Wise Children was the last
novelA novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
written by
Angela CarterAngela Carter was an English novelist and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realism, and picaresque works...
. The novel follows the fortunes of twin chorus girls, Dora and Nora Chance, and their bizarre theatrical family. It explores the subversive nature of fatherhood, the denying of which leads Nora and Dora to frivolous "illegitimate" lechery. The novel plays on Carter's admiration of Shakespeare and her love of fairy tales and the surreal, incorporating a large amount of magical realism and elements of the
carnivalesqueCarnivalesque is an traces the origins of the carnivalesque to the concept of carnival, itself related to the Feast of Fools, a medieval festival originally of the sub-deacons of the cathedral, held about the time of the Feast of the Circumcision , in which the humbler cathedral officials...
that probes and twists our expectations of reality and society.
Background
Angela Carter wrote this novel after she knew she had been diagnosed with cancer. She had a small son and a husband whom she would be leaving behind and in this context, Deefholts notes, "The echoing refrain of the text -- "What a joy it is to dance and sing!" -- seems particularly potent."
Plot summary
The story begins on the
75Year 75 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Vespasianus...
th
birthdayA birthday is a day or anniversary where a person celebrates his or her date of birth. Birthdays are celebrated in numerous cultures, often with a gift, party or rite of passage. Although the major religions celebrate the birth of their founders , Christmas – which is celebrated widely by...
of
twinA twin is one of two offspring produced in the same pregnancy. Twins can either be monozygotic , meaning that they develop from one zygote that splits and forms two embryos, or dizygotic because they develop from two separate eggs that are fertilized by two separate sperm.In contrast, a fetus...
sisters, Dora and Nora Chance. By what Dora, who is also the
narratorA narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for...
of the story, describes as a bizarre
coincidenceA coincidence is an event notable for its occurring in conjunction with other conditions, e.g. another event. As such, a coincidence occurs when something uncanny, accidental and unexpected happens under conditions named, but not under a defined relationship...
, it is also the
100Year 100 was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Traianus and Frontinus...
th birthday of their natural
fatherA father, Pop, Dad, or Papa, is defined as a male parent of any type of offspring. The adjective "paternal" refers to father, parallel to "maternal" for mother...
, Melchior Hazard, and his twin brother, Peregrine Hazard, who is believed to be dead. The date is similarly Shakespeare's birthday - April 23.
Dora and Nora's birthday gets off to a dramatic start when their half-brother, Tristram Hazard, who believes himself to be the
nephewNephew is a son of one's sibling or sibling-in-law, and niece is a daughter of one's sibling or a sibling-in-law. Sons and daughters of siblings-in-law are also informally referred to as nephews and nieces respectively, even though there is no blood relation...
of the twins, arrives on their doorstep. He announces that Tiffany - his partner, and the goddaughter of the twins, is missing. Dora and Nora soon discover that Tiffany is pregnant with Tristram's baby, but he is unwilling to take on the responsibility. Once this bombshell has been dropped, it soon emerges that a body has been found, and it is believed to be Tiffany's.
Most of the novel consists of Dora's memories. As well as providing the backstory of her natural father, Melchior Hazard, her legal father, Peregrine Hazard, and her
guardianA legal guardian is a person who has the legal authority to care for the personal and property interests of another person, called a ward. Usually, a person has the status of guardian because the ward is incapable of caring for his or her own interests due to infancy, incapacity, or disability...
, Grandma Chance, Dora describes key events of her life. These include her early
theatreTheatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
performances, how she and her sister deal with being rejected by their father, as well as the time that she spent in Hollywood, producing a film version of
A Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
. It also makes the reader wonder about a sexual and incestuous relationship between Peregrine and Dora as there are hints that some sexual activity took place on the Brighton trip, but Carter does not clear this mystery up.
Dora and Nora attend Melchior's 100th birthday party, where he acknowledges they are his children for the first time in their lives. The twins learn that both Peregrine and Tiffany are alive, and the true nature of their long-time enemies, Saskia and Imogen, is revealed.
