Why Is Bluebeard Important To Society?

A curious nature can lead to misfortune when one does not have good intentions. Charles Perrault adapted the traditional folk story of ‘Bluebeard’ to be morally and contextually appropriate for his late seventeenth century French audience. Perrault devised his take on the tale from a variety of cultural versions, with the character of ‘Bluebeard’ seen as the ‘other’ compared to what is perceived as ‘normal’ in each culture. However, Perrault drew his own original conclusions to the morals of the story. Although Perrault does place emphasis on contextual gender roles throughout his tale, he does highlight the negative effects that curiosity can lead to when one does not have honourable intentions, which can be adapted to the contemporary context.
Perrault’s gruesome tale shifts from the fairy tale stereotype, that marriage automatically implies ‘happily ever after,’ and instead explores complications after marriage. Although the description of ‘Bluebeard’ may not be literal, it suggests that
After a month of marriage, Bluebeard announces he will need “to take a country journey for six weeks at least,” leaving his wife to enjoy his vast material wealth. He offers her a key to a closet he forbids her to enter as a token of his trust. Instead, the wife, who is “pressed by her curiosity,” defies her husband and invades his privacy. It suggests that as she has been showered with material wealth during her courtship and marriage to Bluebeard, that she may have been searching for more riches. Instead, she finds the bodies of her husband’s wives and she drops the key on the blood stained floor. The key becomes stained, symbolising wife’s guilt for defying her husband. This thought aligns with Perrault’s first moral that “curiosity…often leads to deep regret.” However, Perrault does not consider that honourable curiosity can lead to opportunity and