Bluebeard's Daughter

In "Bluebeard's Daughter," Djamileh is presented as clever, but in the sense that she is clever in "playing the game" of accepting the limitations that are placed on females, and maneuvering herself within the context of those limitations.  She does not step outside the boundaries of conventional femininity: she remains docile and subservient to her husband Kayel, in the sense that she does not "act-out," but instead, acts more passively, as a typical female should, not letting on how much she knows, or what her true intentions sometimes are.  For example, she hides the blood-stained key from him, and keeps it with her at all times, hidden.  She plays dumb with him.  She does not flaunt any knowledge she may have.  When she is told that curiosity is not good for her, how she should not have an education, she accepts it on the outside, and seems to convince herself to accept it, even though the idea of being unfulfilled by not being educated is troubling to her.  

It bothered me how the author seemed to play-into these gender notions, making statements in the narration such as "Djamileh, who was better educated than her husband in such useless studies as calligraphy, examined the parchment and read aloud: 'curiosity killed the cat.'"  She idealizes only her skills in frivolous activities like calligraphy.  I do not know whether to interpret the narrator's statements as being in a mocking tone or actually stemming from legitimate feelings and thoughts.  Kayel is consistently referred to as "master of the house," and for taking actions and being aggressive, in the conventional male way.  However, he is also labeled as "soft-hearted," making him the perfect, well-rounded male. It was common for men to be framed in a positive light in fairy tales-- or, at least, the "prince" characters: displaying manly qualities, yet also the perfect slight amount of sensitivity and nurturing.  But when Kayel expresses his wish to divorce her, Djamileh grows quite pathetic for a temporary amount of time, and becomes emotional and weak, crying to the old woman, or, "bursting into tears."  But, surprinsgly, the author turns the plot, and has Djamileh emerge quite strong, as she devises a plan for how to escape her situation.  It is as if, the author agrees that when it comes down to it, in a crunch, a woman has the ability to draw on all of her resources to escape.  "And Djamieleh, listening with closed eyes, debated within herself why Kayel should be so cross. ...." Clearly, Djamielh considers how she ought to be treated, how deserving she truly is of someone caring, and therefore takes Kayel off of his pedestal.