The novel ends with Dora and Nora being presented with twin babies to look after - a gift from Peregrine. They realise that they "can't afford" to die for another twenty years, as they want to see the children grow up. The final line of the story is a message constantly conveyed by Carter throughout the novel: "What a joy it is to
danceDance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
and sing!"
Main characters
- Dora Chance - 75 years of age, minor theatre and film star, illegitimate daughter of Melchior Hazard and "Pretty Kitty", who dies in childbirth. Believed by outsiders to be the daughter of Peregrine Hazard.
- Nora Chance - Twin sister and best friend of Dora.
- Melchior Hazard - High-profile theatre and film star, known for putting career before his family.
- Peregrine Hazard - Twin brother of Melchior, who raises Nora and Dora. Adventurer, explorer, actor. Embodies magic realism and the carnivalesque.
- Lady Atalanta Hazard (Wheelchair) - First wife of Melchior Hazard, mother of Saskia and Imogen. In her later life, she is cared for by Nora and Dora after her daughters push her down a staircase and take all her money
- Delia Delaney (Daisy Duck) - Actress, second wife of Melchior Hazard, and former lover of Peregrine Hazard. Later marries Puck from the production of 'Midsummer Night's Dream.'
- My Lady Margarine - Third wife of Melchior Hazard. Mother to Gareth and Tristram. Known as "Lady Margarine" because she stars in a margarine advert on TV.
- Grandma Chance - Guardian
A legal guardian is a person who has the legal authority to care for the personal and property interests of another person, called a ward. Usually, a person has the status of guardian because the ward is incapable of caring for his or her own interests due to infancy, incapacity, or disability...
of Dora and Nora Chance. Peregrine suggests that Grandma Chance may have been Dora and Nora's mother, but Dora considers this unlikely. Nudist and vegetarian. She is also against picking flowers, believing it to be cruel.
- Saskia Hazard - Legal daughter of Melchior Hazard. TV chef. Cunning and ambitious. Has an ongoing relationship with Tristram, her half brother. Nemesis
An archenemy, archfoe, archvillain or archnemesis is the principal enemy of a character in a work of fiction, often described as the hero's worst enemy .- Etymology :The word archenemy or arch-enemy originated...
of Dora Chance. Assumed by Nora and Dora to be the biological daughter of Peregrine Hazard.
- Imogen Hazard - Legal daughter of Melchior Hazard, twin sister of Saskia Hazard. Plays a fish on a children's TV program.
- Tristram Hazard - Son of Melchior Hazard's third marriage. Presenter of "Lashings of Lolly." Twin brother of Gareth.
- Tiffany - Goddaughter of Dora and Nora Chance. Girlfriend of Tristram Hazard, with whom she hosts "Lashings of Lolly", a TV gameshow. Also pregnant with Tristram's baby.
Other characters
- Gareth Hazard – Son of Melchior Hazard’s third marriage. Twin brother of Tristram Hazard. He became a missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
in his teens and was later based in South America. His children are presented to Dora and Nora at the end of the novel.
- Estella 'A Star Danced' Hazard – Mother of Melchior and Peregrine. A Shakespearian actress. Her nickname is a reference to a line in William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....
said by Beatrice: "Then there was a star danced and under that was I born."
- Ranulph Hazard - Husband of Estella Hazard. Ranulph kills Estella, Cassius Booth and himself.
- Cassius Booth – Boyfriend of Estella Hazard. Possibly the father of Melchior and Peregrine.
- Pretty Kitty – Mother of Dora and Nora Chance, she dies giving birth to the girls.
- ‘Our Cyn’ – Mother of Mavis, grandmother of Brenda and great grandmother of Tiffany. Showed up at Grandma Chance's door as a peasant.
- Miss Worthington – Dora and Nora’s dance teacher.
- Mrs. Worthington – Miss Worthington’s mother.
- Gorgeous George – Comedian who appears as Bottom in a film version of A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
. A Patriot who displays a map of the British EmpireThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
on his body. He is later on reduced to begging at the end of the novel.
- ‘Pantomime Goose’ – Nora Chance’s first boyfriend.
- Principal boy – The wife of the Pantomime Goose.
