good going with the responses!

Question 2 Response: Heroine in the The Robber Bridegroom

The Grimm’s The Robber Bridegroom presents the heroine as an intelligent, versus disobedient, female. For instance, the heroine recognizes from the very beginning that her bridegroom should not be trusted, even though she is going against her own father’s judgment: “The maiden, however, did not love him the way a bride-to-be should love her bridegroom, nor did she trust him. Whenever she looked at him or thought about him, her heart shuddered with dread.” Also, in no way did the heroine disobey her bridegroom—if anything she was obedient for him against her own intuition. For example, she did not want to visit her bridegroom, but he asked her to and she obeyed. It was not her fault that she saw the terrifying sight that she did. If I remember correctly, the bridegroom returned home drunk and never even mentioned his bride-to-be’s expected visit, as if he had forgotten. Lastly, it was clever of the heroine to save the finger and present it at the end of her dream recap, in front of all her guests on the day of her wedding.

Elements of Horror

Maybe I am wrong, but I feel that the versions of Bluebeard we read are filled with gore more then horror.  Horror, I feel is more elusive and tricky then the straight gore of cutting someone's finger or hand off, like in "The Robber Bridgeroom" and "Mr. Fox".  I feel horror and suspense can be found in the story, by the simple plot of the unknown secret behind the door and the setting of the dark house in the woods.  I really do not see the necessity of chopping off appendages to further the plot.  These gory moments drew me away from the plot and really grossed me out.   

Question 1 Response: Elements of Horror

The most obvious and common element of horror found within the Bluebeard stories that we were assigned to read for class is that of the murder of young, beautiful, rich women-- women with any sort of power over men during those times. One does see variations between each version, though. For example, in the Grimm’s The Robber Bridegroom, the bridegroom or Bluebeard character finds women, murders them, and then eats them. The element of cannibalism is also included in this version, which changes one’s perception of the Bluebeard character. In other versions, such as the Grimm’s Fitcher’s Bird, Perrault’s Bluebeard, and Joseph Jacobs’s Mr. Fox, for example the wife or fiancé is murdered as a result of her own curiosity and disobedience. In The Robber Bridegroom, on the other hand, the female fiancé is completely innocent and would have been killed (although she wasn’t in the end) solely as a result of her bridegroom’s human blood lust. This changes the traditional Bluebeard story in that it eliminates any blame that might be directed onto the main female character within the story, and directs all on the cannibalistic men.

Another element within the various versions, that can be interpreted as horror by many women today—and clearly back then as well, since it is such a reoccurring theme-- is the idea of marrying a man that you do not love, or wish to marry. One sees this in the Grimm’s The Robber Bridegroom and Fitcher’s Bird, and also initially in Perrault’s Bluebeard. The only two that do not contain such a theme are Jacob’s Mr. Fox (1890) and Atwood’s Bluebeard’s Egg (1983). The most obvious reason why this theme may not be present in these two versions, especially in Atwood’s version, is the time during which it was written. Atwood’s version was written much later on, when marrying a man you do not wish to marry is not nearly as common as it was years ago (rising in social status and arranged marriages). This element of horror does change the perception of the main female character in the Bluebeard stories, in that when the female does not want to marry the Bluebeard character, it gives her, her intuition, her opinion, etc more credit.

Fitchers Bird

I read this story as a story of female disobedience. The sorcerer directly tells the first sister that "you can go anywhere you and look around at everything, but don't into that room that this little key opens. I forbid it under the penalty of death." She "planned to walk rightby it, but curiosity got the better of her." This shows that she knew she should not enter the room, and yet her curiosity caused her to disobey her husband. This is repeated for the second daughter a well. IT also happens with the third. She also is deceptive and has her husband carry her sisters saying they were baskets of gold. She " took a skull with grinning teeth, crowned it with jewels and garland of flowers, carried it upstairs and set it in an attic window, facing out" It is important to note that she was supposed to be plannign with wedding arranagments, not plotting her escape. She dresses like a bird, gets the sorcerer and all his friends in the house, and light in on fire. Now while I am not saying the bride is wrong for escaping, obiosuly she is not. I am just pointing out that escaping and making an elaborate decoy while supposidly getting ready for the wedding, is disobedient.

Bluebeard Terror

The only shocking part of the Bluebeard stories is when the young wife discovers her husbands deep dark secret. For me, the most grizzly and truly disturbing of these is from "Fitcher's Bird." The Grimms version has a very disturbing scene where many bodies are discovered that are chopped up and an axe is on the chopping block. If I saw this in a horror movie, I would imagine seeing pools of blood that are not dried (since the Grimms, unlike Perault do not say that it is dried), and also the gleaming axe is sitting in darkness with the only ray of light causing the blade to shine. In the case of Grimms, this leads to the charcters death, as well as her other sisters. The Peraults version is less grusome in my opinion, because the bodies are not dismembered. The next version, the Robber Bridegroom, the wife actually witnesses her bridegrooms horrific actions firsthand. This is the only story that has this happen. However, for me it may be more personal for the character, BUT is not as scary as the wife being alone, openign a door that was forbiden, and suddenly getting the shock of her life. The Robber Bridegroom scenerio of a the bride to be going to the bridgegrooms house, is alos like Mr. Fox. This however blends the witness type with the forbidden room type.
These horror elements work in two separate ways. When the wife enters the forbiden room, it works to show that she is beign disobedient and therfore moves the plot because her life is threatened. I would like to point out that there is some irony in the thought that the wife is being punished for being disobedient. She SHOWS obedience by staying at the house when she is away AND returning all the key/items to him EVEN THOUGH she knows it will displease him and she will be punished. However, in the Bridegroom/Fox versions it shows that her suspicions/apprehension about marrying her husband was right, and that she needs to get away.

Bluebeard's Heroine

In the Brothers Grimm version of Bluebeard, "Fitcher's Bird," the first women the reader encounter's is not presented with any hint of personality or character. When she goes to the door and "was about to hand him a piece of bread, he just touched her and she jumped into his basket." The same description is given of the second daughter and both of them meet the same fate. The third daughter, however, is a much more dynamic character. She is even described as "clever and cunning." And she even "put the egg in a safe place." She definitely celebrates the self-preservation and cunning aspects of femininity. She succeeds is putting her sisters back together, quite literally, and bringing them back to life. She also forges a plan to get them home safely. After the third daughter has set the precedent for being cunning and clever, the first and second daughters follow suit. They trick the sorcerer while he is on his way to her house by crying from the basket as if they are the third daughter. When they are all together in the end, they orchestrate for their brothers and relatives to "set fire to [the house] so that the sorcerer and his crew burned to death." In the end, feminine cunning wins and curiosity indirectly kills the sorcerer instead of the cat.

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.

Assignment 8 - 24. March 2009

Hi Alex, Tim, Jasmine, Alexandria, Allison and Jasmine,

For this week, please complete two separate posts.

Question 1: Compare the elements of horror in the various versions of Bluebeard that you read for today. Please name the elements you are comparing and discuss how they function in the story. Do they help move the plot along? Elaborate the story? Startle the audience? etc.

Question 2: Tatar offers two readings of the heroine's character: either as a celebration of self-preservation and cleverness or as a disobedient female. Using a version other than the Perrault, consider how the heroine gets presented. Use quotes to support your reading.


DEADLINE for Posts: Midnight on Tuesday

DEADLINE for Comments on atleast two other posts: Midnight on Wednesday

Again, please post two separate entries!

Ann