Bluebeard

The Story of Bluebeard by Charles Robinson

Bluebeard was a very popular fairy tale in the first half of the 20th century. Now, with all the worried experts (at least by titles) for sensitive children's souls, it's pretty hard to find even in libraries, not to mention the bookstores.

On the other hand, the legend about the polygamist and serial killer still excites our minds and the story of Bluebeard still inspires artists who are now focused more on the adult audience.

Charles Robinson made these drawings for kids. They were published in The Big Book of Fairy Tales by Blackie & Son, London in 1911. Let's see, how Mr. Robinson presented this immortal story in just six illustrations.

The so-called title illustration presents all the vital elements of the fairy tale. We can see the title character and his new wife Fatima. As we can see by the surroundings, the setting is in the Muslim world. The story never mentioned the religions of the characters and even the name Fatima popped up only later, around the 19th century.

Maybe the number of his wives led the artists to put the action into the mysterious East?

However, if we are already speculating, it's only fair to mention there is supposed to be some truth in this story. We actually have more than one candidate for the real Bluebeard, what can be explored here:

https://reallycoolblog4you.blogspot.com/2018/07/was-gilles-de-rais-real-bluebeard.html

We continue with an examination of the title picture. Two elements are still important to notice. On the right, we see Fatima's brother, who is a soldier (in most versions there are two brothers) and will rescue her at the end. In Bluebeard's hand, we see a set of keys with one which is particularly large.

Decorative capital letter presents Bluebeard behind an enlarged capital letter M. It looks like he is imprisoned or at least confined behind some kind of bars. Maybe the illustrator tried to suggest a punishment for him?

Here we are already in the middle of the essence. Bluebeard married Fatima and after some time he decided to leave the castle. From now on, she is responsible.

She gets all the keys and she can explore all the rooms in the castle. Except for one. One room is forbidden to her. While she gets the key to the forbidden chamber, she still must not open it. About this Bluebeard is very specific.

Fatima knows he has a bad reputation. There are rumors he was already married several times and all his wives mysteriously disappeared. He is very likely a dangerous person. When he forbids to enter a specific room, he clearly means so.

But the curiosity is stronger than common sense. Having the key was too much of a temptation. Fatima has to know what is behind the door. She can't resist. She opens the forbidden chamber and ...

She saw the bodies of Bluebeard's ex-wives. They were all there, probably punished for opening the forbidden doors just like she did just now. To make things worse, the key dropped to the floor and became stained with blood.

Fatima tried to clean it. She rubbed it for hours. Nothing helped. The blood stains remained there. The key will betray her. The key will be her death sentence.

Of course, Bluebeard returns very soon. The first thing he wanted to know was what happened to his keys. Keys are symbols of power and responsibility.

How Fatima managed power and responsibility? Did she resist the temptation?

Nope. She was just like all the other wives. He is disappointed. And angry. Bluebeard condemns her to death. She only gets a few minutes to say her prayers.

But instead of praying she tries to escape.

Fatima was lucky to have a sister who cried for help and a brother who was close enough to get to the castle before Bluebeard fulfilled his promise.

Instead of Fatima, he loses his life.

Even more, Fatima inherited a fortune and from then on all her family lived happily ever after. And Fatima remarried. The new guy didn't have a forbidden chamber. Actually, he was quite boring. But this is another story.