- ‘Blond tenor with unmemorable name’ – Nora Chance’s boyfriend, to whom Dora loses her virginity on her seventeenth birthday.
- Genghis Khan - A film producer. He produces a film version of ‘The Dream’ later described as a “masterpiece of kitsch”. Takes his name from the ruthless Mongol
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
warlord Genghis KhanGenghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....
because he behaves in manner that is perceived as similar. At one point is engaged to Dora Chance, but the marriage does not occur. Marries Daisy Duck.
- Genghis Khan’s first wife – A jealous woman who still loves her ex-husband after his marriage to Daisy Duck.
- Mascara - Dance teacher during the filming of The Dream.
- ‘Radical German exile’ – Boyfriend of Dora Chance.
- Puck – Third husband of Delia Delaney.
- Ross "Irish" O'Flaherty – An American writer and a boyfriend of Dora Chance, who taught her about literature.
- Tony - Nora's boyfriend and fiance on the set of The Dream.
- Brenda – The granddaughter of ‘Our Cyn’ and the mother of Tiffany.
- Leroy Jenkins – The husband of Brenda.
- Miss. Euphemia Hazard - Melchior and Peregrine's Presbyterian aunt, who adopts Melchior after his parents' deaths.
Dramatis personae
Wise Children is notable for the number of identical and fraternal twins in its cast of characters. The complicated relationships between the characters, including some incestuous relationships, adds to the sense of incredulity which Angela Carter's use of magical realism has also created. She is pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable and possible so that a reader must suspend their disbelief to follow the novel.
Family tree
Major symbols
There are many symbols used in the book which illustrate the themes. Carter frequently uses objects and places which take on meanings beyond the literal and begin to develop ideas about society, for example:
The grandfather clockA longcase clock, also tall-case clock, floor clock, or grandfather clock, is a tall, freestanding, weight-driven pendulum clock with the pendulum held inside the tower, or waist of the case. Clocks of this style are commonly 1.8–2.4 metres tall...
: represents their absent father, as it was given to them by their great Aunt (Ranulph's Sister) and was sent to their house by accident as it was the last known address of Melchior. It is also a phallic symbol. It is flawed, as it doesn’t always strike the right time: "it gives out the time in a falsetto ping, and always the wrong time". This links to their father, as he is also flawed, because there are many aspects of his personality which are less than admirable, such as his vanity and not recognising his daughters for many years.
Song and dance: represents their career. Like them it is light-hearted and full of energy. It is also a cliché – making a song and dance – making a fuss.
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
: their own city – it is their birthplace. There is also a carnivalesque element to London – it is a city that is constantly changing: “can’t get a cup of tea”. The most important moment of carnivalesque in the novel is the party which ends in the fire, as it has a manic recklessness to it, which parallels the pre-renaissance carnivals; it also corresponds to the description of carnivalesque by Bakhtin.
The pairing of opposites: Shown most simply in the number of sets of twins, and also in the family names- "Chance" and "Hazard", two words with the same meaning, perhaps emphasising the superficial nature of the differences between them.
Themes
Illegitimacy versus legitimacy: Nora and Dora are from “the wrong side of the tracks” and were “born out of wedlock”, their father is “a pillar of the legit theatre” and throughout the book the twins are constantly trying to become legitimate and be accepted. However, Carter questions the concept of legitimacy, and whether it is just a perception rather than reality: even the characters that are seen to be from the legitimate side do not always act in a respectable way, for example Saskia has an affair with Tristram, her half-brother. See
Illegitimacy in fictionThis is a list of fictional stories in which illegitimacy features as an important plot element. Passing mentions are omitted from this article. Many of these stories deal with the social pain and exclusion felt by illegitimate "natural children"....
.
Carnivalesque: Carter uses the
carnivalesqueCarnivalesque is an traces the origins of the carnivalesque to the concept of carnival, itself related to the Feast of Fools, a medieval festival originally of the sub-deacons of the cathedral, held about the time of the Feast of the Circumcision , in which the humbler cathedral officials...
to illustrate some of her points about social boundaries, such as illegitimacy and
highbrowUsed colloquially as a noun or adjective, highbrow is synonymous with intellectual; as an adjective, it also means elite, and generally carries a connotation of high culture. The word draws its metonymy from the pseudoscience of phrenology, and was originally simply a physical descriptor...
