Common Themes in Bluebeard

One of the things that first struck me about the second passage was that the man desired his neighbors. In most stories, fairytales or common folk tales, the love interests are usually neighbors. Just as the man in the story has, the interests marry other people in other places but are always drawn back to their neighbors. Another thing I noticed is that the daughters are described as “perfect beauties” while the man is scorned with a bluebeard. Once again, often in fairytales and common folk tales the women are gorgeous, and the man is less than desirable. The factors complement each other well since these stories are about do not judge a book by its cover. However, Bluebeard takes this and throws it out the window. The youngest daughter who marries this bluebeard – ed man is right not to trust him or want anything to do with him. Several passages later, after having been told not to go into a closet she does so and finds several dead women who happen to be past wives. The story quickly goes from the usual learning to love to awesome grotesque horror. Which just brings the story back in since this is also a common story theme. It does not end there though and a moment later Bluebeard is back and finds out what she did. This is also another common element in fairy tales and folk tales. Obviously, as a murderer, he is super angry and the only thing left to do is kill her. Following this, he lets her go pray because in tales like this, the potential hero of the story needs a way to escape. A few minutes are just enough for this to happen, and she is saved by her brothers. Bluebeard is killed, and everyone celebrates. Happy endings all around, and you are left with the usual morals of stories like curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back and love at first sight (or in this case love after barely knowing him) generally ends bad.