"Bluebeard" is an iconic story with many different versions from many different authors and cultures. In class, we studied "The Robber Bridegroom" and "Fitcher's Bird" by the Brothers Grimm and"Bluebeard" by Charles Perrault. These three stories are all very similar in their construction and themes. A beautiful young woman, often the youngest of two or three sisters, is the main protagonist in all three tales. And in all three tales the young woman is able to defeat their evil fiance or husband through their own clever schemes. These tales all present a clever and witty side of woman and an oppressive and abusive side of men. In all three stories, the man has a history of chopping up and sometimes eating women. The protagonists learn this through curiosity and and expose the men through trickery.
These stories all share a central idea, but there are many elements that make them all unique from one another. First, "The Robber Bridegroom" follows a girl who ventures off to meet her fiance, but his house is empty except for an old woman who warns her to hide. The girl then sees her fiance and his friends chopping apart a woman to eat, and her chopped off finger falls into the girls hiding place. After she and the old woman escape, the girl exposes her husband and his friends by telling a story of what she saw and showing off the finger. Next, "Fitcher's Bird" begins with the protagonist's two older sisters being kidnapped by an old wizard, who dismembers them when he finds that the eggs he gave them are bloody, meaning they went into the room full of his prior victims. When the third daughter is kidnapped, she goes into the room and puts her sisters back together, but leaves the egg behind. The wizard is convinced she did not go into the room and wants to marry her, but the girl tricks him into carrying her hidden sisters back home, and when the wizard and his friends gather in his house for the wedding, the sister's family sets it on fire. Lastly, "Bluebeard" is about a wealthy man who no one wants to marry because of his blue beard. When he gets a wife and goes on a trip, she goes into a room she was not supposed to and finds all his previous murdered wives. He discovers when he sees that the key has blood on it, but she escapes death by stalling until her brothers can arrive to kill him.
My favorite of the three tales was "Fitcher's Bird" because the protagonist was very clever and managed to outsmart the wizard, save her sisters, have the wizard deliver gold to her family, and kill not only the wizard but also his friends all with one convoluted and brilliant scheme. My least favorite was "Bluebeard" because the protagonist was pretty helpless and the moral made it seem like the woman was the villain for her curiosity instead of the hero.
Sources: https://ih0.redbubble.net/image.607278879.2721/flat,750x,075,f-pad,750x1000,f8f8f8.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f3/20/a4/f320a466fd2af4cb6aee4b9b092a1143.jpg
https://cdn.britannica.com/23/6723-050-87ADDE3F/Bluebeard-illustration-Gustave-Dore.jpg
"Bluebeard" is an iconic story with many different versions from many different authors and cultures. In class, we studied "The Robber Bridegroom" and "Fitcher's Bird" by the Brothers Grimm and"Bluebeard" by Charles Perrault. These three stories are all very similar in their construction and themes. A beautiful young woman, often the youngest of two or three sisters, is the main protagonist in all three tales. And in all three tales the young woman is able to defeat their evil fiance or husband through their own clever schemes. These tales all present a clever and witty side of woman and an oppressive and abusive side of men. In all three stories, the man has a history of chopping up and sometimes eating women. The protagonists learn this through curiosity and and expose the men through trickery.
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