The narrator is bemused that the Marquis would choose her to be his wife after having been with such enchanting women. The Marquis's first wife was a renowned opera diva, whose performance enthralled the narrator as a child. The wife before that was the model for a famous painting. She died three months into her marriage, supposedly in a boating accident, although her body was never recovered. One explanation for the Marquis's seriousness is that he is still in mourning for his last wife. These characteristics make the heroine fear the Marquis, and she hopes that once they are at the castle, he will reveal his true self to her. Even when he proposed to her, he did not show emotion.

He is much older than the heroine and his eyes have an 'absolute absence of light.' He reminds the narrator of a lily, because he is so quiet and emotionless that he seems to be wearing a mask all the time. He is big, strong and catlike, but also gentle and romantic.

She herself married down in society, and when her husband died at war, she and the narrator were left penniless.īack in the train compartment, the heroine can hear the Marquis's heavy breathing and smell his scent. She replied, 'I'm sure I want to marry him.' Even though she seemed unconvinced that her daughter was making the right choice, she kept silent out of her wish for financial security. The heroine recalls how when her wedding dress arrived, her mother asked whether she was sure she loved her husband-to-be. She feels as though she has 'in some way, ceased to be her child in becoming a wife.' She imagines her mother back at her childhood apartment, putting away her girlhood belongings, and is suddenly struck by a sense of loss. She lies in her train compartment, excited to be leaving her childhood behind and entering into womanhood. She begins her tale by describing the night she traveled alone to her new husband, the Marquis's palace. At the time of the story she is a poor, seventeen-year-old Parisian pianist. ' The Bloody Chamber's' heroine narrates the story in retrospect.

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter