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Glite Dictionary
Bluebeard

Bluebeard

1 9.6
A wealthy violent man in a French fairy tale who kills his wives when they disobey him
  • proper noun
  • NSFW
: Barba Azul
  • Like Bluebeard's wife in Perrault's tale, Alice is driven by curiosity, and she also visits strange rooms uninvited.
  • Bluebeard's wife
  • Bluebeard's Castle

Examples

  • As the title of the entire collection signals, the room in which Bluebeard hides the bodies of his successive wives caught her attention.

    Academic text (2016)

  • As is well known, Carter's fascination with the international fairy-tale tradition was a lifelong one, including "Bluebeard" and related folktales.

    Academic text (2016)

  • A rare period film for PRC, Bluebeard starred John Carradine and Jean Parker and was produced by Fromkess and Martin Mooney.

    Academic text (2017)

  • The film's title came from Charles Perrault's La Barbe Bleue, but Carradine's Bluebeard character bears little resemblance to the French folktale.

    Academic text (2017)

  • In Charles Perrault's story, Bluebeard is known for murdering his wives when they disobey him.

  • The character of Bluebeard represents the archetype of the jealous and violent husband in fairy tales.

  • Many adaptations of the Bluebeard story highlight the themes of curiosity and the consequences of disobedience.

Surface Forms

Bluebeard main

Morphology

Bluebeard = blue + beard (semi-transparent) = blue + beard

The components 'blue' and 'beard' are literal and recognizable, but the full meaning refers to a specific literary character (a murderous husband) that cannot be predicted from the parts alone.

Etymology

Bluebeard comes from a French fairy tale and is made of blue and beard, where 'blue' means the colour and 'beard' means facial hair. That odd image helps you remember that Bluebeard is a rich, dangerous man who hides dark secrets and may kill his wives, so the name is used for a secretive, violent husband.