Elements of Horror

The elements of horror in the various versions of Bluebeard set this story apart from other stories that we have previously read. In Charles Perrault's "Bluebeard," the most startling element of horror, albeit the first, is when Bluebeard's wife disobeys her husband and opens the forbidden door: "... she began to realize that the floor was covered with clotted blood and that the blood reflected the bodies of several dead women hung up on the walls (these were all the women Bluebeard had married and then murdered one after another)." The narrator even says that "she thought she would die of fright." This element of horror, the vivid description of the blood-stained room, serves to startle the reader and add an element of surprise to the story. Like many fairy tales, the story presents a prohibition that someone will undoubtedly cross. But this blood-stained setting leads the reader to a different frame of mind that most other fairy tales. In the Brothers Grimm's version, "Fitcher's Bird," the narrator provides an even more indepth description of the muderous abode: "... a large bloody basin filled with dead people who had been chopped to pieces. Next to the basin was a block of wood with a gleaming ax on it." In presenting the murder weapon itself, the image is more vivid and believable. The idea of seeing bodies chopped to pieces is more unappetizing than an image of whole bodies hanging from a wall. In this story, as well, the description of the blood-spattered room adds an element of horror that serves to shock the reader.