"Bluebeard" (french: Barbe bleue, ) is a French folktale, the most famous surviving version of which was written by

Charles Perrault Charles Perrault ( , also , ; 12 January 1628 – 16 May 1703) was an iconic French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from earlier folk tales ...

and first published by Barbin in Paris in 1697 in '' Histoires ou contes du temps passé''. The tale tells the story of a wealthy man in the habit of murdering his wives and the attempts of the present one to avoid the fate of her predecessors. " The White Dove", " The Robber Bridegroom" and " Fitcher's Bird" (also called "Fowler's Fowl") are tales similar to "Bluebeard". The notoriety of the tale is such that

Merriam-Webster Merriam-Webster, Inc. is an American company that publishes reference books and is especially known for its dictionaries. It is the oldest dictionary publisher in the United States. In 1831, George and Charles Merriam founded the company as ...

gives the word "Bluebeard" the definition of "a man who marries and kills one wife after another". The verb "bluebearding" has even appeared as a way to describe the crime of either killing a series of women, or seducing and abandoning a series of women.

Plot

In one version of the story, Bluebeard is a wealthy and powerful nobleman who has been married six times to beautiful women who have all mysteriously vanished. When he visits his neighbor and asks to marry one of his daughters, they are terrified. After hosting a wonderful banquet, the youngest decides to be his wife and goes to live with him in his rich and luxurious palace in the countryside, away from her family. Bluebeard announces that he must leave for the country and gives the palace keys to his wife. She is able to open any room with them, each of which contain some of his riches, except for an underground chamber that he strictly forbids her to enter lest she suffer his wrath. He then goes away, leaves the palace, and the keys in her hands. She invites her sister, Anne, and her friends and cousins over for a party. However, she is eventually overcome with the desire to see what the secret room holds, and she sneaks away from the party and ventures into it. She immediately discovers that the room is flooded with blood and the murdered corpses of Bluebeard's previous six wives hanging on hooks from the walls. Horrified, she drops the key in the blood and flees the room. She tries to wipe the blood stain off the key, but the key is magic and the stain can't be removed from it. Bluebeard unexpectedly returns and finds the bloody key. In a blind rage, he threatens to kill his wife on the spot, but she asks for one last prayer with Anne. Then, as Bluebeard is about to deliver the fatal blow, Anne and the wife's brothers arrive and kill him. The wife inherits his fortune and castle, and has his six dead wives buried. She uses the fortune to have her siblings married then remarries herself, finally moving on from her horrible experience with Bluebeard.

Sources

Although best known as a folktale, the character of Bluebeard appears to derive from legends related to historical individuals in Brittany. One source is believed to have been the 15th-century convicted serial killer Gilles de Rais, a nobleman who fought alongside Joan of Arc and became both Marshal of France and her official protector, then was hanged and burned as a murderous witch. However, Gilles de Rais did not kill his wife, nor were any bodies found on his property, and the crimes for which he was convicted involved the sexually-driven, brutal murder of children rather than women. Another possible source stems from the story of the early Breton king Conomor the Accursed and his wife

Tryphine Saint Tryphine (also spelled Trifine, Triphine and Tréphine) is a semi-legendary Breton saint whose life is often considered to be the basis of the story of Bluebeard. In Brittany she is widely revered as a patron saint of sick children and those ...

. This is recorded in a biography of

St. Gildas Gildas (Breton: ''Gweltaz''; c. 450/500 – c. 570) — also known as Gildas the Wise or ''Gildas Sapiens'' — was a 6th-century British monk best known for his scathing religious polemic ''De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae'', which recounts ...

, written five centuries after his death in the sixth century. It describes how after Conomor married Tryphine, she was warned by the

ghosts A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

of his previous wives that he murders them when they become pregnant. Pregnant, she flees; he catches and beheads her, but St. Gildas miraculously restores her to life, and when he brings her to Conomor, the walls of his castle collapse and kill him. Conomor is a historical figure, known locally as a werewolf, and various local churches are dedicated to Saint Tryphine and her son,

Saint Tremeur Tremorus of Brittany, also known as Trémeur, Treveur, and Tromeur, is a sixth-century child martyr venerated by the Roman Catholic Church. He was baptized by his mother against his stepfather's wishes. His baptismal name was Gildas, after Gildas ...

Commentaries

The fatal effects of female curiosity have long been the subject of story and legend.

Pandora In Greek mythology, Pandora (Greek: , derived from , ''pān'', i.e. "all" and , ''dōron'', i.e. "gift", thus "the all-endowed", "all-gifted" or "all-giving") was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hes ...

and Psyche are examples of women in mythic stories whose curiosity have dire consequences. In giving his wife the keys to his castle, Bluebeard is acting the part of the serpent, and therefore of the devil, and his wife the part of the victim held by the serpent's gaze. In addition, hidden or forbidden chambers were not unknown in pre-Perrault literature. In Basile's '' Pentamerone'', the tale '' The Three Crowns'' tells of a Princess Marchetta entering a room after being forbidden by an ogress, and in '' The Arabian Nights,'' Prince Agib is given a hundred keys to a hundred doors but forbidden to enter the golden door, which he does with terrible consequences. While some scholars interpret the Bluebeard story as a fable preaching obedience to wives (as Perrault's moral suggests),

folklorist Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...

Maria Tatar has suggested that the tale encourages women not to unquestioningly follow patriarchal rules. Women breaking men's rules in the fairy tale can be seen as a metaphor for women breaking society's rules and being punished for their transgression. The key can be seen as a sign of disobedience or transgression; it can also be seen as a sign that one should not trust their husband. Tatar, however, does go on to speak of Bluebeard as something of a " Beauty and the Beast" narrative. The original Beauty and the Beast tale by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont is said to be a story created to condition young women into the possibility of not only marriage, but marrying young, and to placate their fears of the implications of an older husband. It shows the beast as secretly compassionate, and someone meant to curb the aggressive sexual fears that young women have towards marriage. Though "Beauty and the Beast" holds several similarities in Gothic imagery to "Bluebeard" (such as is shared with Cupid and Psyche as well, in the case of a mysterious captor, a looming castle, and a young, beautiful heroine), Tatar goes on to state that the latter tale lives on the entire opposite side of the spectrum: one in which, instead of female placation, the tale simply aggravates women's apprehension, confirming one's "worst fears about sex". Jungian

psychoanalyst PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: + . is a set of Theory, theories and Therapy, therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a bo ...

Clarissa Pinkola Estés Clarissa Pinkola Estés (born January 27, 1945) is a first-generation American writer and Jungian psychoanalyst. She is the author of '' Women Who Run with the Wolves'' (1992), which remained on the ''New York Times'' bestseller list for 145 wee ...

refers to the key as "the key of knowing" which gives the wife consciousness. She can choose to not open the door and live as a naive young woman. Instead, she has chosen to open the door of truth. For folklorist Bruno Bettelheim, ''Bluebeard'' can only be considered a fairy tale because of the magical bleeding key; otherwise, it would just be a monstrous horror story. Bettelheim sees the key as associated with the male sexual organ, "particularly the first intercourse when the hymen is broken and blood gets on it". For Bettelheim, the blood on the key is a symbol of the wife's indiscretion. For scholar Philip Lewis, the key offered to the wife by Bluebeard represents his superiority, since he knows something she does not. The blood on the key indicates that she now has knowledge. She has erased the difference between them, and in order to return her to her previous state, he must kill her.

Aarne–Thompson classification

According to the Aarne–Thompson system of classifying folktale plots, the tale of Bluebeard is type 312. Another such tale is '' The White Dove'', an oral French variant. The type is closely related to Aarne–Thompson type 311 in which the heroine rescues herself and her sisters, in such tales as '' Fitcher's Bird'', '' The Old Dame and Her Hen'', and '' How the Devil Married Three Sisters''. The tales where the youngest daughter rescues herself and the other sisters from the villain are in fact far more common in oral traditions than this type, where the heroine's brother rescues her. Other such tales do exist, however; the brother is sometimes aided in the rescue by marvelous dogs or wild animals. Some European variants of the ballad ''

Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight "Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight" ( Child #4; Roud #21) is the English common name representative of a very large class of European ballads. The most frequently collected variant, The Outlandish Knight or ''May Colvin'' tells the tale of a young ...

'',

Child ballad The Child Ballads are 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies of them were published as '' ...

4, closely resemble this tale. This is particularly noteworthy among some German variants, where the heroine calls for help much like Sister Anne calls for help to her brothers in Perrault's ''Bluebeard''.

Bluebeard's wives

It is not explained why Bluebeard murdered his first bride; she could not have entered the forbidden room and found a dead wife. Some scholars have theorized that he was testing his wife's obedience, and that she was killed not for what she discovered there, but because she disobeyed his orders. In the 1812 version published in '' Grimms' Fairy Tales'', Wilhelm Grimm, on p. XLI of the annotations, makes the following handwritten comment: "It seems in all Märchen

airy tales Airy may refer to: * Sir George Biddell Airy (1801–1892), British Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881, for whom the following features, phenomena, and theories are named: ** Airy (lunar crater) ** Airy (Martian crater) ** Airy-0, a smaller crate ...

of Bluebeard, wherein his Blutrunst

ust for blood UST or Ust may refer to: Organizations * UST (company), American digital technology company * Equatorial Guinea Workers' Union * Union of Trade Unions of Chad (Union des Syndicats du Tchad) * United States Television Manufacturing Corp. * UST Gr ...

has not rightly explained, the idea to be the basis of himself through bathing in blood to cure of the blue beard; as the lepers. That is also why it is written that the blood is collected in basins." Maurice Maeterlinck wrote extensively on Bluebeard and his plays name at least six former wives: Sélysette from ''Aglavaine et Sélysette'' (1896), Alladine from ''Alladine et Palomides'' (1894), both Ygraine and Bellangère from ''La mort de Tintagiles'' (1894), Mélisande from '' Pelléas et Mélisande'', and Ariane from '' Ariane et Barbe-bleue'' (1907). In Jacques Offenbach's opera '' Barbe-bleue'' (1866), the five previous wives are Héloïse, Eléonore, Isaure, Rosalinde and Blanche, with the sixth and final wife being a peasant girl, Boulotte, who finally reveals his secret when he attempts to have her killed so that he can marry Princess Hermia.

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as H ...

's opera '' Bluebeard's Castle'' (1911), with a libretto by Béla Balázs, names "Judith" as wife number four. Anatole France's short story "The Seven Wives of Bluebeard" names Jeanne de Lespoisse as the last wife before Bluebeard's death. The other wives were Collette Passage, Jeanne de la Cloche, Gigonne, Blanche de Gibeaumex, Angèle de la Garandine, and Alix de Pontalcin. In Edward Dmytryk's film '' Bluebeard'' (1972), Baron von Sepper ( Richard Burton) is an Austrian aristocrat known as Bluebeard for his blue-toned beard and his appetite for beautiful wives, and his wife is an American named Anne. In Alex Garland's film '' Ex Machina'' (2014), Nathan is an internet mogul who designs robots with a human female body inside his home. Each time he starts a new iteration of the robot, he eliminates the AI of the previous one and puts the robot body inside a cupboard in his vault. Nathan's company is called ''Blue Book'' and a key plays a central role in the movie.

Variants

* "Bluebeard", a fairy tale (KHM 62a, dropped from later editions) collected by

The Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...

in ''Kinder- und Hausmärchen'' (KHM) (1812) ** "The Robber Bridegroom", a variant (KHM 40) in Grimms' Fairy Tales (1812) ** " Fitcher's Bird", another variant (KHM 48) in Grimms' Fairy Tales (1812) ** "The Castle of Murder" (KHM 73a, dropped from later editions), another variant in Grimms' Fairy Tales (1812) * "Mr. Fox", an English variant of ''Bluebeard'' * " The White Dove" a French variant of ''Bluebeard''

Versions and reworkings

Literature

Other versions of ''Bluebeard'' include: * ''Commentaires Apostoliques et Théologiques sur les Saintes Prophéties de l'auteur Sacré de Barbe-Bleue'' (1779), a satire by Frederick the Great * ''Die Sieben Weiber des Blaubart'' ("The Seven Wives of Bluebeard") (1797), a novel by Ludwig Tieck * "Blaubart" ("Bluebeard") (1850), a fairy tale by

Alexander von Ungern-Sternberg Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ungern-Sternberg (22 April 1806 – 24 August 1869) also known as Alexander von Sternberg, was a Baltic German novelist, poet and painter who worked under the pseudonym Sylvan. He was born on 22 April 1806 in G ...

* "Captain Murderer" (1860), a short story by Charles Dickens * "Le Sixième Mariage de Barbe-Bleue" ("Bluebeard's Sixth Marriage") (1892), a short story by Henri de Régnier * "Bluebeard's Keys" (1902), a short story by

Anne Thackeray Ritchie Anne Isabella, Lady Ritchie ( Thackeray; 9 June 1837 – 26 February 1919), eldest daughter of William Makepeace Thackeray, was an English writer, whose several novels were appreciated in their time and made her a central figure on the late Vic ...

* "The Seven Wives of Bluebeard" (1903), a short story by Anatole France * ''Chevalier Blaubarts Liebesgarten'' ("Knight Bluebeard's Love Garden") (1910), a novel by

Joseph August Lux Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

* ''Ritter Blaubart'' ("Bluebeard the Knight") (1911), a short story by

Alfred Döblin Bruno Alfred Döblin (; 10 August 1878 – 26 June 1957) was a German novelist, essayist, and doctor, best known for his novel '' Berlin Alexanderplatz'' (1929). A prolific writer whose œuvre spans more than half a century and a wide variety of ...

* ''Sister Anne'' (1932), a novella by Beatrix Potter * '' The Robber Bridegroom'' (1942), a novella by Eudora Welty * " The Bloody Chamber" (1979), a short story by Angela Carter * '' Bluebeard'' (1982), a novel by Max Frisch * "Bluebeard's Egg" (1983), a short story by

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, nin ...

in a collection of the same name * ''Blaubarts Letzte Reise'' ("Bluebeard's Last Journey") (1983), a short story by Peter Rühmkorf * "Bluebeard", (1986), a short story by Donald Barthelme * '' Bluebeard'' (1987), a novel by Kurt Vonnegut * "Blue-Bearded Lover" (1987), a short story by

Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction. Her novels '' Bla ...

* ''Blaubarts Schatten'' ("Bluebeard's Shadow") (1991), a novel by Karin Struck * "Bluebeard in Ireland"' (1994), a short story by

John Updike John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth ...

* ''Fitcher's Brides'' (2002), a novel by Gregory Frost * ''Barbe-Bleue'' ("Bluebeard") (2012), a novel by Amélie Nothomb * ''Mr. Fox'' (2011), a novel by Helen Oyeyemi In Charles Dickens' short story "Captain Murderer", the titular character is described as "an offshoot of the Bluebeard family", and is far more bloodthirsty than most Bluebeards: he cannibalises each wife a month after marriage. He meets his demise after his sister-in-law, in revenge for the death of her sister, marries him and consumes a deadly poison just before he devours her. In Anatole France's ''The Seven Wives of Bluebeard'', Bluebeard is the victim of the tale, and his wives the perpetrators. Bluebeard is a generous, kind-hearted, wealthy nobleman called Bertrand de Montragoux who marries a succession of grotesque, adulterous, difficult, or simple-minded wives. His first six wives all die, flee, or are sent away under unfortunate circumstances, none of which are his fault. His seventh wife deceives him with another lover and murders him for his wealth. In Angela Carter's " The Bloody Chamber", Bluebeard is a 1920s decadent with a collection of erotic drawings, and Bluebeard's wife is rescued by her mother, who rides in on a horse and shoots Bluebeard between the eyes, rather than by her brothers as in the original fairy tale. In

' short story, "Blue-Bearded Lover", the most recent wife is well aware of Bluebeard's murdered wives: she does not unlock the door to the forbidden room, and therefore avoids death herself. She remains with Bluebeard despite knowing he is a murderer, and gives birth to Bluebeard's children. The book has been interpreted as a feminist struggle for sexual power. In Helen Oyeyemi's ''Mr. Fox'', Mr. Fox is a writer of slasher novels, with a muse named Mary. Mary questions Mr. Fox about why he writes about killing women who have transgressed patriarchal laws, making him aware of how his words normalize domestic violence. One of the stories in the book is about a girl named Mary who has a fear of serial killers because her father raised her on stories about men who killed women who did not obey them and then killed her mother. Kurt Vonnegut's '' Bluebeard'' features a painter who calls himself Bluebeard, and who considers his art studio to be a forbidden chamber where his girlfriend Circe Berman is not allowed to go. In Donald Barthelme's ''Bluebeard'', the wife believes that the carcasses of Bluebeard's previous six wives are behind the door. She loses the key and her lover hides the three duplicates. One afternoon Bluebeard insists that she open the door, so she borrows his key. Inside, she finds the decaying carcasses of six zebras dressed in Coco Chanel gowns. In

Maria Adelmann Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial *170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

's ''How To Be Eaten'', ''Bluebeard'' is referenced in a modernized story.

In theatre

* Pantomime versions of the tale were staged at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London as early as 1798, and famous editions there were by

E. L. Blanchard Edward Litt Leman Blanchard, often referred to as E. L. Blanchard (11 December 1820 – 4 September 1889), was an English writer who is best known for his contributions to the Drury Lane pantomime. He began writing plays and other literature to ...

in 1879 and starred Dan Leno in 1901. Many of these productions orientalized the tale by setting it in the Ottoman Empire, often giving the wife the name Fatima. The popularity of the pantomime made orientalized depictions of Bluebeard common in English illustrations throughout the 19th century and into the early 20th century. *'' Ariane et Barbe-bleue'' (1899), a

symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

play by Maurice Maeterlinck * ''Bluebeard's Eighth Wife'' (1921), a French farce by

Alfred Savoir Alfred Poznański (23 January 1883 – 26 June 1934), better known by his alias Alfred Savoir, was a Polish-born French comedy playwright of Jewish background. Career Alfred Poznański was born into a Jewish family in the Polish city of Łódź ...

*'' Bluebeard'' (1896), a ballet by choreographer

Marius Petipa Marius Ivanovich Petipa (russian: Мариус Иванович Петипа), born Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa (11 March 1818), was a French ballet dancer, pedagogue and choreographer. Petipa is one of the most influential ballet masters an ...

to the music of composer Pyotr Schenk. * ''Bluebeard'' (2015), a ballet based on the novel ''The Seven Wives of Bluebeard'' by Anatole France, directed and choreographed by Staša Zurovac and composed by Marjan Nećak * ''Bluebeard'' (1970), an

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

absurdist comedy by

Charles Ludlam Charles Braun Ludlam (April 12, 1943 – May 28, 1987) was an American actor, director, and playwright. Biography Early life Ludlam was born in Floral Park, New York, the son of Marjorie (née Braun) and Joseph William Ludlam. He was raise ...

, adapted from ''

The Island of Dr Moreau ''The Island of Doctor Moreau'' is an 1896 science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells (1866–1946). The text of the novel is the narration of Edward Prendick who is a shipwrecked man rescued by a passing boat. He is left on the island ...

'' * ''Ritter Blaubart'' ("Knight Bluebeard") (1797), a play by Ludwig Tieck * ''The Grand Dramatic Romance Blue-Beard, or Female Curiosity'', a 1798 opera by George Colman the Younger, composed by Michael Kelly * ''Blaubart: Drama giocoso'' (1985), a play by Martin Mosebach * ''Bluebeard'' (1895), a ballet by Georges Jacobi, choreographed by Carlo Coppi * ''Bluebeard'' (1941), by Jacques Offenbach, choreographed by Michel Fokine * ''Blaubarts Traum'' (""Bluebeard's Dream'') (1961), a ballet by Harold Saeverud, choreographed by

Yvonne Georgi Yvonne Georgi (29 October 1903 – 25 January 1975) was a German dancer, choreographer and ballet mistress. She was known for her comedic talents and her extraordinary jumping ability. In her roles as a dancer, choreographer, and ballet mistres ...

*''Bluebeard's Friends'' (2019), one of three short plays by

Caryl Churchill Caryl Lesley Churchill (born 3 September 1938) is a British playwright known for dramatising the abuses of power, for her use of non- naturalistic techniques, and for her exploration of sexual politics and feminist themes.

In music

* ''Raoul Barbe-bleue'' (1789), an opera by André Grétry * '' Barbe-bleue'' (1866), an operetta by Jacques Offenbach * '' Ariane et Barbe-bleue'' (1907), an opera by Paul Dukas * '' Bluebeard's Castle'' (1918), an opera by

and Béla Balázs * "Bluebeard" (1993), a song by the

Cocteau Twins Cocteau Twins was a Scottish rock band active from 1979 to 1997. They were formed in Grangemouth by Robin Guthrie (guitars, drum machine) and Will Heggie (bass), adding Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) in 1981 and replacing Heggie with multi-instrum ...

, on the album ''

Four-Calendar Café ''Four-Calendar Café'' is the seventh studio album by Scottish band Cocteau Twins, released on 18 October 1993 by Fontana Records. Background The album distinguishes itself from the rest of the Twins' catalogue in two major areas: The sound is ...

'' * "Go Long" by

Joanna Newsom Joanna Newsom (born January 18, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Born and raised in Northern California, Newsom was classically trained on the harp in her youth and began her musical career as a keyboardist in the San Francisc ...

(2010), on the album '' Have One on Me'' * "Aoki Hakushaku no Shiro" ("The Blue Marquis' Castle"), a song by Sound Horizon, on the album ''

Märchen Märchen is the German diminutive of the obsolete German word ''Mär'', meaning "news, tale" (see Märchen). It may refer to: * A fairy tale, a type of short story that typically features folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, tro ...

'' * "Mrs. Bluebeard", a song by They Might Be Giants, on the album ''

I Like Fun ''I Like Fun'' is the twentieth studio album from New York City-based alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, released on January 19, 2018. Background The band began recording on April 3, 2017, at Reservoir Studios (former site of Skyline Stu ...

'' *"Bluebeard" (2019) a song by Patty Griffin, on the album ''Patty Griffin'' *"Nightmares by the Sea", a song by Jeff Buckley, on the album ''

Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk ''Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk'' is a compilation album by the American singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley, released by Columbia Records on May 26, 1998, a year after his death. It comprises recordings Buckley made with the producer Tom Ver ...

In film

Several film versions of the story were made: * '' Barbe-bleue'', a 1901 short film by

Georges Méliès Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès (; ; 8 December 1861 – 21 January 1938) was a French illusionist, actor, and film director. He led many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema. Méliès was well known for the use of ...

* '' Bluebeard's 8th Wife'', a 1923 silent comedy film directed by Sam Wood and starring Gloria Swanson *''

Miss Bluebeard ''Miss Bluebeard'' is a 1925 American silent comedy film directed by Frank Tuttle and starring Bebe Daniels. It is based on a play, ''Little Miss Bluebeard'', by Avery Hopwood. Synopsis Larry Charters is a composer who is visiting Paris, and is ...

'', a 1925 silent comedy film directed by

Frank Tuttle Frank Wright Tuttle (August 6, 1892 – January 6, 1963) was a Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film director and writer who directed films from 1922 (''The Cradle Buster'') to 1959 (''Island of Lost Women''). Biography Frank Tuttle wa ...

and starring Bebe Daniels, based on the play ''Little Miss Bluebeard'' * ''Barbe-bleue'', a 1936 claymation short film directed by

Jean Painlevé Jean Painlevé (20 November 1902 – 2 July 1989) was a photographer and filmmaker who specialized in underwater fauna. He was the son of mathematician and twice prime minister of France Paul Painlevé. Upbringing A few days after Painlev� ...

* '' Bluebeard's Eighth Wife'', a 1938 remake of the Swanson silent film, directed by Ernst Lubitsch and starring Claudette Colbert and Gary Cooper * ''Bluebeard'', a 1944 film directed by

Edgar G. Ulmer Edgar Georg Ulmer (; September 17, 1904 – September 30, 1972) was a Jewish- Moravian, Austrian-American film director who mainly worked on Hollywood B movies and other low-budget productions, eventually earning the epithet 'The King of PRC', ...

, starring John Carradine *'' Gaslight'', ''

Rebecca Rebecca, ; Syriac: , ) from the Hebrew (lit., 'connection'), from Semitic root , 'to tie, couple or join', 'to secure', or 'to snare') () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical ...

