John Kitt III
2/13/13
What Lies Under the Blue Beard
There once lived a man that had fine houses of all sort, all over the land. He owned chairs
made of diamonds and tables made of gold. He was a very handsome man whom never, ever had
a problem with the ladies. He would have women hang all over him at every party or gathering
he attended. This was because of his blue beard. Many would think it would scare everyone
away but, it only attracted more women. Even with everything that was going his way, he
wanted a women he could marry. Someone to share his riches with and that would cherish him.
Blue beard decides to throw a party at his house to hopefully find the right women. He
has in his mind on who he wants to invite but, one stands out more than the rest. It’s one of his
neighbor’s daughters and her name is Ashley. He has always caught her staring at him when he
gets the mail, or comes home from work but she never speaks to him. She comes from a very
wealthy family and has her own house that she travels to from time to time. Despite having her
own home, she still lives at her parents’ house which had always confused blue beard. Never the
less, the party would prove to him if she was wife material.
The night of the party arrives and it’s a banger. It seems that the entire town had shown
up for the shindig. As every woman approached blue beard, they would tell him their name and
their family status. One after another they would tell their story, hoping to impress him with their
parent’s riches or their family’s history. Soon enough Ashley makes her way to the party a little
before midnight. She approaches blue beard and says the two words he was wishing she’d say.
“Marry me,” she says, “Just marry me.” He was stunned, but also confused because he thought
she might have read his mind. “Are you being serious,” he says, “because I am right now.” She
gave him one nod of the head and it was settled. Blue beard felt a little ashamed that he did not
ask her to marry him, but that it happened the other way around. Never the less, the wedding
must go on.
After several weeks of planning, the wedding was a hit. A few days after the wedding,
after returning from their honeymoon, blue beard agreed to move into her house that she owned.
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It felt strange to him because this was the first time he had seen or heard about the place. “Why
would she not tell me this before,” he would say to himself as he made his way over the bridge,
which was the last stretch before the gate to the house. This house had a long narrow drive way
leading up to a two door garage. The outside needed yard work, the paint on the house was
peeling off, and some shingles were missing. Never the less, he was not going to let the house
come between their marriage.
Incredibly, the inside of Ashley’s home was kept up with very nicely. It was the polar
opposite of the outside. There was expensive furniture, rare paintings, white carpet, and even a
diamond chandler hanging above you once you walked into the door. There seem to be endless
rooms and hallways in this house. Blue beard moved in box after box into the garage, stacking
them in the back. He moved over a table to have more space to keep his boxes together and
noticed a steal door with a heavy lock on it. After moving all the boxes, he returned to the
kitchen where his wife was making dinner. He wanted to ask her where the door led to but, he
didn’t know how to approach her about it. Since he didn’t know how to word it, he just let it go
and avoid that gut feeling. Never the less, he wanted this marriage to work.
After a few months, Ashley had told blue beard that she needed to go away because of a
family emergency concerning an uncle. She left him the keys to every single room in the house.
She said he could do anything he wanted and visit any room in the house. She held up one single
key and said, “This key is to the room under my garage; I only ask that you never open that
door.” She continued to say, “Do not even open the lock.” She then packed her final bags and
drove down the narrow driveway to the gate. Blue beard then walked right to the garage, moved
that table, and thought about what Ashley had said. Never the less, he was going to let curiosity
get the best of him.
As he leaned over to put the key in the lock; he paused to take one big gulp. He placed
the key into the lock and proceeded to turn it. It popped right open, than he placed it down and
opened the door. There was one set of stairs leading down a hallway, which led you to another
hallway. As blue beard turned the corner he saw the last thing he would ever want to see, men
hanging from the wall. They all had on black tuxes with the bride’s top piece on their heads.
They all also had one, clean, deep cut across their throats. Each one of them had their own word
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written one their foreheads with lipstick. One man’s read “LIAR”, another read, “Cheater”.
There was blood everywhere in the room. All over the walls, the floor, and even spray marks on
top of the ceilings. It finally all hit him at once, that’s why she was always away for a short time.
She would get married, than kill her husband shortly after. She never stayed there because it was
hiding a murder scene, so that’s why she still lived at her parents’ house. He stood there for over
ten minutes deciding between two things; tell someone or get the hell out of there. He knew
running was not the right option, never the less, he knew he had to get out of there and fast.
Blue beard did not even grab a single item he just spent the past couple months
unpacking. He got right into his car and sped down the narrow driveway towards the gate. As the
gate swung open and he turned towards the left he saw her. It was Ashley returning home. As she
approached they made eye contact and she knew right away that he had found out her dirty, dirty
little secret. Blue beard floored it, gripped the steering wheel, and pulled right as hard as he
could. Never the less, he knew he would have to do whatever it takes to get away.
