Revisiting Charles Perrault’s Iconic “Bluebeard” Serial Killer in Modern French Variants

Abstract

“Bluebeard” (ATU 321: Maiden-Killer), a fairy tale about a wealthy noble man and serial killer, is the most gruesome of Charles Perrault’s fairy tales. Bluebeard epitomizes evil and horror. In Perrault’s tale, Bluebeard’s evilness is linked to patriarchy and power, as symbolized by the villain’s iconic blue beard. Historically linked to Henry VIII (1491–1547), King of England, Bluebeard has also been associated with Breton commander Gilles de Rais who was hanged for sorcery and satanic abuse. This article examines how contemporary francophone “Bluebeard” variants refashion and redefine evil and whether they contain any new morals linked to evilness. Do they depict Bluebeard as a satanic, intrinsic force of evil or do they portray him in a less Manichean manner, as contemporary tales tend to do with monsters? Starting with Perrault’s famous tale, this article reveals how Bluebeard, the evil mass murderer figure and polygamist, is recast in a variety of contemporary francophone texts from Morocco, Belgium and France, with retellings by Michel Tournier (1981), Marie Darrieussecq (2002), La Barbe Bleue (Bluebeard) (2009), Amélie Nothomb (2012), Tahar Ben Jelloun (2014), Jacqueline Kelen (2014), and Cécile Coulon (2015). These modern variants illustrate Elliott Oring’s ideas about comparison and cultural context (see Oring 1986). A discussion of various French contemporary versions with a special emphasis of Ben Jelloun’s Moroccan retelling of “Bluebeard” open avenues for cross-cultural dialogue, highlighting how this tale evolves to fit different cultural contexts and continues to resonate today.