Micaelyn Mann
For my creative project, I have chosen “The Erl-King” from The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter (1979). When I read “The Erl-King”, I loved the amazing imagery. It had such detailed and beautiful descriptions. The themes of the story that I wanted to convey are enchantment and entrapment, male dominance and female submission, and psychological
terror (Iamthewalrus, 2017). In Carter’s tale, the Erl-King is a vampire (“you sink your teeth into my throat and make me scream''; Carter, 1979), symbolizing a “patriarchal society”, and like a “praying mantis”, captures, subjugates and imprisons women (Rodríguez-Salas, 2010). For my piece, I chose to depict the climax of the story. This is the point where the protagonist realizes that the Erl-King is more than a beautiful, enchanted forest being for whom she feels romantic love, but who is also dark and dangerous, “Erl-king will do you grievous harm” (Carter, 1979). The piece will include both the Erl-King and young woman. To depict his dark intentions, the piece will be divided horizontally with the Erl-King, as the prominent figure, situated within the top two-thirds, while the young woman will be in the bottom third. This will generate the tension of the Erl-King’s dominance, which will be reinforced by a dark color palette. I have decided to portray the Erl-King as a large cloaked figure in the night with vampire teeth and “eyes green as apples. Green as dead sea fruit... What big eyes you have. Eyes of an incomparable luminosity” (Carter, 1979). While green usually symbolizes life, here, it is putrid death, alien, and makes reference to “Little Red Riding Hood” and the deadly intention of the wolf (Rodríguez-Salas, 2010). His cape will flow down into a bird cage-like structure, depicted as flowing water, as described in the tale, “clothe me in his dress of water, this garment that drenches me, its slithering odour, its capacity for drowning” (Carter, 1979). The submissive, young woman will be trapped inside the cloak cage, “you can keep me in one of your osier cages and mock my loss of liberty” (Carter, 1979). The woman will be naked to symbolize her vulnerability to his enchantment, as “He strips me to my last nakedness, the underskin of mauve, pearlized skin, like a skinned rabbit” (Carter, 1979). The central image will be framed by “elder trees” and “branches from which the trap itself was woven” (Carter, 1979). Here, the forest symbolizes a dangerous and dark place, and the framing is meant to depict the dark imagination of the subconscious mind (Essay Writer, 2019; Iamthewalrus, 2017; Rodríguez-Salas, 2010). I have added musical notes for “his magical lasso of inhuman music” (Carter, 1979) that originates from his eyes. As stated by Carter, “He winds me into a circle of his eye on a reel of birdsong” as “lullabies for foolish virgins” (Carter, 1979). Finally, to add to the dark atmosphere, I will add mushrooms, “which grow on the elder trees since Judas hanged himself on one” (Carter, 1979). The mushrooms symbolize the betrayal of the young woman by the Erl-King. For my piece, I am using a flat lay vector-based art style. This illustration style is suited to storybooks, fairy tales, adult graphic art and book covers. It allows the elements of the story to be easily understood and conveyed. Essay writer. The Liminal Experience in Angela Carter's The Erl King. (2019) https://literatureessaysamples.com/the-liminal-experience-in-angela-carters-the-erl/ Iamthewalrus2017. Interpreting ‘The Erl-King’: Symbolism and allegory in Angela Carter’s story from ‘The Bloody Chamber’. (2017) https://iamthewalrus2017.wordpress.com/2017/05/01/interpreting-the-erl-king-symbolism-and-allegory-in-angela-carters-story-from-the-bloody-chamber/ Linkin, Harriet Kramer. “Isn’t It Romantic?: Angela Carter’s Bloody Revision of the Romantic Aesthetic in ‘The Erl-King’.” Contemporary Literature 35.3 (1994): 305-23. Rodríguez-Salas, Gerardi, “No More Lullabies for Foolish Virgins. Angela Carter and ‘The Erl-Kigirlng’.” ES. Revista de Filología Inglesa 31 (2010): 223-231. |