Bluebeard is considered one of the worst fairy tales. Meanwhile, its background is much more interesting than the banal morality laid down by Charles Perrault.
Let us recall the plot of this fairy tale by Charles Perrault, first published in 1697. There was a very rich gentleman, but because of his blue beard, which made him ugly and scary, he could not find a life friend. He was seduced by the daughters of a respectable lady who lived next door. He wooed them, was refused, but showed perseverance: he arranged a whole week of entertainment for him and all the respectable youth of the neighborhood in his castle. The action was a success, and the youngest daughter gave up. We got married, honeymoon was great. The young woman was happy, but her husband got ready for business and "asked her to have a good time in his absence, invite her friends, go with them to the country castle, if she wants, and everywhere do whatever she wants." The husband forbade only visiting one room in the castle, threatening with terrible punishment. The wife invited her friends, and while they were jealous of her wealth,bypassing the castle, she rushed to the forbidden room. What did she see there? "The entire floor was covered with coagulated blood, which reflected the corpses of several women hanging on the walls." These were Bluebeard's former wives, killed by him. Out of fear, she dropped the key, staining it with blood. No matter how hard I tried, I could not wash it off. The husband, who suddenly returned, saw the key, understood everything and suggested that his wife prepare for death faster. Fortunately, her brothers arrived in time and everything ended well - they killed the villain, and his wife, having inherited his untold wealth, successfully married again, and even sponsored her sister and brothers.staining it with blood. No matter how hard I tried, I could not wash it off. The husband, who suddenly returned, saw the key, understood everything and suggested that his wife prepare for death faster. Fortunately, her brothers arrived in time and everything ended well - they killed the villain, and his wife, having inherited his untold wealth, successfully married again, and even sponsored her sister and brothers.staining it with blood. No matter how hard I tried, I could not wash it off. The husband, who suddenly returned, saw the key, understood everything and suggested that his wife prepare for death faster. Fortunately, her brothers arrived in time and everything ended well - they killed the villain, and his wife, inheriting his untold wealth, successfully married again, and even sponsored her sister and brothers.
Bdsm without maso
The richest Baron and Marshal of France, Gilles de Rais, is often considered the real prototype of Bluebeard. In 1440 he was executed for gruesome crimes. Selling his soul to the devil and becoming an alchemist and warlock, he performed monstrous rituals, during which children were tortured and killed. De Rais himself took an active part in them, moreover, he was engaged in sodomy and necrophilia. The Baron confessed to about 800 murders, but the judges decided that there were about 150. There was no more terrible figure in the history of France.
But at the same time, Gilles de Rais was almost a national hero. He earned the title of Marshal with his courage in the Hundred Years War. Moreover, he was the closest devotee of Joan of Arc and accompanied her in almost all battles. It was he who was entrusted with the honorary mission of delivering oil for the anointing of Charles VII during his coronation in Reims in 1429. But in the early 30s, he departed from valiant deeds, lived alternately in his castles, of which he had more than Bluebeard. and goes all out. He surrounds himself with a private army, a huge retinue and even a staff of priests. His lifestyle and outings are like royalty. And in the forbidden rooms of castles, terrible things are happening.
Marshal of France Gilles de Rennes.
Unlike the fabulous Bluebeard, de Rais did not kill wives, but children. And he sent his only wife to the monastery. Why did Perrault "reward" the hero with a blue beard and why do we identify him with Baron de Rais? One might assume that the great storyteller invented the blue beard for the hero in the same way as the red cap for the peasant girl and the boots for the cat. In the folk tales, on the basis of which they are written, the cat performs feats barefoot, and the girl's head is not covered. “In people's memory, Re remained a legendary monster. In the land where he lived, this memory mixed with the legend of Bluebeard,”explains Georges Bataille, the famous philosopher and author of the most complete book about Gilles de Rais, explains this collision. In his opinion, there is "nothing in common" between the hero of the tale and the real baron. And this seems to be true.
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Fathers and Sons
Much closer to Perrault's tale is the legend of Comoros, the king of Brittany, who ruled in the 6th century. He married a certain Tryphimia, who later became a Catholic saint. When she became pregnant, she had a vision of the king's former seven wives killed by him. They persuaded her to flee. Comoros caught up with his wife and, upon learning about pregnancy, cut off his head. And her father, with the help of Saint Gildas, resurrected her. Therefore, the saint is often depicted without a head - she holds her in her arms. In this legend, only the forbidden room is missing, but it looks like a fairy tale more like the story of Gilles de Rais.
But why does Comoros kill his wives after learning about their pregnancy? This motive is found very widely in mythology. The ancient Greek god Kronos was predicted that his son would overthrow him. To avoid this, he swallowed newly born children. But instead of one of them, his mother slipped him a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes. Kronos swallowed him, the child escaped and then really overthrew his father and became the main god on Olympus. It was Zeus. But he also received a prophecy that he would be overthrown by his son. To maintain power, Zeus ate his wife when she became pregnant. As a result, he inherited from her … pregnancy. But a girl was born, true, masculine. It was Athena. She appeared from the split head of Zeus immediately in combat gear - in a helmet, with a shield and a spear.
Kronos devouring children.
But among the fairy tales there is no exact prototype of "Bluebeard". There are fairy tales with forbidden rooms in which they kill, dismember, and then resurrect. But unlike Perrault, this is done not only by husbands, but also by animals, robbers or some kind of non-humans and messengers from another world. Experts believe that the main thing in them is not the image of the husband, but the chaos that takes place in the forbidden room. This is what the heroine of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "The Wonderful Bird", who was decapitated and then rescued, sees: "In the middle of the room there was a huge basin full of blood, and in it lay the bodies of people, cut into pieces, and a stump of wood was placed next to the basin and a shiny ax is laid beside him."
There are many such pictures in the tales of different peoples, including ours. Vladimir Propp, the most influential expert on fairy tales in the world, saw this as a phenomenon of the so-called temporary death. It was carried out during the initiation: a person was killed, chopped into pieces, then collected and resurrected. It is clear that this was done for fun, but under the influence of hallucinogens or other psychotechnicians, the initiate took it literally. To be more confident that they performed executions with him, they could cut off his finger, inflict several scars, and leave other signs of violence. As a result, the initiate was reborn as a new, different person. Such serious rituals with dismemberment and consciousness shift were usually performed during initiation into shamans. They often took place in the forbidden room - like in a fairy tale. In special men's houses, where this was done, there were often such premises. This was observed among archaic peoples who practiced such rituals even in the 19th-20th centuries. In time immemorial, the ancestors of the so-called. civilized peoples. Fragments of this memory remained in fairy tales.
Of course, all this reading is not very suitable for children in our hard times. But you need to remember this, because social psychologists say: what happened once can be repeated. And today wild customs are already reviving. In Syria, terrorists eat the hearts of slain enemies, and in Denmark they publicly kill and dissect animals in front of children. Children's books are already full of stories about euthanasia, violence, homosexuality, drug addiction. In Sweden, writers pride themselves on being able to portray children as angry and unpleasant. Should we follow this path or open other books?
Alexander Melnikov