Beholding Bluebeard

Image Source: Kickstarter (Bluebeard's Bride by Marissa Kelly, 2017)

For as long as I have been a sentient being capable of advanced thought, the 'woman in peril' sub genre has always maintained a more than substantial sway over me.

A woman, usually young and at a turning point in her life, finds herself swept up into a dizzying, intoxicating maelstrom of a courtship consisting of overpowering seduction and mystery by an older, sexually imposing man of enigmatic descent in a terrifying yet delectable affair. They elope (against the wishes of the woman's peers) and he spirits her away to his manse in a province far from the woman's home where he gives her everything her heart desires, every luxury, every fancy her tender mind can conjure, he delivers. One day, he tells her he must leave her for a journey abroad, much to her confusion. He places a collection of keys in her young hand and he informs her the mansion is hers and she may do as she likes and go anywhere she pleases except one particular room he is extremely protective of. He departs and the woman is left to her own devices. She wiles away the time, enjoying every privilege afforded to her, but in the back of her mind, the nagging question tugs away at her curiosity; "What is behind that door?" Finally, her willpower can hold no longer and with those holy keys, she unlocks her husband's forbidden lair and beholds a horrifying secret she never would have imagined. Her spouse eventually discovers her act of defiance and flies into a bloody rage, vowing to kill her. At the last moment, she is saved by a younger prospective suitor who manages to slay the man turned maniac and both live Happily Ever After (TM).

Image Source: Geek and Sundry, 2016

The tale of Bluebeard is hardly the first of its type, but it is one of the most infamous and influential. Strains of it can be found everywhere and while they may either be amplified or diluted to suit the narrative of which they appear, the source remains at the core. Want a notably innocent example? Disney's beloved animated sensation, Beauty and the Beast contains a direct reference to Bluebeard in the Beast's warning to Belle to stay away from the West Wing. Just like the woman in the tale, she defies the caution and infiltrates his lair to investigate, only to draw her captor's frightening ire. While the result is VERY different from the original prose, the execution and motivation remains the same.

Another less direct but thematically relevant example from another mode of media is Rammstein's sexually-charged, Gothic and disturbing yet undeniably compelling music video for their song Du Riechst So Gut (You Smell So Good) in which a literal wolf (or specifically wolves) in man's clothing aggressively pursues a beautiful, nameless woman wearing red during a masquerade ball being held at a palatial estate. Upon imposing her out in the labyrinthine gardens of the property, he lures her, swooning into bed by pledging his adoration of her before transforming into the monster which lurks within, all the while ecstatically crooning about how wonderful she smells. 

Want another example? In Season Three of Hannibal, the character of Doctor Bedelia Du Maurier (Gillian Anderson) finds her mind and soul at the mercy of one Doctor Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) who keeps her imprisoned through circumstance and coercion, though this time the secluded mansion is the exotic location of Italy and the attraction between the two is primarily mental (though both of their beauty is not lost on each other). Bedelia is completely aware of the danger of which he presents to her and those he preys upon, but she cannot help but get sucked further into his realm of horrific wonders. There is no asylum for her in this vipers' pit formulated by her captor and there is no other way to go but down, down into the abyss.

Complicity or desperation? The lines are blurred.

So why is this appealing to me? I have several reasons, and while not all would be considered, at least in the narrowest sense of the word, mentally healthy, I feel many individuals can relate, particularly women. So, if it pleases you, permit me to offer up an alternative perspective on this sordid tale.

At some point or another, all of us become attracted to somebody we know, deep down, in our heart of hearts, we should not be with. A dangerous, toxic, frightening figure who you know will ultimately cause you nothing but pain, but your immediate impulses speak far louder than the Voice of Morality screaming in your synapses ever could due to the shallow answers to your desires they provide, be it money, sex, attention, security, anything you want, but not what you necessarily need. 

While this notion can clearly be applied to both sexes given it's unfortunate factor in our lives, it can especially be felt by women because, let's face it, it is so easy to make women the victims in such situations because they are so delectable to be seen in distress. 

