The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories

“Puss in Boots” stands apart from the other stories in Carter’s collection in a number of ways: Firstly, it is the only story told from a male point of view and through a male gaze. Secondly, it is much lighter and more comedic in tone than the darker, more subversive stories that characterize The Bloody Chamber. “Puss in Boots” draws heavily from the Italian commedia dell’arte tradition, with Figaro the cat playing the trickster Harlequin figure. The name of the miserly husband, Signor Panteleone, is taken from the commedia dell’arte stock character Pantalone (this may not even be his real name, but rather a nickname that the central characters give him in jest). It also follows the classic fairy tale structure of a wise animal aiding his master through cleverness and deception. Although the best known version of this story comes from Charles Perrault, it was as unusual in his canon as it is in Carter’s because it promotes dishonesty as a means to success instead of championing a conservative social moral.

This story continues the collection’s theme of Virginity and Sexual Awakening through an animalic lens. The point-of-view character, Puss, is unabashedly proud of his body and is exempt from the social norms that restrict humans, particularly women. He observes with indulgent interest as his master and his master’s lover exhibit shyness when exposing their bodies to each other. The woman is married, but her husband is unable or unwilling to have sex with her, instead valuing her body only as a beautiful object to display. The resulting sexual frustration leads her to immediately become intimate with a young man who can offer her the experience she has been denied. Their love evolves very quickly, with the man presenting his affections beneath her window in a scene reminiscent of the iconic balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet. His love doesn’t come from repression and isolation as hers does; instead, it’s more likely that he is seduced by the opportunity to play the hero to a captive maiden in a tower (an image that brings to mind the fairy tales Rapunzel and Maid Maleen): “A princess in a tower. Remote and shining as Aldebaran. Chained to a dolt and dragon-guarded” (76), says Puss’s master, as he laments his crush.

By the end, each character is rewarded by what they needed most. The master rescues his lover from her captivity, and in return gets to share in her fortune. This echoes classic folktales in which a poor farmer or laborer maneuvers his way into marriage with a princess. The lady of this story overcomes her challenging circumstances and becomes an independently wealthy property owner, an extremely rare status for a woman during this time. While the woman is initially forced into a passive role, she ultimately takes control of her own fate. Even Puss calls her a “sensible young woman” for keeping a level head in a time of crisis (90). The final lines, which directly address the reader, are an homage to Charles Perrault’s stories, which always end with a moral encouraging the reader to behave better (within the patriarchal constraints of the time). Carter, conversely, ends with well wishes for her readers. She takes Perrault’s signature conceit and makes it her own.