Bluebeard, Dorian Gray, and Death

The nonchalant attitude towards death in this story is quite similar to how Dorian responded to Sibyl’s suicide, and later, the gruesome murder of Basil. In “Bluebeard,” the focus is primarily on the wife’s obedience, rather than the fact that a madman with an odd blue beard brutally murdered multiple women.  After Bluebeard tells the wife she must die for opening the door, she begs for forgiveness and is “truly sorry she had been disobedient” (8). Just as in Dorian Gray, the focus is not on the root of the problem or the person who is responsible. The story skips a discussion of how terribly wrong it was to murder his wife, and instead focuses on how his wife’s curiosity is to blame. Similarly, Dorian doesn’t acknowledge his role in Sibyl’s suicide. Instead, he focuses on how beautiful and tragic it is, comparing it to art rather than what it actually is—death.

I think the really troubling thing here, though, is the moral. Again, the focus is on curiosity, but in two different ways. The first moral paints curiosity as dangerous and not worth pursuing; the second one simply advises against challenging someone’s curiosity. I propose a third moral: Don’t murder people, lock the bodies in a room, and leave their blood all over the floor.