When is Bluebeard truly Bluebeard?

What elements are essential to make a fairy tale recognizable?

This is a question our professor posed about every fairy tale we read in class, and a topic I would like to cover on every fairy tale I post on the blog. Now, I may also cover myths and fantastical creatures, so they won't be subject to this question unless it can apply.

Considering the amount of rehashing any particular fairy tale undergoes, this is a relatively important question, and one I struggled with in writing my Bluebeard tale. I eventually decided not to write a Bluebeard story, but rather just use a prop (the key) and an unrelated serial killer.

So why is my story not truly a reimagining of Bluebeard? Well, for one my story lacks a Bluebeard character. My villain is handsome, though, like Bluebeard he does not hide who he is. However, he shows his villainy through his personality, he doesn't wear it on his face for all to see and can conceal his evil if he chooses to do so. The beard, or some other physical sign, is crucial to making a story a retelling of Bluebeard.

A curious wife who is ignorant of Bluebeard's true character is also missing from my story. My heroine is intelligent; she is well aware of what type of person she is dealing with and wants nothing to do with him. She is forced into dealing with him, and wants to kill him, not marry him for his wealth. The other victims of my Bluebeard character are prostitutes; they aren't his wives, though I suppose a parallel could be drawn between them and Bluebeard's wives, as they too were only interested in him for his money.

What my story does have in common with the Bluebeard tale is the room full of dead women. The use of the room is different in my story than it is in Bluebeard however, for my serial killer it is a place to kill, and it is a place to hide the bodies from the authorities. While his victims see the room before they die, he takes them to the room. He does not set them up to betray him so that he has a reason to kill them. My serial killer needs no justification for murder.

My story also uses the key, however it possesses different magic than the original key, which simply did not allow blood to be cleaned off. My version of the key opens the door to a room that exists on an alternate plane of existence, and it does not bother with blood.

I suppose then, for me, the important elements are the beard (or equally ugly physical feature), the wife, the room and the key. Without all four of these elements, a story just isn't a Bluebeard story.