Grimms and Bluebeard

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.

I want to focus on two elements of horror, gore and suspense, and compare them in the two Grimms' stories that we read for today. The Robber's Bridegroom is an excellent example of the use of suspense to make the reader feel the tension and fear that the female protagonist feels upon finding out what kind of person her soon to be husband really is. The scene in which she is hiding behind the barrel is incredibly terrifying, not only to her but to us as well. We feel the fear of being discovered, as we know (through the smart use of the foreboding talking bird, and the scary old woman) what her fate will be if she so much as breaths too loud. The gore in this story is definitely used as an elaboration, as the details give us insight into the true gruesomness of these cannibals. The paragraph in which the narrator describes how they kill and chop up another girl is very vivid, and because of this we are given a greater sense of the bridegroom's malicicious intent.
Similarly, in Fitcher's bird, the level of gore is very high during the two killing scenes. The fact that instead of just saying that the man killed her, the Grimms choose to write that he "dragged her along by her hair, cut her head off on the block, and chopped her into peices, so that he blood flowed on the floor" (156), shows that this use of intensly vivid description is no accident and is meant to really represent the evil of the "Bluebeard" character. In contrast with the first story, suspense is not really employed here, as the third sister is not so much a victim, but a clever and resourceful girl who gains control of the situation. The second half of this story is not so suspenseful because we feel that she is not in danger as long as she has the upper hand.

Question 2: Tatar offers two readings of the heroine’s character: either as a celebration of self-preservation and cleverness or as a disobedient female. Using a version other than the Perrault, consider how the heroine gets presented. Use quotes to support your reading.

In the Grimms' tale Fitcher's Bird, the heroine (the third sister) is portrayed as a woman who is not easily fooled and who is able to outwit her opponent, even in the face of death. She, unlike her two sisters, does not crumble under the fear of death once she enters the forbidden chamber, but instead figures out a way to essentially "save the day". First of all, we know that this heroine is considered clever because the Grimms come right out and say it. They begin by introducing her as "smart and cunning" (157), which immediatly differentiates her from her two sisters, who are given no descriptions. After the sorcerer leaves and the third sister explores the house, she does not panic when she finds her sisters chopped up. Instead, she thinks calmly and cooly, and miraculously brings the sisters back to life. Then, in order to allow all of them to be free, she plays a trick on the socerer. She has him carry her two sisters back to her parents, and she disguises herself to look "like a strange bird, and it was impossible to recognize her" (157) while placing a skull in the window to trick the socerer into thinking she is still there while she escapes. This elaborate plan allows her not only to escape, but to get help so that the evil sorcer can be killed, and justice can be brought to him. The story sends the message that clever girls can overcome anything, no matter what an evil person may perceive her to be.