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Melanie is a character and protagonist in The Magic Toyshop, written by Angela Carter. The book follows the development of Melanie as she becomes aware of herself, her environment, and her own sexuality. She is the older sister of Jonathon and Victoria, and niece of Philip Flower who is married to Margaret. She lives with these people and Margaret's brothers, Finn and Francie Jowle, who similarly lost their parents and Philip took them all in. Before her parents' death, Melanie was raised by a nanny called Mrs Rundle with her siblings, however after their death, Melanie becomes their care taker until they arrive at Uncle Philip's where Margaret takes over. The book follows the third person point of view of Melanie, establishing her emotional, mental and physical development into her womanhood, sexuality and dealing with the uncanny life she's been thrown into from the death of her parents.

Appearance
She is described to have black hair, outwards described at "Black as Guinness. Black as an Ethiopian's armpit, " by Finn. This is in gest, but from this we get that Melanie has black hair which is also mentioned in the introduction, "She combed out her long, black hair, " which also gives a length. Melanie usually has her hair down for majority of the book except when she wears braids on the journey to Philip's where Finn calls them "tortured plaits ." She is also described as pale, "long, marbly white leg ." Melanie is constantly called beautiful and pretty throughout the book and she is also aware of this, however it is never described in detail how pretty she is and any other defining features she has.

Wedding Dress
The wedding dress Melanie wears in Chapter 1 is described as, "cut low in the front to a love-token locket nestling in the hallow of her throat, her white satin dress had scooping sleeves, wide as the wings of swans, and it flowed out from a tiny waist into a great, white train, " which is later ruined as she climbs up the apple tree. She sees the whiteness of the dress as, "virginal white, " which has connections to innocence. The tarnishing of this dress can be seen as her innocence being torn, and she is worried for her mother's reaction like any child would, only to find out the next day of her parent's deaths. This can be seen as foreshadowing alongside irony.

Trousers
Finn warns her that when she meets Uncle Philip she needs to change out of her trousers and not put on any make-up and not speak unless he asks her a question, Finn states " Trousers. One of your Uncle Philip's ways. He can't abide a woman in trousers ." Melanie then changes into a 'schoolgirl' skirt she labels "innocent, ", with her turtleneck. This is a key outfit as it shows a physical development forced upon her by a man she hasn't even met yet. This can also represent Melanie officially stepping into her femininity with the representation of a skirt.

Leda Costume
Melanie appears on stage in a 'dress' which is described as, "white chiffon ," with "white satin ribbons criss-crossed ." Melanie is confused at first before Margaret states, "That is how he sees you. White chiffon and flowers in your hair. A very young girl." This goes against everything the book has shown the reader as Melanie doesn't see herself as a child anymore but a woman. Philip has arranged for Melanie to play Leda as she is raped by the god Jove in the guise of a monstrous swan. This turns the childish costume into something very sinister when this information is revealed later alongside Philip trying to get Finn to force himself upon her.

Characterization
Melanie was a self-insert of Angela Carter, portraying her own development into womanhood. Melanie is seen to go against the gothic trope in reference to the 'vulnerable woman,' especially when she openly rejects the idea of being saved or falling for Finn, however this ends up happening against her wishes showing her to be out of control in her situation. Melanie is vulnerable as she is a fifteen year old girl in an isolating location, the toyshop. She has an overbearing and sinister uncle who's presence is everywhere; it leaves Melanie trapped and hating Philip strongly. Melanie is very emotional which diverts from the 'feeble woman' trope as her emotions power her through the book while many other women in the gothic genre such as Christine Daaé's emotions were seen and portrayed as a weakness. Melanie is also shown as educated and intelligent with the books she recites in Chapter 1 and how she handles situations by being observant. However, Melanie is also a hopeless romantic as seen from these books she recites, Lady Chatterley's Lover being one, are all romance books and lead her to have a very fanatical perspective on love, these expectations diminishing throughout the book and especially after the kiss she shares with Finn.