'', and '' Suspicion'' are classical Hollywood cinema variations on the Bluebeard tale. * '' Monsieur Verdoux'', a 1947 black comedy film directed by and starring Charles Chaplin * '' Secret Beyond the Door'', a 1948 contemporary adaptation directed by Fritz Lang, starring Michael Redgrave and Joan Bennett * ''

Bye, Bye Bluebeard ''Bye, Bye Bluebeard'' is a Warner Brothers cartoon in the ''Merrie Melodies'' series released on October 21, 1949. The cartoon was directed by Arthur Davis and stars Porky Pig. The title is a play on the song " Bye Bye Blackbird". It is the final ...

'' is a 1949 Warner Brothers cartoon by Arthur Davis in which Bluebeard is portrayed as a blue-bearded wolf/a killer on the loose who appears at the home of Porky Pig. * '' Bluebeard's Six Wives'', a 1950 Italian comedy film directed by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, starring Totò * '' Barbe-Bleue'' (titled ''Bluebeard'' in the U.S.), a 1951 German-French film directed by

Christian-Jaque Christian-Jaque (byname of Christian Maudet; 4 September 1904 – 8 July 1994) was a French filmmaker. From 1954 to 1959, he was married to actress Martine Carol, who starred in several of his films, including ''Lucrèce Borgia'' (1953), '' ...

, starring

Hans Albers Hans Philipp August Albers (22 September 1891 – 24 July 1960) was a German actor and singer. He was the biggest male movie star in Germany between 1930 and 1960 and one of the most popular German actors of the twentieth century. Early life ...

* ''

Juliette, or Key of Dreams ''Juliette, or Key of Dreams'' (french: Juliette ou La clef des songes) is a 1951 French drama film directed by Marcel Carné. It was entered into the 1951 Cannes Film Festival. The film is based on a play by Georges Neveux. Cast * Gérard ...

'', a 1951 French film based on the 1930 play of the same name, in which a main character is directly inspired from Bluebeard *''

Bluebeard's Ten Honeymoons ''Bluebeard's Ten Honeymoons'' is a 1960 British thriller film directed by W. Lee Wilder and starring George Sanders, Corinne Calvet, and Jean Kent. The story is loosely based on that of the real-life serial killer Henri Désiré Landru. It w ...

'', a 1960 British thriller directed by W. Lee Wilder and starring George Sanders *'' Landru'' (titled ''Bluebeard'' in the U.S.), a 1963 French drama directed by

Claude Chabrol Claude Henri Jean Chabrol (; 24 June 1930 – 12 September 2010) was a French film director and a member of the French New Wave (''nouvelle vague'') group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s. Like his colleagues an ...

starring

Charles Denner Charles Denner (29 May 1926 – 10 September 1995) was a French actor born to a Jewish family in Tarnów, Poland. During his 30-year career he worked with some of France's greatest directors of the time, including Louis Malle, Claude Chabrol, ...

, Michèle Morgan, and Danielle Darrieux *''

Herzog Blaubarts Burg ''Herzog Blaubarts Burg'' ("Duke Bluebeard's Castle") (1963) is a film of the opera ''Bluebeard's Castle'' by the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, written in 1911 to a symbolist libretto by the poet and later film theorist Béla Balázs. The fi ...

'' ("Duke Bluebeard's Castle"), a 1963 film directed by Michael Powell, a film of the

opera '' Bluebeard's Castle'' * ''Bluebeard'', a 1972 film directed by Edward Dmytryk, starring Richard Burton, Joey Heatherton, Raquel Welch, and Virna Lisi * ''Очень синяя борода'' 'Ochen' siniya boroda''(''Very Blue Beard''), a 1979 Soviet animated film, gives modern satirical variations on the theme of Bluebeard *''La Barbe-bleue'', a 1986 French TV movie adaptation directed by Alain Ferrari * '' The Piano'', a 1993 film directed by Jane Campion, a loose adaptation which features a Christmas pageant presentation of the fairy tale Bluebeard *'' Barbe Bleue'', a 2009 film directed by Catherine Breillat * ''Ex Machina'', a 2015 film directed by Alex Garland, adapts the Bluebeard character as the reclusive CEO of a fictional tech company called "Bluebook" * '' Crimson Peak'', a 2015 Gothic horror film, has plot similarities to the tale of Bluebeard in that a woman is taken to her husband's castle where he hides a dark, forbidden secret. * ''

Elizabeth Harvest ''Elizabeth Harvest'' is a 2018 science-fiction thriller film that was written and directed by Sebastian Gutierrez. The film premiered at South by Southwest on March 10, 2018, and stars Abbey Lee as the titular Elizabeth, a young woman who discov ...

'', a 2018 film directed by Sebastian Gutierrez, taking a modern approach to the tale.

In poetry

*"Bluebeard's Closet" (1888), a poem by

Rose Terry Cooke Rose Terry Cooke (February 17, 1827 – July 18, 1892) was an American author and poet. Some of her earliest contributions were published in ''Putnam's Magazine''; and the ''Atlantic Monthly'', in which she wrote the leading story in the first n ...

*"Der Ritter Blaubart" ("The Knight Bluebeard") (1911), a poem by Reinhard Koester *"I Seek Another Place" (1917), a sonnet by Edna St. Vincent Millay *"Bluebeard", a poem by Sylvia Plath *The story is alluded to in Seamus Heaney's 1966 poem "Blackberry Picking": "Our hands were peppered/With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard's."

