1. HWK: Reread chapters 17, 18
and 19.
Select a quote for each theme, annotate it and post it on
the blog:
Possession
Gender roles
Science/religion
Fairytales/myth
Freedom vs restiction/safety
Resurrection and death
Must be posted on the blog before Tuesday’s lesson
3. 1. Add 1 quote and detailed analysis
to the A3 sheet
2. Then copy any new ideas to your
own notes
4. How is the theme of possession reflected in chapters 15 and 16?
He leaned forward and possessed himself of one of her gloved hands[… ] The little
hand in his curled and crisped. He gripped it.p.275
After Christabel says she will be called Ash’s wife he says: “This is generosity”
Christabel replies: “This is necessity.”
So now his love for this woman, known intimately and not at all, was voracious
for information. He learned her. He studied the pale loops of hair on her
temples” p. 277
“he saw her clearly, despite her possession of him[…] But he had known immediately that
she was for him, she was to do with him, as she really was or could be, or in freedom might
have been.”p.278
“He would teach her that she was not his possession, he would show her she was
free, he would see her flash her wings” p.279
Melusine’s face is described as “self-contained and singing to itself” p.297
But all one long look consumed his soul/Into desire beyond the reach of hope […]
and all he was […] All gone, forever gone,all burned away p. 297
Now was he hers, if she should ask of him/Body or soul, he would have offered all.
P.298
5. Form and structure:
Byatt uses the 3rd person to refer to Ash and Christabel in
this chapter. What effect does this have?
Although the chapter is narrated by an omniscient
narrator there are points where events are recounted
‘through’ Ash. Why? And why not Christabel? (p275)
‘The Fairy Melusina’, a pastiche of an epic poem, usually
featuring a male hero of historic or cosmic importance.
How does this extract subvert the form and why has
the writer done this?
