Woman want to be accepted so much they will silence areas of their life wants and needs to submit.
“Perrault’s moral is that curiosity only causes problems because it either leads to discovering something we wish we didn’t know, or at best, we lose our sense of wonder as soon as the reality is revealed to us.” – (https://study.com/academy/lesson/charles-perraults-blue-beard-themes-morals.html)
I have been reading “Women Who Run With The Wolves,” (Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés) for about a year now. Picking it up when I feel like it, and then switching back to a simpler book when things get chaotic. I picked up “Women Who Run With The Wolves,” last week and was reminded of the morals throughout the book. One of the stories that struck me immediately was when I opened the pages was the tale of “Bluebeard.” Now the Bluebeard tale went a bit like this: three sisters find themselves courted by a man named Bluebeard, he had an image in the town for courting women, and so the sisters were suspicious. In an effort to become closer to the sisters, bluebeard invited them and their mother out for a picnic in the forest. He charmed them with his stories and food, and by the time they were headed home each of the sisters believed he was not so bad. Though when they arrived home again the 2 older sisters had returned to their suspicions of bluebeard and vowed to never see him again. The youngest sister thought, “ if a man could be that charming, then perhaps he was not so bad”, and she decided to see him again. When he proposed she accepted, convincing herself there was nothing to be suspicious of, and that he was the one for her. A little while later he came to his new bride and told her he had to go for a time, and that she was welcome to invite her sisters to the castle to keep her company. He told her to ask the cook to make a large meal for all of them and to ride their horses in the forests surrounding the castle. He told her, “ you may do
anything you like, anything your heart desires.” He handed her his ring of keys, and told her each door she could open except one. The smallest key she could not use. She agreed to these terms and he left. When the sisters arrived they were curious as to what was planned for them, and the sister told them that they could do anything, except open the door that required the smallest key. Now the bride didn’t know what door opened with the smallest key, so the sisters, being curious in nature, decided to make a game out of finding what door the key fit in. Each floor had 100 doors and there were 3 floors, when they came to the final door the little key hadn’t been used. They opened the last door, and inside was another door, a smaller cellar door. Without thinking one of the sisters put the little key into the door and opened it. Once opened it was too dark to see and so one of the sisters lit a candle, once lit, the sisters saw that the room was full of dead bodies and blood. Each sister screamed and ran out of the room, locking it on the way out. They believed the experience was behind them until they noticed that the little key, the one they were not supposed to touch, was bleeding. They tried everything to stop it from bleeding, and in the end decided to hide it. When Bluebeard returned he asked about the sisters time, they all agreed they had a lovely time, and handed him his key ring. He noticed immediately that the little key was missing and it didn’t take long for him to find it, as it was bleeding through the wardrobe where it was hidden. When he realized this fact he dragged his wife to the little room, and told her she was next. She begged for 15 minutes to make good with god before she died and he granted her this. In the 15 minutes her brothers came and when Bluebeard returned to execute her, her brothers killed him. Which brings a close to the story.
This story I find so compelling, how the morals are written in bold. Basically, a curious woman is killed by society. Someone who questions her placement and her rules becomes ‘next’ in the context of this story. The sisters being curious in nature do not have husbands, though the sister who decides to submit to the man, and not listen to her instincts, is killed by her inevitable interest in the key. This story is repeated countless times throughout, and could propose a second ending for Taming Of The Shrew. Had Kate not submitted to Petrutio, she would have ended up as one of the women in the cellar. Had she expressed curiosity in why the sun become the moon, why at 2 it was 7, she would have become a skeleton waiting for the next woman. Not only can we connect this with “Taming Of The Shrew,” we can connect this with happenings today. I watched “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” this weekend and was shocked when they interviewed the social media influencer, Macy Chanel. Chanel told Tutar (Borat’s daughter in the film) that she needed to be weak, and submit to her man. As this movie was released this year its the most recent evidence that people (who have many followers) still believe in submission. That curiosity, and creativity for a woman, is shamed and that these themes have continued from the beginning of time.
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