References in literature

* In Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel '' Jane Eyre'', the narrator alludes to her husband as Bluebeard, and to his castle as Bluebeard's castle. *In Machado de Assis’s story "The Looking Glass", the main character, Jacobina, dreams he is trying to escape Bluebeard. * In '' The Scarlet Pimpernel'' by Baroness Orczy, the story of Bluebeard is referred to in Chapter 18, with Sir Percy's bedroom being compared to Bluebeard's chamber, and Marguerite to Bluebeard's wife. * In William Shakespeare's '' Much Ado About Nothing'', the character Benedick exclaims, "Like the old tale, my lord: It is not so nor 'twas not so but, indeed, God forbid it should be so." Here Benedick is quoting a phrase from an English variant of Bluebeard, ''Mr. Fox'', referring to it as "the old tale". * In ''

The Blue Castle ''The Blue Castle'' is a 1926 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, best known for her novel ''Anne of Green Gables'' (1908). The story is set during the 1920s in the fictional town of Deerwood, located in the Muskoka region of Ontario, ...

'', a 1926 novel by

Lucy Maude Montgomery Lucy Maud Montgomery (November 30, 1874 – April 24, 1942), published as L. M. Montgomery, was a Canadian author best known for a collection of novels, essays, short stories, and poetry beginning in 1908 with ''Anne of Green Gables''. She ...

, Valancy's mysterious new husband forbids her to open one door in his house, a room they both term "Bluebeard's Chamber". * In

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

's '' The Shining'', the character Jack Torrance reads the story of Bluebeard to his three-year-old son Danny, to his wife's disapproval. ''The Shining'' also directly references the Bluebeard tale in that there is a secret hotel room which conceals a suicide, a remote 'castle' (The Overlook Hotel), and a husband (Jack) who attempts to kill his wife. * In '' Fifty Shades of Grey'', by

E. L. James Erika Mitchell (born 7 March 1963), known by her pen name E. L. James, is a British author. She wrote the best-selling erotic romance trilogy ''Fifty Shades of Grey'', ''Fifty Shades Darker'', and ''Fifty Shades Freed'', along with the companio ...

, Mr. Grey has a bloody

S & M Sadomasochism ( ) is the giving and receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation. Practitioners of sadomasochism may seek sexual pleasure from their acts. While the terms sadist and masochist refer ...

chamber where he tortures Anastasia, and she refers to him at least once as Bluebeard. * "Bones", a short story by

Francesca Lia Block Francesca Lia Block (born December 3, 1962) is an American writer of adult and young-adult literature. She is known for the ''Weetzie Bat'' series, which she began while a student at UC Berkeley. Early life Block was born in Los Angeles to a p ...

, recasts Bluebeard as a sinister L.A. promoter. * The short story ''Trenzas'' (''Braids'') by Chilean writer María Luisa Bombal has some paragraphs where the narrator comments on Bluebeard's last wife having long and thick braids that would get tangled in Bluebeard's fingers, and as he struggled to undo them before killing her, he was caught and killed by the woman's protective brothers. * In

Carmen Maria Machado ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

's ''

In the Dream House ''In the Dream House'' is a memoir by Carmen Maria Machado. It was published on November 5, 2019, by Graywolf Press. The book was awarded the 2021 Folio Prize and the 2020 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Nonfiction. It was also longlisted for th ...

'', the author uses the story of Bluebeard to illustrate tolerance in domestic abuse situations.

In television

* Bluebeard is featured in '' Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics'' as part of its "Grimm Masterpiece Theater" season. The bride is the peasant teenage girl Josephine, raised by her three woodworker brothers; she is deliberately chosen by Bluebeard for her beauty, her naivete and her desire to marry a prince. The character design for Bluebeard strongly resembles the English King

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

. * Bluebeard is featured in ''

Sandra the Fairytale Detective ''Sandra the Fairytale Detective'' is an animated television series created by Myriam Ballesteros and produced by Imira Entertainment, Televisión Española and DQ Entertainment. The series aired on Disney Channel (French TV channel), Disney Ch ...

'' as the villain in the episode "The Forbidden Room". * Bluebeard is featured in ''Scary Tales'', produced by the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

, Sony and

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme F ...

, episode one, in 2011. (This series is not related to the Disney collection of the same name.) * Bluebeard was the subject of the pilot episode of an aborted television series, ''Famous Tales'' (1951), created by and starring Burl Ives with music by Albert Hague. * A Korean stage play of the Bluebeard story serves as the backstory and inspiration for the antagonist, a serial kidnapper, in the South Korean television show, ''

Strong Woman Do Bong-soon ''Strong Girl Bong-soon'' () is a 2017 South Korean television series starring Park Bo-young in the title role as a woman with superhuman strength, with Park Hyung-sik and Ji Soo. It aired on JTBC from February 24 to April 15, 2017. The series ...

'' (2017). * In ''

Hannibal Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Puni ...

