The tale of the Erl-King originated from a popular Scandinavian folklore telling of a seductive and mischievous elf-king and his daughters. The tales were modified as they spread to various countries across northern Europe, and in the late Eighteenth Century, a German writer named Johann Wolfgang von Goethe pieced together a poem-version which he titled \u201cErlk\u00f6nig.\u201d This translates to \u201cErlking\u201d in English (Kristin). The poem\u2014written in iambic pentameter with eight stanzas each consisting of two rhyming couplets\u2014is a mystical depiction of the Erlking seducing and murdering a young boy. It is set in a forest at night; a father rides his horse through the woods while holding his young son in his arms. The child begins to hear sweet voices and see beautiful visions of the Erlking, and expresses them to his father who can neither see nor hear them. As the child\u2019s fear grows, the father comforts him by comparing each of his visions to natural occurrences in the woods. The child continues until he exclaims, \u201cDear father, oh father, he seizes my arm! The Erlking, father, has done me harm\u201d (Johann). The father races faster out of the woods to his farmhouse where he discovers his son is dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Comparing this account to Angela Carter\u2019s rendition in her short story, The Erl-King, <\/em>it is clear, through evidence of significant changes between the two texts, that she wishes to convey a personal conviction through her own interpretation. Carter pulls elements of charm and seduction from the original folklore, shifting and shaping them to offer her perspective on the exploitation of women throughout history.\u00a0Carter displays three significant changes in her variation of the story which each point to her conviction. The first is the shift from the seduction of a boy\u2014and originally multiple young men in the Scandinavian stories\u2014to the seduction of young women. The second is the replacement of the deaths of the young men with the entrapment of the lady-birds in cages; and the third is the protagonist\u2019s defeat of the Erl-King in the end and the liberation of the caged birds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the original Scandinavian stories, seductive woodland she-elves and daughters of the king elf lured young men to their deaths; similar to the sirens from Greek mythology. Goethe\u2019s rendition embellishes this theme by marking the elf-king himself the seducer and the murderer of children. Carter strays from the original versions by replacing the unsuspecting man or child victims with young and innocent virgin women. Throughout the story, she capitalizes on the ladies\u2019 helplessness and purity as a method of emphasizing their unjust exploitation by the Erl-King. \u201cThey will change back into young girls, every one, each with the crimson imprint of his love-bite on their throats\u201d (Carter 114). The \u201ccrimson imprint\u201d is a representation of purity that has been soiled, and an act that cannot be reversed; like robbing young women of their virginity. Carter ties her version of the story back to her conviction and implies that a woman\u2019s purity is immeasurably important, and that men throughout history, and even presently, have feasted on it through their selfish deceit.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a similar manner, Carter introduces the idea of caged birds as opposed to murder and destruction themed throughout the primary renditions. In the original stories, every encounter with the Erl King or his daughters resulted in death for innocent men and children. Carter again aims this idea at women, but rather than depicting the deaths of the young ladies, she shows them debased and imprisoned instead. In Carter\u2019s story, each victim of the Erl-King is transformed into a bird\u2014animal and unhuman\u2014and locked in a cage. This is a more significant outcome than death for Carter\u2019s message. She suggests that while women throughout history have not necessarily been murdered by men, they have been debased, degraded, and used to the point where they were treated like docile pets without freedom or voice. \u201cI had no wish to join the whistling congregation he kept in his cages although he looked after them very affectionately, gave them fresh water every day and fed them well\u201d (Carter 113). This passage seems to indicate even a disdain for modern men and husbands who, while providing and caring for their wives, still maintain authoritative positions over them. Regardless of the care, the conviction in Carter\u2019s voice holds that women are abused by the selfish deceit of men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike the other versions of the tale, the Erl-King is defeated at the end of Carter\u2019s rendition. In the original stories, the continuing presence of the elf king and his daughters serves as a warning for children to be careful not to stray from their families, and for men to avoid seduction from presumptuous women. Carter, however, not only displays the death and eradication of the Erl-king, but also the liberation of all the young ladies that he had caged. \u201cI shall take two huge handfuls of his rustling hair and as he lies\u2026wind them into ropes\u2026and, softly with hands as gentle as rain, I shall strangle him with them\u201d (Carter 114). Carter portrays this as a fearful scene with tremors in the lady\u2019s voice. Here, she implies that by writing this story, she is attempting to eradicate the historical trajectory of chauvinism\u2014an act just as dangerous, ghastly, and presumptuous as strangling a lover. Carter then leaves the audience with a suggestion in the very last line, \u201cMother, mother, you have murdered me!\u201d (Carter). It is an imitation of Goethe\u2019s poem in which the young child cries, \u201cDear Father, Oh Father, he seizes my arm!\u201d (Johann).\u00a0 As the conviction and message behind Carter\u2019s story is a response to female exploitation, this revision of words shows the replacement of a patriarchal society with a matriarch\u2014subtly hinting that it can only come through the murder of male dominance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n April 5, 2018<\/p>\n\n\n\n Works Cited<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Carter, Angela. \u201cThe Bloody Chamber: The Erl-King.\u201d Penguin Books (USA), <\/em>2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJohann Wolfgang von Goethe: The Erlking.\u201d The Literature Network, Jalic Inc. <\/em>2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kristin. \u201cThe Erl King.\u201d Tales of Farie. <\/em>26 May, 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Encyclopedia Brittanica. \u201cThe Erl King: Work by Goethe.\u201d https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n