How Does Carter Use Language to Convey the Personality of the Erl-King?

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Firstly in the extract taken from ‘The Erl-King’ we see Carter’s use of personification to suggest that the Erl-king is aggressive. ‘His eyes are quite green (...) some eyes can eat you.’ This suggests that the use of personification of the eyes being able to eat you, could convey that because he is a hermit that him being alone surrounded by nature could be seen as dangerous as he hunts for pray, so the personification could suggest him being aggressive for food so it could be a warning to the reading audience that he is dangerous. The eyes being green suggests nature so we can see that he is surrounded by the nature which in turn would show in his personality that he is caring as nature corresponds to harmony. So the use of the personification contradicts Carter’s descriptions of the hermit. Similarly we can see that the quotation ‘some eyes can eat you’ links with the grievous harm quotation from ‘The Erl-king’ which is an anaphoric reference throughout. This suggests that ‘The Erl-King’ can cause serious harm, which suggests that his personality is quite aggressive. Secondly, in the extract taken from ‘The Erl-King’ we can see Carter’s use of modifier ‘delicately’ to suggest that the ‘Erl-king’ has a gentle side to his nature. ‘He handles them as delicately as he does pigeons’ eggs.’ This suggests that the use of the modifier ‘delicately’ conveys the way he handles his ‘treasures’ is with care. So even though earlier on in the extract we learn by the personification of his eyes being able to eat you suggested him being aggressive, we now see through the use of the modifier that he has a gentle side to his personality which could suggest that the ‘Erl-king’ can be very controversial as he can have two very different traits to describe him. Similarly we see further on in the story that he is described as feminine. ‘He is an excellent housewife.’ This could suggest
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