Fairy Tales

"Frederic Theodore Lix (1830-1897), 'Bluebeard attempting to kill his last wife'" by sofi01 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

As explained in the 'Conventions of fairy tales' section, a fairy story always includes a number of important elements.

When reading through this section, keep in mind Charles Perrault's version of the story as told here -

BLUEBEARD

In the story of Bluebeard the elements include: 

GOOD CHARACTERS

The good character is Bluebeard's new wife even though she is a bit naughty!  Don't forget, good characters don't have to be perfect.

(Source of picture: Gutenberg)

THE BADDY

Bluebeard is a very obvious bad character in this story.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS

Can you think of any supporting characters in this story?

MAGIC

Do you think there is any magic in this story?

OBSTACLE OR TASK

A fairy tale usually includes an obstacle or task which the characters must tackle with to reach their happy ending.  What do you think the obstacle or task is in this story?

(Source of picture: Pbase)

HAPPILY EVER AFTER

Following Bluebeard's death, his wife becomes mistress of all his estate, she marries a worthy gentleman and they live happily ever after...

(Source of picture: Wikipedia)

MORAL

What do you think is the moral message of the Bluebeard story?

You can read Charles Perrault's version of Bluebeard on the SurLaLune website.

This fairy tale website, compiled by Pittsburgh University, includes Perrault's version of Bluebeard.

You can also find a number of fairy tales which are similar to the Bluebeard story.

You may find useful information here for your Bluebeard timeline.