A Different Kind of Fairytale

Bluebeard is one of the most interesting fairytales (at least for me,) that we've studied so far this year. It differs from many of the other fairytales in quite a few ways.

 Firstly, the main character is forced into a marriage she does not want to be in, unlike where many of the characters get to be put into marriages they are happy with. The heroine is scared of her husband and does not wish to stay there. In some of the versions, she grows to like him or simply tolerate him, mostly due to his enormous wealth and generosity towards her. These stories often describe the husband as an older man, or a man with a "blue beard". Another difference here is that the heroine often does not help herself get out of the danger. Instead, indicating yet another oddity, the family, usually brothers, come to save her from the man. (In most fairytales it is the heroine/hero who saves the family.)

My favorite version of Bluebeard is the Fitcher's Bird by the Brothers Grimm because this story really illustrates "Bluebeard", here the sorcerer, as a murderous and violent man. He slaughters the heroine's two older sisters before he gets to her. And she is also able to not only outsmart the sorcerer and save herself, but her sisters as well.

Bluebeard's tale is rather interesting because most of the fairytales glorify marriage as something to look forward to and adore. The Bluebeard stories, however, make marriage almost scary. They really demonstrate a young girls fears about marriage during these time periods where she was not able to chose her own husband and might end up with a much older man, or a man who scares of frightens her. These stories really illustrate the anxieties of young girls who were on their way to marriage and ended with a darker and not so happy ending.