Right behind him Ashley gave chase, just as suspected. She knew she could not let him
get away after what he had just seen. Seeding down the road she bumps him several times from
behind, trying to push him off the road. He can hear her screaming out of her window at him,
“PULL OVER NOW! I JUST WANT TO TALK!” As they approach the bridge it starts to rise
because of a ship trying to pass under it. Blue Beard knows he only has one shot to live and he
puts the petal to the metal. As the bridge climbs, so does their speeds. They hit the top of the
bridge and soar their way through the sky. Blue beards car slams onto the other side of the bridge
and slides to a stop. He looks into the rear view mirror and there is nothing behind him. He
jumps out and runs to see if Ashley’s car did not make it. She did not. The car had hit the wall on
the way down and exploded on impact. Then the remaining fire ball had fallen into the water
below. There were so many feelings going on in blue beards mind at that point. Never the less,
he knew he would be living happily ever after.
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John Kitt
2/24/13
So What is the Difference?
The question of what defines a man or a woman has confronted us every day for over a
long time by now. We fall into situations like; who should be going to work every day or who
should be picking up the kids from school. This is the first step on how we define gender roles.
Fairy tales are arguable the worst contradictions to the questions that confront us. Also, they are
the first thing we read, or get read to us, as a child. Over time people have proposed that these
tales are violent and melodramatic and also emphasize stereotypes; others strongly strike down
that notion. They claim that fairy tales instead unsettle collective stereotypes and are actually
crucial to the healthy development of children (Tartar, xiv). Even though these two sides are far
apart in ideas, one thing is certain. That every fairy tale, written over time, follows a certain
pattern that categorizes it as a “classic fairy tale.”
There are plenty of guide lines that make a fairy tale a “classic fairy tale” (DuPlessis, 4).
For instance, when good triumphs over evil, by defeating a person or slaying a dragon.
Something else that’s commonly associated with fairy tales is, that the beautiful women is
always in trouble and needs the big, strong man to save her. Finally the most used ending in fairy
tale history is the “happy ending”. When, after, the man saves the women, they get married and
live in love forever. This is what all of us look forward to when we get older. Once we start to
grow of age, we start to understand that the fairy tale life and ours are very different.
In my revised version of the fairy tale Blue Beard; I did not follow the typical guidelines
like the original version did. The original version had the typical beginning. There was a man
looking for someone to marry and throws a party to meet her. She falls for him, he asks her to
marry him, and they move in together. She lets curiosity get the best of her and finds out his
secret. By the end of the tale, she is in need of being rescued and her big brothers come and save
the day. In my tale though; I took the opposite route. She wants to marry him, they move into her
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place, and he is ultimately the one about to be killed. In my version, I wanted to show the
audience that the roles of men and women, in fairy tales, could be switched.
I have made many changes in the fairy tale “Blue Beard” to change our thoughts on
gender roles. One of them is that Ashley asked Blue Beard to marry him, unlike the original. I
did this because never in society has myself, or anyone I have asked, heard of the woman asking
the man. For example, my parents were never married, but when they did to other people my dad
asked his wife. Also, the man who married my mom also asked her. It changes the perception
that maybe the women could hold that power as well. That not only the man can ask for the
women in marriage but also the other way around. If my change happened in real life, I think the
whole “proposal” thing would change. The woman is always waiting for the man to propose but
if it was changed it, the man would lose that power over her. Thus changing what society would
expect from a man.
Another change I made in the fairy tale was that Blue Beard moved into Ashley’s house.
A typical thing after marriage would be that the woman moves into the man’s house or they get
new place all together. In my own experience, when my mom married we got a new house all
together. Also, when the woman moves into the man’s house it shows that he had the dominant
decisions. This is a common thing in American marriage. By switching the roles in my revision,
this questions that could the women also hold that choice. In my case, it was to hide the secret of
her past marriages. If this happened in real life I think the woman would be thought more highly
of. That maybe they are already independent enough to own their own place and do not need to
live with another man.
The final change I made that differed from the original fairy tale was that the women
killed her husbands, not the other way around. I did this mainly to challenge the fairy tale
tradition that the man always tries to kill the women. The man is always shown as the killer and
the women are shown as the defenseless one. I switched the roles to show that the women could
comment the same things. Also, that she did not do it just once but over and over. She got
pleasure out of killing these men. If all fairy tales had this ending that mine did then I think we
would have a different thought about woman. That maybe not all of them are damsels in distress
and men might be more frighten of them today.
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In terms of social constructionism, my story would change the views on gender
dramatically. Replacing the common stereotypes and false impressions, which we all have about
men and women. Both adults and children would be shown different endings to fairy tales. This
would prove to them that life does not always have a happy ever after. That your, or my, life
does not have to follow the certain guidelines to get married at the end. As a replacement, it
would show that woman could hold the place a man does. They could maybe be the villain or
save the day. Also, that they could share the same confident, strong traits that men do. Finally
maybe they need more then to find a handsome man and marry him for his riches. I think if we
change the fairy tale outlines it would have the children understand at a younger age that they
can pick their own destinies. Also, it would provide a stronger structure to build a more
successful person.
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DuPlessis, Rachel Blau. Writing beyond the Ending. Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
1985
Perrault, Charles. Blue Beard. Tartar, Maria, ed. The Classic Fairy Tales. New York, W. W.
Norton & Company Inc., 1999.
Tarter, Maria. Introduction. Tartar, Maria, ed. The Classic Fairy Tales. New York, W. W.
Norton & Company Inc., 1999.
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