An example of a character conforming to such categorisations is in the first story in Angela Carter’s collection:‘The Bloody Chamber’, which is ‘more than twice the length of any other story in the collection’, proving its importance. On a surface level, the unnamed female conforms to both stereotypes of the traditional representation of femininity in gothic literature as a ‘trembling innocent’, due to her naive and virginal nature, and a ‘shameless harlot’ as a result of her desire for sex. This pressing excitement for sex is first shown through the line; she ‘felt [herself] stir’ in his presence. However, upon delving further into the text, it becomes obvious that the marquis is a predator, and she the prey, shown initially through Carter constantly referring to him as a lion/ ‘leonine’ with a ‘mane.’ This lion like imagery presents him as a dominant, untameable and extremely powerful beast, providing a stark contrast to the female’s body, which is compared to a ‘lamb chop’, thus quickly depicting her as powerless in this situation and over her sexuality. This imagery also insinuates the idea of a lion devouring a lamb, particularly since the phrase is cleverly placed after a reference to a ‘Rops’ etching, who was infamous for his erotic and borderline satanic themed artwork, which potentially foreshadows the sex between the two characters as predatorial, raw and objectifying. The visual imagery here enhances the girl’s vulnerability and proves the marquis’ control over her and her sexual appetite, as he ‘closed her legs like a book.’ From the female’s perspective, there is a crescendo to the moment in which they have sex, however, once they do it is clear the naive girl’s actions were fuelled by a fantasy, as a result of the society forcing young girls to believe that sex is a magical experience, predominantly to impregnate the bride and pleasure the man. Yet, Carter, exploring the ideas of second wave feminism, has no issue with illustrating the reality of the moment, comparing it to being ‘impaled, a term that alludes being wounded and hurt. Furthermore, Carter cleverly abuses the setting to further this attack on the patriarchy with the feature of the mirrors, a symbol for the male gaze, as ‘a dozen husbands impaled a dozen brides.’ Feminist writers use the symbol of the mirror to enhance the idea that whenever a female looks at herself in a mirror, she does so with masculine eyes, looking at things he would and altering her appearance for his pleasure; this makes it clear that her having sex with him is merely for his pleasure, not for hers. Moreover, the lack of name for the female character and the use of ‘dozen’ makes it obvious that this same situation happens t