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.
In man versions of Bluebeard like Perrault's Bluebeard, Grimm's Fitcher's Bird, and Jacob's Mr. Fox, the main element of horror was the small (forbidden) room with all the dead, chopped up bodies of young women. In these versions, the wife is told not to enter this room under any circumstances, but the wife can't resist and enters the room just to see all the dead bodies. The description of this room is pretty horrific with descriptions of bloody chopped up fragments of bodies. In Grimm's The Robber Bridegroom, the young maiden actually witnesses the killing and consumption of another young girl.
This element of physical horror functions as some sort of punishment for those who dare to disobey the master of the house. It also functions as a way for readers to realize the true horrific nature of Bluebeard/sorcerer/robber.
Another less-obvious element of horror in many of the versions of Bluebeard is the reaction and emotion of the young girl/wife when she realizes she cannot wipe the blood off of the key/egg. This element of horror functions to allow readers to feel the fear and desperation of the young girl as she tries, to no avail, to somehow undo what she knows was wrong in the first place. This illustration of the girl's emotions serves to create a sort of nervous suspense of what Bluebeard is going to do to his wife when he finds out that she disobeyed him.
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