The introduction to the Erl King describes the serene natural setting of the forest, ‘the leaves glittered…the withered blackberries dangled…’ Carter’s narrative here involves the reader directly; using direct description to the reader ‘you step between the first trees…the wood swallows you up’. Moreover a feeling of claustrophobia is created in Carter’s description of the overbearing forest, ‘Once you are inside it, you must stay there until it lets you out again’. Moreover the idea that nature is control is created here, in the sense that the forest holds the control, personifying the forest and making it seem grand and above the powers of human control ‘the trees stir…a little stream…has grown sullen’.
Setting is important here, as it creates the atmosphere for the story. As Carter spends so much time describing the menacing forest we as the reader are kept in suspense as to what is going to happen and are put edge by the gloomy, threatening setting.
Page 97 - ‘It is easy to lose yourself in these woods’; could have 2 different meanings? 1. Get physically lost 2. Lose the kind of person you are?
Narrative shifts between first, second and third person – intention to confuse the reader? Make us feel lost by the forest?
The Erl King: Seems to be at one with nature, a part of the forest. ‘He knows all about the wood and the creatures in it’. Physical description of the Erl King creates the image of a tree, ‘hair that is the colour of dead leaves, dead leaves fall out of it’. The way in which the birds come to rest on him, as if the branches of a tree. ‘Like a tree that bears bloom and fruit’
He is at one with nature, yet asserts power of the forest, calling all the birds to him (similar to The Pied Piper) – is he a symbol of nature’s power? Destructive in the same way that nature can be destructive.
Seduction by the Erl King, ‘he drew me towards him’.
Idea of stripping skin (links to Tiger’s Bride and Wolf Alice) ‘he strips me to my last nakedness, that underskin of mauve’.
Young woman narrator feels consumed by him, consumed by the forest/nature. Takes control and ironically strangles him with his own hair.
‘with hands as gentle as rain’ – shows a different less destructive side of nature – however an odd simile to use to describe such a destructive act
Yes, the setting is important. You make good comments and raise imoportant questions about this story. You make links well. It's a very poetic, derscriptive piece of writing, especially in the opening paragraph.
ReplyDelete