I am going to talk about how schemata and genres guide the interpretation of literature

and Angela Carter’s “The Bloody Chamber” in particular.

Swales, in his work “Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings”,
quotes Hepburn on the understanding of a text. Hepburn says that a competent reader, in
order to understand a work of literature, needs to be aware of the genre from which it
stems/derives. This is particularly important for works that defy genre conventions: we
need to recognise the conventions being rejected in order to appreciate the effects created
by such flouting.
Thus, schemata and genre are the central pillars of the interpretation of a text, so it is
essential to grasp these key concepts.
On the one hand, according to Swales, a genre comprises a class of communicative
events characterized by a particular form and content. Generally speaking, genre refers
to the tradition in which a discourse is inserted.
On the other hand, schemata constitute the preliminary step to genres. Schemata are
mental representations used to store information about genres and which enable us to
identify them and control them. These representations develop through repeated
exposure, establishing certain patterns or expectations which are invoked when
individuals participate as producers or recipients of genres. Schemata may be classified
into two types: on the one hand, content schemata, which consist of background
knowledge about the content area of a discourse. On the other hand, formal schemata,
which consist of knowledge about procedures or routines.
On a more practical/concrete level, these concepts may be applied to Angela Carter’s
‘The Bloody Chamber’ in the following way: Since ‘The Bloody Chamber’ is a reworking of
the traditional fairy tale Bluebeard by Charles Perrault, while reading this short story, we
most probably will place it within the genre of fairy tales because the text echoes the
content and form of fairy tales, their conventions and mechanisms, calling up our
schemata for fairy tales. It is highly likely that we do so quite easily/readily because fairy
tales are one of the most well-known and most influential genres of literature, so we’ve
been exposed to them throughout our life. Hence/thus, to understand this short story, we
need to be aware of the genre from which it stems and activate the relevant schemata,
that is, the schemata for fairy tales.
Now, I am going to talk about some generic qualities of the fairy tales, and discuss what
features they share with Angela Carter’s “The Bloody Chamber” to corroborate/verify the
connection. However, at the same time, I’ll examine from which features “The Bloody
Chamber” strays off.
Generic Qualities of the Fairy Tale
A recurrent theme of fairy tales, that is, a generic quality stored as content schemata
are the typical challenges of life. Fairy tales address issues of everyday life, dramatizing
the desires and faults of human nature. Thus, folktales are personal entertainment that
expresses our deepest dreams and fears.
As regards Angela Carter’s “The Bloody Chamber”, the short story arouses disturbing
anxieties about marriage. The young woman suffers/has awkward feelings towards
marriage, and this is reflected in her depiction of the realm of marriage as a cold and
unpleasant displacement.
Some of the formal features of these narratives are:
Use of fantasy: Fantasy is one of the essential characteristics of the fairy tale. Fairy
tales use the fantasy world to represent the typical challenges of life.
In Angela Carter’s “The Bloody Chamber”, the element of fantasy is introduced by the
magical key and by the heart-shaped stain on the protagonist’s forehead. Both have
magical properties.
 An adventurous quest: The undertaking of a quest is an essential component of the
fairy tale. The objective of the fairy tale quest tends to be personal happiness, measured
by domestic satisfaction and tranquillity.
In Angela Carter’s “The Bloody Chamber”, this quest is represented by the protagonist’s
search for the truth. She wants to discover the real identity of her dangerous husband. Her
husband seems a complete stranger to her, as is suggested by her inability to see his real
face. She describes his face as a mask, as a “strange, heavy, almost waxen face”.
A happy ending: The successful solving of a dilemma is essential to the plot of the fairy
tale. Fairy tales always reward the deserving and punish the transgressors.
As any classical tale, Angela Carter’s “The Bloody Chamber” has a happy ending as
well: the protagonist eventually lives happily ever after with the blind piano-tuner and the
Marquis, the villain, is killed. The story ends with the heroine's living with her new husband,
Jean-Yves, and her mother. She inherits her ex-husband's fortune, opens a music school,
and waits for a child from her beloved.
Passive role of women: Another convention found in fairy tales is that, in general,
women are usually portrayed as passive, as vessels waiting to be filled. Rather than
designing a life for themselves, they wait for male rescue. However, ‘The Bloody Chamber’
defies this convention. Instead of assigning the heroic role to a male character, Angela
Carter gives it to a woman, namely the protagonist’s mother. The young woman is rescued
not by her brothers, as in the Perrault version, but by her mother, who is presented as a
strong, independent, fearless woman.
In short/in conclusion, an awareness of the genre into which a text falls may throw
light on its significance because it provides an interpretive frame.
What’s more, this awareness is particularly important to understand a work that defies
genre conventions. Thus, genres are not recipes that we have to follow closely/obediently,
but instruments that provide maps of new territories.
The flouting of conventions always raises the question “why?” In this case, the ending of
Carter’s story is quite suggestive. The flouting might be a direct challenge to the
patriarchal trait of passivity in traditional fairy tales.
The traditional reading of ‘Bluebeard’ propagated in the nineteenth century was that it
was a tale of the ill-effects of female curiosity. Carter’s short story takes up this theme but
gives it a feminist twist. By playing with this convention of form, Carter might be proposing
an alternative femininity: in this version, women are not passive but strong, independent
and fearless. The mother seems to represent a more active mode of being.