Reversal of Gender Stereotypes in 'The Company of Wolves'

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Topic: Reversal of gender stereotypes in ‘The Company of Wolves’

2ENGLISH ESSAY
In the short story entitled, ‘The Company of Wolves’ Angela Carter revises gender
stereotypes. At the onset of the story, there are male and female characters that are clearly
distinguishes but as the narrative progresses, they become extremely similar to each other in
terms of their desires and their similarities cease.
The main protagonist in the story is an innocent teenage girl who is ignorant of the world
that surrounds her, yet she submits herself to the patriarchal structure of society and its inherent
power. The authorities that she obeys in the story are all male characters. As she decides to
undertake the journey into the forest in order to meet her grandmother, she completely trusts the
hunter, forgetting that she is in a perilous situation under circumstances that are hazardous in
nature. The writer, Angela Carter then gradually reverses the gender roles and makes the
characters equal. At the beginning of the story, the female protagonist plays a submissive role to
the point when the wolf calls her “my pet” (Carter ch.9) However later into the story, the female
protagonist realizes that “since her fear did her no good, she ceased to be afraid.” (Carter ch.9)
By this change of roles, wherein previously she was a puppet in the hands of the wolf into a
character who is self-reliant, the female protagonist reverses both their roles and instead of
letting the wolf master her mind and body, she gains the upper hand. According to critics, the
female protagonist uses the power of her sexuality by giving herself up to the wolf voluntarily
and taming him in the end. Therefore in the final scene, both the female protagonist and the wolf
come closer to each other by breaking their roles and desires and the female protagonist ends up
sleeping “sweet and sound” (Carter ch.9) “between the paws of the tender wolf.” (Carter ch.9)