Summary Of Bluebeard's Fairy Tale

A Proposal of Bluebeard’s Fairy Tale as Gothic Tale by Analysing its Illustrations.

“Fairy Tales are often viewed as innocent stories that people read to their children as a bedtime story. “The fairy tale proceeds in a manner which conforms to the way a child thinks and experiences the world;” this is why the fairy tale is so convincing to him” (Bettelheim 45).

But can Fairy Tales be considered Gothic? If we look closely at fairy tales written throughout the centuries, we will find some correlations between the genre gothic and this short stories. But for this essay I will only concentrate on Perrault’s story of Bluebeard Tale, by analysing three key illustrations from and French illustrator Edmund Dulac (1882 - 1953),

Often, a Gothic novel or story will revolve around a large, ancient house that conceals a terrible secret or that serves as the refuge of an especially frightening and threatening character ” (Kennedy web).

And the fairy tale Bluebeard, as well as its variants, is about a conflict between a serial killer groom and his bride, who discovers his secrets. It has the possession factor between the men towards the female characters, it has transfiguration, from a mysterious husband to a sadistic serial killer. Moreover, it has Fear, Terror, Gore, Deadness and a flair for the grotesque, showed through death threats that escalated to murder and dismemberment of its victims and theirs concealment under lock and key.

But still this story is still not considered gothic, this tale is inside a box that is fairy tales, only for children! But this couldn’t be more inappropriate.

Even in Breillat’s interpretation, all these gothic symbols are still maintained, with the only difference that in this case the female is empowered to the place of villainess so that she could escape her captor, with the final scene of having her husband decapitated in a silver

…, a self-consciously Gothic narrative, expands upon the "Bluebeard" story by granting the fairy-tale characters complex psychological motivations and justifications” (Pyrhönen 277).

I started this essay with the intention of proving that Perrault’s Bluebeard’s tale was allegeable to be called gothic by analysing its illustrations drawn by different illustrators. And I can say my intention was accomplished. Even with three illustrations drawn by three different artists at separate times, they kept that grim scary side of what a gothic tale should entail.

The subject matter and message of the fairy tale “Bluebeard” and its variants are thought-provoking and have struck a chord with everyone that reads or sees it. It deals with issues such as victim-blaming, gender equality, and the relationship between power and violence remain important to people, these multifaceted fairy tales will surely continue to be discussed, rewritten and