The Gothic literary movement may not have begun until the mid-eighteenth century with Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto, but it draws on much older wells of literary tradition. I have already explored the proto-Gothic elements of several of Shakespeare’s plays, which inspired many of the themes and tropes of later Gothic works. Another strong source of inspiration for the Gothic was folklore and fairytales. In many cultures, such tales can be considered one of the earliest forms of horror literature, as they often depict monsters, dark magic, and gruesome consequences for poorly considered actions. But few are quite so dark as the famous French folktale “Bluebeard.”
As is generally the case with tales that were passed down orally, there is no way to know quite how old the Bluebeard story is, but it was first written down and published by French folklorist Charles Perrault in 1697. Its oral nature also means that there are many different versions and variations on the story, but the general outline goes like this: Once upon a time, a very wealthy widower was looking for a new wife, but the local women considered him ugly or frightening because of his strange blue beard. He approached a family with two daughters, and one eventually agreed to marry him after seeing his vast wealth. Shortly after the wedding, Bluebeard tells his new bride that he has to go away from the house for a while. He leaves her a ring of keys and invites her to use them to explore the whole house—with the exception of a locked closet at the end of a long gallery that the smallest key opens. Despite his dire warnings, the young wife eventually gives into temptation and opens the locked closet. Inside, she sees the bloodied bodies of multiple previous wives who, like her, disobeyed Bluebeard’s orders. When Bluebeard returns earlier than expected, the bloodstained key reveals the wife’s disobedience. Just as she is preparing to meet the same fate as her predecessors, the young woman is rescued by her brothers. You can read an 1828 version of the story here on WikiSource. Continue reading Bluebeard—A Proto-Gothic Folktale
