Explore how Carter makes Puss in Boots amusing and entertaining for the reader.
Angela Carter subverts the expectations of the reader in her version of the fairytale Puss in Boots. She moves away from the traditional characters that are written in the original tale as she adds a talking cat who helps a young man in love come to consummation. Carter uses the cat as the narrating voice which gives the tale a light hearted tone to it.
Angela Carter uses Fiagaro as the protagonist in the tale. He uses direct address to the reader addressing them as ‘sirs’ which gives it a more personal tone to it. This also presents a light hearted atmosphere and therefore makes it more entertaining and amusing to the reader.
The use of colloquial and chatty idiom is used throughout the novel. The narrator uses utterances in brackets to convey the side comments he is making to the story, for example ‘oh! What a fiery suit of lights have I’. The utterances reflect actual conversation and they give the tale a more personal approach meaning the reader is allowed to be entertained and amused as Fiagaro seems as if he is telling the story just to them.
Carter writes in the past tense throughout the tale. She does this in order for the reader to feel as if they are part of the story as it is being told to them. The tale begins with ‘I remember how’ suggesting the tale is going to be some form of flashback that the narrator is retelling. The use of the past tense creates an amusing tone to the play as the narrator is telling it exactly how it happened. ‘The next day we were married’ portrays humour as it seems as if it was sudden that they were married. This may further suggest that Fiagaro saw the marriage ask a quick event with nothing special to it. This entertains the reader.
The monologue style to the tale adds to the reader’s amusement. The tale is in the form of a flashback that Fiagaro is recalling. Fiagaro acts as the narrator throughout, telling his story to the reader. As it is in the form of a monologue personal opinions of the character may be included such as ‘his movements seem to me deliberately coarse, vulgar’. From having the tale from one character’s perspective makes the story entertaining and amusing as the reader is allowed to hear the thoughts of a character they may not normally be able to hear.
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