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Comparing Executioner's Beautiful Daughter And Penetrating To The Forest

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Throughout the short stories “The Executioner’s Beautiful Daughter” and “Penetrating to the Heart of the Forest”, Angela Carter communicates the dangerous possibilities that can arise when living in an isolated society. One could imply Carter’s main goal was to make two very similar stories seem drastically different. In “Penetrating to the Heart of the Forest” Carter displays how something so innocent and harmless, nature, can be so cruel and evil. She conveys this message by showing the drastic transformation amongst different character, along with detailed imagery. The story sounds like a prequel to “The Executioner’s Beautiful Daughter” because of the diverse resemblances the two share. Instead of collaborating both stories into one Carter …show more content…

In “Penetrating to the Heart of the Forest”, the forest itself resembles something harmless and pure, but over a period time the forest teaches complexity and barbarous acts to the kids “Emile saw that time was subtly altering the contours of both their bodies and he found he could no longer ignore his sister’s nakedness” (Carter 65). With this in mind, we can see the transformation between the two kids as they grow older they become more curious, and are more willing to indulge in immoral acts. We can also see how nature altered their personalities as the daughter had full control over the brother, and when they went searching for the fruit “He took the apple; ate; and, after that, they kissed” (Carter 67). This preposterous disturbing act was natures doing, it brought the two close together, so close, that they could no longer resist each other. Which leads to the possibility that the two stories are connected more than one would think. This isolated society could very well be the same one as “The Executioner’s Beautiful Daughter”, but just pre-transformation. Think about it like this, a father is determined to find a harmless civilized society so his kids won’t partake in the devil’s work. When he finally finds a place, and moves out there everything seems to go according to plan, but growth and curiosity start getting the best of them. One day the two start out for an adventure and when they run out of food, they come across a tree with fruit on it. Almost like Adam and Eve, he takes a bite of the apple due to “Eve’s” trickery, and what happens next is inhumane. It’s like the two broke the forbidden rule. Now, fast forward to “The Executioner’s Beautiful Daughter” and we can see what happens when a society partakes in unforbidden acts. Nature turns you into terrifying creatures, people indulge in horrifying crimes, and

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