Bluebeard

Perrault’s primary strategy for the language of “Blue Beard” is concision, which combines simplicity and brevity. Most fairy tales lean toward concise delivery, and Perrault is no exception. Aspects of character and plot are laid out clearly, with abrupt developments like “[a]s soon as the party returned to town their marriage took place” (71) or Blue Beard’s bald declaration “[y]ou must die, madam” (74). In places, the narrative uses so much restraint that what goes unsaid becomes unsettling, such as in the line “[Blue Beard’s] wife did everything she could to make it appear that she was delighted by his speedy return” (74).

Though this particular translator has rendered their English version of “Blue Beard” using slightly archaic phrasing such as “so overcome with curiosity was she” (72) and “alas, sister, no” (76), this may be intended to communicate the 17th-century origin of the text rather than being indicative of Perrault’s style. The straightforward action and blunt verbs from the beginning to even the climax when the brothers “plunge[] their swords through [Blue Beard’s] body and left him dead” suggest Perrault intended to write in a comprehensible and immediate style for both children and adults.

Working in tandem with Perrault’s use of concision is his deployment of repetition. Fairy tales often have formulaic exchanges between characters, which is an aspect of these traditional stories that Perrault kept to his text’s advantage. Feeling almost ritualistic, these instances of dialogue create length in an otherwise tight narrative, emphasizing beats of tension and delaying revelations.

For example, Blue Beard’s wife’s desperate questions of “Anne, Sister Anne, do you see nothing coming?” (75-76) creates more texture and alarm than if Perrault simply reported the bride seeing nothing and then still seeing nothing. Sister Anne’s doubly repeated response of “I see nought but dust in the sun and the green grass growing” (75) points to the young bride’s dangerous isolation and slows down the story at the very moment which the reader most wants to know what happens.

One of the most effective tools in building literary suspense is foreshadowing, which is the technique of using a detail (image, phrase, minor event) to indicate what is going to happen next. Foreshadowing may only be apparent with hindsight once the narrative has disclosed the main event, or it may be blatantly disquieting, as when the reader learns that Blue Beard “had already married several wives, and no one knew what had become of them” (70).

The major instance of foreshadowing in “Blue Beard” is when the young woman runs to open the little room “so precipitately that twice or thrice she nearly broke her neck” (72). Her curiosity nearly has the same outcome the Blue Beard intends for her, down to her neck as the site of violence.