Concept and Creation
There isn't many documents or recordings of Carter explaining the creation and concept of Melanie so all of this is based on the pattern of her complete collection and her stance outside her writing. Melanie is the closest character to Angela Carter as she is believed to be an insert of Carter's youth and experience of finding her femininity/sexuality. Melanie was created as a coming-of-age protagonist in Gothic literature who has to overcome an overbearing authority, and find herself and her sexuality in the process. Angela Carter liked retelling the fairy tale genre with twists, and The Magic Toyshop also follows a similar style of fairy tale meets gothic. The portrayal of Melanie as a female 'fairy tale' protagonist follows the stereotype, as stated by Marley Coody in their essay, "Most women in classic fairy tales are, for lack of a better word, helpless and submissive. Women, or the princesses of the stories, are controlled by the men and are usually young women themselves, just like Melanie is." This gives an insight to what Carter wanted for Melanie, to be the 'princess' controlled by a higher authority, similar to the 'feeble woman' trope in gothic. With this being a part of the concept of Melanie, her youth also relates to the 'princess' as many are young/underaged in fairy tales as they're meant for children. With Carter's feminist stance and Melanie also being a self-insert of her youth, this standing falls into her character as well. Melanie symbolises the 'positive evolution of women and the negative encoding previously accepted as femininity' To elaborate on this, Melanie is on the cusp of womanhood, and the absence of her parents pushes her into a mother role, "a little mother, " to her younger siblings which is a common feminine trait that is praised in the 1960s. Melanie gets this role taken from her when Margaret takes over, leaving her having to fit into her own shoes rather than her absent mother's. Carter rejects the gothic/fairy tale woman trope by rendering the norm as inadequate, leading readers to the conclusion that one must defy the norm in order to sufficiently survive in reality and pushes this internal conflict in Melanie that is never truly resolved as the book concludes suddenly when the norm is destroyed/rejected, aka the toyshop and Uncle Philip, leaving her marooned with Finn on a rooftop which is against the normative Melanie once envisioned for herself at the beginning of the book. Carter wants to redefine femininity as a strength such as the portrayal of Melanie's emotional side being a leading factor in the story- especially her rejection of accepting Finn immediately as she believes she deserves better, which again is against the normative in fiction of the 1960s. Melanie is a strong character and symbol of early feminism in literature and will remain so in modern media.

The Author
Angela Olive Pearce (formerly Carter, 7 May 1940 – 16 February 1992), who published under the name Angela Carter, was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realism, and picaresque works. She is best known for her book The Bloody Chamber, which was published in 1979. In 2008, The Times ranked Carter tenth in their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945." In 2012, Nights at the Circus was selected as the best ever winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. She was a feminist icon of her time and contributed a lot to the new portrayal of sexuality in present day media. Her work captures the feminist perspective especially with her retelling of fairytales, The Bloody Chamber. As well as being a writer, Carter contributed many articles to The Guardian, The Independent and New Statesman, collected in Shaking a Leg. She adapted a number of her short stories for radio and wrote two original radio dramas on Richard Dadd and Ronald Firbank. Two of her fictions have been adapted for film: The Company of Wolves (1984) and The Magic Toyshop (1987). She was involved in both adaptations; her screenplays are published in the collected dramatic writings, The Curious Room, together with her radio scripts, a libretto for an opera of Virginia Woolf's Orlando: A Biography, an unproduced screenplay entitled The Christchurch Murders (based on the same true story as Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures) and other works.

Children's books

 * The Donkey Prince (1970, illustrated by Eros Keith)
 * Miss Z, the Dark Young Lady (1970, illustrated by Eros Keith)
 * Comic and Curious Cats (1979, illustrated by Martin Leman)
 * Moonshadow (1982) illustrated by Justin Todd
 * Sea-Cat and Dragon King (2000, illustrated by Eva Tatcheva)

Dramatic works

 * Come Unto These Yellow Sands: Four Radio Plays (1985)
 * The Curious Room: Plays, Film Scripts and an Opera (1996) (includes Carter's screenplays for adaptations of   The Company of Wolves and The Magic Toyshop; also includes the contents of Come Unto These Golden Sands: Four Radio Plays)

Non-fiction

 * The Sadeian Woman and the Ideology of Pornography (1979)
 * Nothing Sacred: Selected Writings (1982)
 * Expletives Deleted: Selected Writings (1992)
 * Shaking a Leg: Collected Journalism and Writing (1997)

Novels

 * Shadow Dance (1966, also known as Honeybuzzard)
 * The Magic Toyshop (1967)
 * Several Perceptions (1968)
 * Heroes and Villains (1969)
 * Love (1971)
 * The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman (1972, also known as The War of Dreams)
 * The Passion of New Eve (1977)
 * Nights at the Circus (1984)
 * Wise Children (1991)

Poetry collections

 * Five Quiet Shouters (1966)
 * Unicorn (1966)
 * Unicorn: The Poetry of Angela Carter (2015)

Short fiction collections

 * Fireworks: Nine Profane Pieces (1974; also published as Fireworks: Nine Stories in Various Disguises and Fireworks)
 * The Bloody Chamber (1979)
 * The Bridegroom (1983) (Uncollected short story)
 * Black Venus (1985; published as Saints and Strangers in the United States)
 * American Ghosts and Old World Wonders (1993)
 * Burning Your Boats (1995)