Examples Of Individualism In The Tiger's Bride

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In contrast to this, in ‘The Tiger’s Bride’, the bride chooses to turn into a beast herself, stating that “men denied me rationality just as they denied it to all those who were not exactly like themselves”. Unlike Shelley, who censures society as a whole, Carter’s critique has feminist undertones, which is reflective of the second-wave feminist movement, and provides a new perspective for readers of her retellings. Though she is denied a name, Carter gives her a voice by opting for a first-person point of view, making her a more powerful character than Beauty, and foreshadowing Carter’s twist ending. Despite his odd requests, at no point within the story does the beast do anything to harm anyone, rendering the bride’s and society’s fear of him unfounded. Indeed, the bride’s fear of him has its roots in the story she was told when she was a child (“he will gobble you up”). Nevertheless, she mentions that the beast “was far more frightened of me than I was of him.” The bride’s choice to walk her own path and move away from the society that has shunned her raises this question. Is it c...

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