However, the life of the female character changes dramatically as her disappeared man returns: “A great thump on the door announced him as she was stirring the soup for the father of her children and she knew him the moment she lifted the latch to him although it was years since she’d worn black for him and now he was in rags and his hair hung down his back and never saw a comb, alive with lice” (Carter, 192). In such a way, the author reveals rudeness of men, whereas women are limited in their actions and preferences: “She stands and moves within the invisible pentacle of her own virginity. She is an unbroken egg; she is a sealed vessel; she has inside her a magic space the entrance to which is shut tight with a plug of membrane; she is a closed system; she does not know how to shiver. She has her knife and she is afraid of nothing” (Carter, 195).
Thus, Angela Carter depicts the oppressed position of women, who have to live in the male-dominated society, whereas men establish their rules and norms, which women have to obey.
Works Cited:
Angela Carter. “The Company of Wolves”. In The Bloody Chamber. Retrieved on July 10, 2011 from
http://www.angelfire.com/crazy4/lesadoreyl/carter_bloody_chamber.html#the_company_of_wolves
Charles Perrault. “Little Red Riding Hood.” Retrieved on July 10, 2011 from http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0333.html