/
lowbrowLow culture is a term for some forms of popular culture. Its opposite is high culture. It has been said by culture theorists that both high culture and low culture are subcultures....
. Important instances include the scene at the burning mansion in Chapter 2, where she describes the "orgiastic" element to the scene, using images of the "flickering flames" to emphasise this: the highbrow party and mansion is reduced to a ruined, passionate near-orgy by the fire and the breaking of social boundaries. This is similar to the final chapter when Dora and Perry have sex, as Nora says she wishes Dora would "fuck the house down": as well as physically damaging the Hazard residence, Dora and Perry having sex almost brings down the divide between the highbrow and lowbrow sides of the family. Some of the imagery used in this scene echoes the imagery of the Chapter 2 scene, for example "cover them all... with plaster dust and come and fire".
Incest: for example Saskia and Tristram are half brother and sister (although may be cousins), Nora loses her virginity to a pantomime goose when playing a gosling, Perry sleeps with Dora. Melchior and Peregrine also share partners (e.g. Daisy Duck, Lady A); Nora and Dora both sleep with the Blond Tenor. This could be seen as carnivalesque, as it inverts social hierarchies and boundaries. There is also the recurring idea of the actress playing Cordelia falling for the actor playing Lear in Shakespeare's
"King Lear" on stage.
Culture and class: the high culture of the theatre in the legitimate side of the family as opposed to the dance halls in which Nora and Dora perform.
Shakespeare: Shakespeare is used continually, the ideas of his plays are incorporates, comparisons made continually between characters of the book and of the play and the book itself is written in five chapters just as a Shakespearian play often had five acts. Melchior idolises his father, and also Shakespeare, worshipping earth from ground that Shakespeare once performed on more than his own daughters. The inclusion of Shakespeare references in Dora's narrative highlights the idea of culture and class and of Shakespeare now being considered "high art".
Allusions/references to other works
The term "wise children" occurs in two other novels by Angela Carter:
The Bloody ChamberThe Bloody Chamber is a collection of short fiction by Angela Carter. It was first published in the United Kingdom in 1979 by Gollancz and won the Cheltenham Festival Literary Prize. All of the stories share a common theme of being closely based upon fairytales or folk tales...
and
Nights at the CircusNights at the Circus is a novel by Angela Carter, first published in 1984 and that year's winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. The novel focuses on the life and exploits of Fevvers, a woman who is – or so she would have people believe – a Cockney virgin, hatched from an egg...
.
Throughout the novel, there are numerous references to the works and impact of
William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
. At the beginning of the novel there are three quotations, two of which allude to Shakespeare:
"Brush Up on Your Shakespeare", a song title from the musical
Kiss Me, KateKiss Me, Kate is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It is structured as a play within a play, where the interior play is a musical version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The original production starred Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang.Kiss...
based on Shakespeare’s
The Taming of the ShrewThe Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1591.The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the Induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself...
, and the quote "How many times Shakespeare draws fathers and daughters, never mothers and daughters" by
Ellen TerryDame Ellen Terry, GBE was an English stage actress who became the leading Shakespearean actress in Britain. Among the members of her famous family is her great nephew, John Gielgud....
, an English stage actress. In an interview on the subject of
Wise Children, Angela Carter stated "[I wanted] to have a transparent prose that just ran, I wanted it to be very funny, and at the same time I wanted the complex ideas about paternity and the idea of Shakespeare as a cultural ideology."
There are also various other theatrical quotations, for example there is a "paper moon" motif, symbolising the spot-light, and indicating a sense of illusion. Also present are instances of magic realism, which is when a scene is exaggerated to an extent when the reader cannot possibly believe it, but does because of the realism of the rest of the novel. This is known as the willing suspension of disbelief.
Further reading
- "York Notes on "Wise Children" (York Notes Advanced) (Paperback) • ISBN 140583563X ISBN 978-1405835633
External links