that the beast was a tiger underneath his disguise. The beast agreed to let her go after, but she didn't want to return to her father, who didn't miss her, and who had lost her in the first place. She goes to the beast and there, he licks off her skin turning her into a tiger herself.
In the Disney film Belle takes her fathers place as the beast's prisoner. The beast in the movie is not a tiger, and wears no disguise. He has a beautiful castle with many rooms, and many different servants, who are not human. The focus of the movie is the growing relationship between Belle and Beast, and how they eventually fall in love. In The Tiger's Bride the beast only wants to keep her for one night, but the girl chooses to stay with him.

1, 2 & 3 Questions

1.  Why do newcomers have to play the tiger at a game of cards?
2. Why isn't the tiger interested in keeping her as a prisoner?
3. Why does she choose to stay with the tiger even after he sets her free?

1 comment:

  1. Emma,

    Nice job retelling the story of the "Tiger's Bride." You do an excellent job rehashing some of the most important plot points, and I was impressed by how easy you made the storyline to follow! Great work.

    While I like your "Beauty and the Beast" level one questions, let's review how to build level two and level three questions off of your first level one question. Right now, you have three great questions for comprehension, but they are all level 1.

    Good work.

    ReplyDelete

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