The Tiger's Bride - complete*

Question 1

the father is addicted to what

Answer 1

gambling

Question 2

the father and daughter are aristocrats fleeing what due to what

Answer 2

russia at the fall of the Tsar

Question 3

give 3 quotes to describe the narrator:
- to do with a flower
- to do with appearance (2)

Answer 3

‘Christmas rose’
‘pretty’ / ‘glossy’
‘since I could toddle, always the pretty one’

Question 4

what does the beast’s face look like? (3) quotes

Answer 4

‘mask’
‘too perfect, uncanny’
‘carnival figure made of papier-mache’

Question 5

what does the beast smell like?

Answer 5

he has a ‘fuddling perfume’
‘reek of purplish civet’ (civet = nocturnal carnivore)
‘thick, rich, wild scent’

Question 6

the Beast has a divine kind of power. this combined with his leonine nature likens him to what

Answer 6

aslan/the lion of the apocalypse/Mr. Lyon in the courtship of Mr. Lyon
- makes him almost sublime

Question 7

what kind of eyes does the beats have

Answer 7

eyes like ‘twin suns’ - the beast emits a light

Question 8

the folk tales about half-human and half-animal people links to what

Answer 8

blurring of boundaries/ where is the cutoff between human and animal?

Question 9

what is the word for the mechanical humanoid servant in the shape of the narrator?

Answer 9

the soubrette

Question 10

the soubrette is the narrator’s ___

Answer 10

doppelgänger

Question 11

the soubrette is ___(gothic trope)

Answer 11

uncanny

Question 12

there is a question as to whether the narrator is the ideal ____ - why?

Answer 12

woman
- she can’t talk (only sing)
- she does what she is told
- looks pretty
- doesn’t feel (a music box where her heart should be)

Question 13

the fact that there is a music box where the heart of the soubrette should be links to what?

Answer 13

here is a Music box where her heart should be, she doesn’t feel
□ Perhaps this is a better existence, as she has an awful, highly restricted life but at least she doesn’t have feelings which would make her feel how awful it is
□ This links to the lady of the house of love, who is described as an ‘automaton’
Is it better to have to experience the monotonous, restricted existence that they both share as the lady of the house of love does? Or to not feel anything?

Question 14

what does the soubrette show the narrator in the magic mirror?

Answer 14

• The soubrette shows the narrator a magic mirror
  ○ It shows the narrator that her dad is very happy with the money that the tiger has given him in return for seeing her naked

Question 15

what is the first line of the story

Answer 15

‘my father lost me to The Beast at cards’
- passive
- objectified/commodified

Question 16

what is the beast also called?

Answer 16

‘La Bestia’
- poorer/rural people call him this

Question 17

how does the theme of aristocracy play into the story

Answer 17

the ultimate power of the beast goes unquestioned (he is an aristocrat)

Question 18

what does the beast want as his reward for winning at cards against the father

Answer 18

to see the narrator nude

Question 19

what happens when the beast and the narrator go to the forest

Answer 19

• they both undress themselves and see each other naked

Question 20

the forest in which they get naked could be like ____. the fact that they get naked could mirror ___ and ___

Answer 20

eden
Adam and Eve

Question 21

what is it which makes the narrator take off her clothes?

Answer 21

‘pride’ ‘not shame’
- showing her link with Adam and Eve as she feels no shame
- she is realising who she is and proud of it

Question 22

what season is it in the story?

Answer 22

winter

Question 23

how does the narrator feel when she is naked in the forest with the beast

Answer 23

‘I was at liberty for the first time in my life’

Question 24

does the narrator decide to go back to her father when she has the opportunity?

Answer 24

no she sends the soubrette back to her father instead

Question 25

what happens in the end of the story?

Answer 25

the beast licks off her skin

Question 26

what is left behind after the beast licks off the narrator’s skin?

Answer 26

‘a nascent patina of shining hairs’
- showing she is reborn as a beautiful shining animal - potentially shedding the skin of societal expectation? being stripped back to a pure, Adam and Eve-like state?

Question 27

give 3 characteristics of the beast’s house

Answer 27

• Horses are living in the dining room
  ○ Occupied by animals as much as people
  
  • The walls are painted with a ‘fresco of horses, dogs and men in a wood where fruit and blossom grew on the bough together’
  • ‘Infinite complexity of the innards’