Role Reversal in Tiger Bride

The short story/fairy tale "the Tiger's Bride" was something I found to be very intense. The description used by Carter, the complexity of every part of the story and the reality of the tale made for something quite remarkable.

It seems that everything in Tiger's Bride is symbolic of something else. This constant bombardment and abuse of the idea "don't judge a book by it's cover," a moral which runs rampant within the other stories, is used rather well. The constant allusion to winter, cold, and death could symbolize the girls emotions, the emotions of the Beast, and the emotions of the Father. The Father, for example, drinks constantly. This could mean that he wants to add some sort of heat, in this case being drunk, to the coldness of his life. Or the drinking could mean he is trying to numb, deaden, or cool his hot emotions. The windup maid can also be a be a symbol. This doll could be the symbol of the girl, and how she is something to be used by the others, the Beast for his sexual wants and the Father for his monetary wants. It could be a symbol of something greater, of woman in general. It could expose the idea that women were to be used as a windup toy for the man, and that they were only used when needed.

The role reversal comes from how the story ends. Usually these fairy tales end with the woman changing the man from a beast into a handsome prince. Just the opposite happens in this story. At the beginning the Beast is wearing a 'mask' which the girl obesses over, and the perfection which it has. He is seen on the outside as the perfect gentleman, but this is just a costume, covering the beast within. He is the handsome prince, and the Beauty finds this part revolting and disgusting. It is not until the end that we truly see what happens: the Beast conquers the Beauty. It is the Beauty who becomes like a beast, and we see this in Carter's constant use of animalistic adjectives to describe how the girl and the Beast interact once they have disrobed for each other. The end culminates with the two making love in a way that is described in animalistic terms. The Beast had won.

It is interesting for Carter to do something like this. I think that she is trying to say something about the Beast. The Beast could be inside each and everyone of us, and we put up some type of 'mask' to cover that up. Milord is someone who does just that, but he does it so poorly is seems that he wants people to see his beastliness. The mask that girl has is something less tangible. It could be her pride or her naiviety, as before she meets the Beast she is a virgin, and seems to be very proud of that point. It isn't until Milord reveals takes of his clothes for her, that is she able to take off her mask, and symbolically her clothes, to expose her true beastliness. It is at that point that she feels most alive, and accepts the Beast, whether that be her true emotions or the man.