The Erl-King Questions

1. How is the Erl-King presented?

Towards the start of the story, the Erl King is presented as 'an excellent housewife' and seen as the perfect husband to every woman. By stating that he would be an excellent housewife and not choosing to use the word husband, may be this is a challenging factor of the binary opposites as he is ultimately being compared to a 'woman's role.' His eyes are green and hypnotizing to a woman's heart. She falls in love with his eyes,which are green may be to represent envy; He will be jealous if she was to find another man or lose interest in him so he must satisfy her. The protagonist states 'He winds me into the circle of his eyes on a reel of birdsong' suggesting that he does in fact, in a way, intrigue her through the use of his eyes alone. The bird songs are that  of his past women that he comforted and impressed in the same way as her and then trapped in cages. Reading more in to the story, we can see that may be his appearance of 'white pointed teeth with the spittle gleaming on them' could actually be a big reflection of his personality and inner person.

2.How is the narrator presented?

The female narrator is at first presented as a naive, innocent and irrational young woman- these are the stereotypical female binary opposites. The narrator finds it 'easy to lose yourself in the woods' showing her irrationality and naivety as she is easily influenced and lost in other things. Further on, the narrator is shown to be perhaps more thoughtful than emotional and she recognizes that 'The Erl-King would do me grievous harm'. By showing this, she is presenting herself and more wise then what the Erl-king thins she is. Towards the end of the story, the protagonist presents herself as more rational and thoughtful- this is a breaking down of the traditional gender roles. 'Take two handfuls of his rustling hair(...) and (...) I shall strangle him'. This is showing her to have a lot more control and making her own decisions for herself without him.

3.Carter uses symbols in the narrative. The narrator describes the Erl-king's eyes as 'quite green'. This is a massive symbol of jealousy and envy. He will be jealous and envious if she was to ever find someone else to love and he was to loose her. The birds in the narrative can symbolize women as a whole. They are trapped in cages, passive and kept private. The Erl-king sees them as possessions or objects and keeps them all to himself. He does not want to share them with anyone.

4.How does Carter use allusion to tell the story?

Carter uses elements of fairy tales such as: Little Red Riding Hood (an innocent girl in the woods), Alice In Wonderland ('Eat me, Drink me'), Light sufficient to itself (Emily Dickinson's line used) as well as intertextuality with the motif of 'The Green Eyed man' and Othello (The Green Eyed monster).

5.‘The Erl-King’ can be seen as the most innovative and experimental of the narratives. This is because it plays around the voice and tense of the narrator. "The woods enclose and then enclose again" is in third person, present tense yet "It is easy to lose yourself in these woods." reverts to second person. This suggests that the Erl King is the most experimental as none of the other texts do this.

6.How does The Erl-King fit with other TBC narratives?

As well as in the other narratives in The Bloody Chamber, The Erl-king is too very feminist and dominant. It involves similarities with the fact that the setting is isolated and there is a female narrator (the same with all the stories minus Puss In Boots). The protagonist kills the male figure (the same with The Bloody Chamber, and company of wolves).