Bluebeard, The Robber Bride, and Fitcher's Bird

With in all three stories we read, Bluebeard, The Robber Bridegroom, and Fitcher’s Bird, there were aspects that were unsettling and weird. There were a few similarities such as the motif of being married to a monster and the blood that won’t wipe off the key in Bluebeard and on the egg in The Robber Bridegroom but the plot and details differ in each tales.

The three stories are all unique in the way they motif is carried out and portrayed. They all hold up the motif of being “married to a monster” like I said before, which plays such an important role. The tales themselves are in reverse where the marriage is in the beginning and then all drama and misfortune happen. A lot of the lesson to be taken away from the story is to never judge someone on the outside because you never know what they could be hiding.

I think my favorite tale is Bluebeard. I like that there is obvious symbolism with the character having a blue beard showing his class and that it’s a key which is at least a little normal.  Fitcher’s Bird is my least favorite, mainly because it seems to have just copied Bluebeard and made it weirder. All the random things like with the skull and decorating herself in honey and feathers is very strange and I just wasn’t a fan.

Below I made a chart for a more visible list of differences within the plot of each story.  

Bluebeard	The Robber Bridegroom	Fitcher’s Bird
A man’s blue beard makes him ugly and scary to others Mystery of what happened to his previous wives Bluebeard throws an extravagant party to get one of the neighbor’s daughters to like him; she does and they marry After one month, Bluebeard goes on a trip and leaves his wife with a key he says she is forbidden to use to open the little room Wife is overcome with curiosity and unlocks the room, and finds dead women hung all over the walls and the floors covered in blood She drops the key and the blood doesn't come off because it's cursed Bluebeard returns and discovers this and is going to kill his wife, but she begs for time to pray while she waits for her brother's to come kill him Wife receives all his money and uses it to marry her sister and pay her brothers She remarries a good man	A prince wants his bride-to-be princess to visit his castle He ties ribbon on each tree for her to follow An old woman tells the princess the prince wants to kill her and eat her The old woman feels bad and tells the princess to hide One robber cuts off a finger to get a ring but it flies into the princess’s lap She escapes and the next day the prince comes over and she tells him what she witnessed but describes it as a dream The robbers and bridegroom are killed	A thief and sorcerer knocks on a maiden’s door and kidnaps her to be his wife He goes on a trip and leaves her with an egg and a key, threatening her not to go into the room it opens She does and sees a large basin with butchered people in it; she drops the egg and the blood won’t come off The man kills her and marries the second daughter, giving her the same instructions and the same thing occurs He marries the third daughter, whom outsmarts him by leaving the egg in a cupboard before going into the room She puts her sisters back together and they’re alive She invites the man’s friends to the wedding She dips herself in honey and feathers to disguise herself Thinking the skull is his bride the man goes back into the house and the helpers fetched by the sisters burn the house down