'', Season 3 episode 12 "The Number of the Beast is 666", Bedelia Du Maurier compares herself and the protagonist Will Graham to Bluebeard's brides, referring to their relationships with Hannibal Lecter. * '' You'', Season 1 episode 10 "Bluebeard's Castle", along with taking the episodes namesake from the fairy tale, heroine Guinevere Beck compares the character Joe Goldberg to Bluebeard and his glass box to Bluebeard's Castle. * It's Okay to Not Be Okay is a South Korean Drama in which this tale is narrated in episode 6. *The TV series '' Grimm'', episode 4, season 1, "Lonely Hearts", is based on Bluebeard. The antagonist is a serial rapist who keeps all of his (living) victims in a secret basement room. *''

Succession Succession is the act or process of following in order or sequence. Governance and politics *Order of succession, in politics, the ascension to power by one ruler, official, or monarch after the death, resignation, or removal from office of ...

'', season 2, episode 9 when Rhea called Logan 'bluebeard' because she thinks he is trying to kill her by putting her up for the CEO position and takes the fall for the Cruise coverup.

In other media

* The fairy tale of Bluebeard was the inspiration for the Gothic feminine horror game ''

Bluebeard's Bride ''Bluebeard's Bride'' is a gothic horror tabletop role-playing game based on the Bluebeard folktale. It was designed and written by Whitney "Strix" Beltrán, Marissa Kelly, and Sarah Richardson, and published by Magpie Games in 2017. Players r ...

'' by

Whitney "Strix" Beltrán Whitney "Strix" Beltrán is a narrative designer and Project Narrative Director at Hidden Path Entertainment. Her writing and design career includes the indie game '' Bluebeard's Bride''. She also founded the advocacy initiative Gaming as Other t ...

, Marissa Kelly, and Sarah Richardson. Players play from the shared perspective of the Bride, each taking on an aspect of her psyche. *In DC Comics' '' Fables'' series, Bluebeard appears as an amoral character, willing to kill and often suspected of being involved in various nefarious deeds. *Bluebeard is a character in the video game '' The Wolf Among Us'' by Telltale Games, based on the Fables comics. *In the Japanese light novel and manga/anime '' Fate/Zero'', Bluebeard appears as the Caster Servant, where his character largely stems from Gilles de Rais as a serial murderer of children. * ''The Awful History of Bluebeard'' consists of 7 original drawings by William Makepeace Thackeray from 1833, given as a gift to his cousin on her 11th birthday and published in 1924. * A series of photographs published in 1992 by Cindy Sherman illustrate the fairy tale ''Fitcher's Bird'' (a variant of ''Bluebeard''). *Bluebeard appears as a minor Darklord in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (2nd ed.) '' Ravenloft'' accessory ''

Darklords ''Darklords'' is an accessory for the 2nd edition of the ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game, published in 1991. Contents The supplement focuses on "sixteen different Darklords spread out over thirteen chapters". The Darkl ...

''. * BBC Radio 4 aired a radio play from 2014 called ''Burning Desires'' written by Colin Bytheway, about the serial killer Landru, an early 20th-century Bluebeard. *The 2013 fantasy horror comic ''Porcelain: A Gothic Fairy Tale'' (by Benjamin Read and Chris Wildgoose) employs the Bluebeard story element with the bloody key to a secret room of horrors. *The 1955 film ''The Night of the Hunter'' includes a scene at the trial of serial wife killer in which the crowd/mob chants "Bluebeard!" repeatedly. *A mausoleum containing the remains of Bluebeard and his wives can be seen at the exit of The Haunted Mansion at Walt Disney World. * The card "Malevolent Noble" in the Throne of Eldraine expansion of '' Magic: The Gathering'' is a visual reference to Bluebeard. * The independent role playing game ''Bluebeard's Bride'' by

Magpie Games Magpie Games is an American tabletop role-playing games publishing company founded in 2011, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Their publications include ''Root: the Roleplaying Game'', an adaptation of the board game ''Root'', the horror theme ...

is centered around the premise of the fairy tale with players acting out emotions and thoughts of the titular bride. * The tale inspired the plot of

hidden object game A hidden object game, also called hidden picture or hidden object puzzle adventure (HOPA), is a puzzle video game genre in which the player must find items from a list that are hidden within a scene. Hidden object games are a popular trend in casu ...

''Dark Romance 5: Curse of Bluebeard'', by developer DominiGames. * Ceramic tiles tell the tale of Bluebeard and his wives in Fonthill Castle, the home of Henry Mercer in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. * Bluebeard and a variation of his tale appears in the manga '' Ludwig Kakumei''.

References

External links

* ttp://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0312.html Variants
"Bluebeard and the Bloody Chamber" by Terri Windling

Leon Botstein's concert notes on Dukas' ''Ariane et Barbe-bleue''

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060513214719/http://www.northern.edu/hastingw/bluebeard.html A Shakespeare reference
Bluebeard, audio version
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{{Authority control 1697 short stories Grimms' Fairy Tales Male characters in fairy tales Fictional serial killers Fictional French people Fictional nobility Works by Charles Perrault French folklore Fictional uxoricides French fairy tales ATU 300-399