A bitter, warped version of the truth held by bitter, warped people. Image source: Rachael Turns Pages

Folklore portraying stories of fancy and horrors were designed to be cautionary; if you don't obey your parents, the bogeyman will get you; if you do not maintain your chastity you will be defiled by some horrible demon; if you are a disobedient and inconsistent wife, you deserve to be punished. Make no mistake, these yarns were not merely told in the name of entertainment, but to be accepted and practiced as sociological doctrine bestowed by the powerful onto the weak to maintain a seriously unbalanced status quo. Human beings are curious, troubled and hypocritical creatures. We make, maintain and enforce staunch rules because a certain level of behaviour is accepted as being correct. Anything which does not fit these conditions is deemed abnormal and looked upon with disdain, yet we can find ourselves indulging in the very same attitudes we say we abhor and nowhere is an example of this aspect of human nature which is more prevalent than sex and sexual desire.

Ohhhh, we are a horny bunch, and you don't need me to academically confirm that for you because the evidence surpasses mere empirical study and into our very DNA. Pornography, erotic fiction and imagery, allusions to that act which is labelled as forbidden but utterly irresistible to all. There is something about the Bluebeard story which titillates us although we would never openly discuss it over supper, be it the fantasy of immediate temporary satisfaction and the idea of the mysterious, lethal lover who places you under their horrible spell. The attraction of domination and submission has played heavily in every provocative work, even in genres where we do not automatically associate these terms. In a way, Bluebeard presents the opportunity to the sane of mind reader to safely explore the darker corners of their psyche without fear of real life repercussions or threat to their personal safety. By my personal perspective, Bluebeard and his constituents are the female-based fantasy equivalent to the femme fatale archetype in the traditionally masculine-fantasy film noir as both are eerily very similar when one considers the factors;

- A forbidden lover who promises the protagonist every dark, carnal desire.
- Exotic and erotic escapades, with the knowledge of what is being done truly is not in lead characters' best interests but survival instinct be damned because this feels so damn good.
- Deadly webs being woven by the treacherous lover ripe for entanglement.
- The too little, too late realization made when far too deep waters have been entered.

Image source: giphy

 

However, there is something else which I find that speaks to me about this disturbing tome and that is the idea that it can be 'taken back' and re-examined by wiser, contemporary eyes.

In recent years, Bluebeard has become less of a story which focuses on enforcing the oppression of women and more about the opportunity for women to take stolen power and personal agency back by recognizing such behaviour as destructive and threatening while also encouraging the reader to contemplate what they would do in such a situation. Women today have been afforded far more opportunity to prove their strength, be it physical and/or emotional which reflects not only in the attitude we have toward the original text but also those who re-tell the story.

In Angela Carters' seminal and darkly erotic The Bloody Chamber (a title which is fraught with multiple meanings I'm sure you can appreciate), while remaining faithful to most of the established text, a major element which comes in to play is that the unnamed young heroine (who narrates the story first hand) is saved partly by her own ingenuity as well as her own mother as opposed to the convenient younger suitor who can only offer emotional comfort as opposed to potent promise of survival. While the protagonist still embarks on a journey of Happily Ever After with the character, the true hero of the story is another woman, another figure of affection, one of maternal, eternal love. The one who saves you does not always want to get into your pants.

Another fascinating retelling is Margaret Atwood's Bluebeard's Egg, an extremely diverse, frustrating, yet cerebral venture which revolves around the life of a married couple in which the wife comes to suspect there is something deeply off about her husband, but her suspicions about his nature present more questions than answers. Due to the focal concept of perspective, the reader's personal interpretation and opinion of Atwood’s story can change depending on how they choose to approach it as well as the characters. 

In final thoughts, Bluebeard remains a powerful and perennial cornerstone of literature. Thanks to an expansion of time, shifting viewpoints, wisdom and intellectual discussion, it has morphed into a variety of wild and wonderful incarnations; the dark fantasy, an opportunity for discourse about interpersonal relationships between women and men and an enduring case of maintaining self-awareness and resourcefulness in uncertain situations. While the original story was decidedly misogynistic with little consideration for progress, it has become far more than the sum of its parts, it has been dissected, deconstructed and re-purposed to fit a far more sophisticated agenda; one of wisdom and of transformation.