Bluebeard

Bluebeard is the title character in a famous fairy tale about a dangerous husband and a curious wife, a cautionary tale against the dangers of curiosity and feminine disobedience told by Charles Perrault.

About the legend

Although best known as a fairy tale, the character of Bluebeard is believed to have been based on the 15th-century Breton nobleman and serial killer, Gilles de Rais.

Related Topics:
Serial killer - Gilles de Rais

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The mythemes of the mysterious absent husband, the sumptuous palace, the sister who encourages illicit curiosity and the One Forbidden Thing (a central theme: compare Pandora's Box and the story of Adam and Eve), all appear in the Hellenistic romance Cupid and Psyche. Though some have read in the Bluebeard story a diatribe against men who kill their wives legally, notably King Henry VIII, "Bluebeard" is really a woman's tale, passed from mother to daughter, with a subtext that a kind and gentle husband from the familiar circle well-known to kith and kin, is far safer than a glamorous marriage to a mysterious nobleman.

Related Topics:
Mytheme - Pandora's Box - Adam and Eve - Hellenistic - Cupid and Psyche - King Henry VIII

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