Bluebearddd

Having never heard previously of the Bluebeard legend, I was unaccustomed to the multiple variations of the myth. The poems we read ranged from a couple stanzas to page length narratives. Some of the poems depicted more than one tale, such as Howard Nemerov’s “Fifth Macabre Song, Bluebeard’s Wife.” I thought Nemerov’s incorporation of the Minotaur was an interesting twist because the story of Bluebeard (as I have come to find out) classically contains no flesh-eating beasts of Greek folklore.

While we were discussing Sylvia Plath’s “Bluebeard” in class today, I brought up an intriguing point about the author’s intentions on which I wish to elaborate. The question was what does Plath mean when she says, “in his eye’s darkroom I can see my X-rayed heart, dissected body: I am sending back the key that let me into Bluebeard’s study?” I feel that “the eye’s darkroom” is quite literally a place—bluebeard’s study—but also exists as a metaphor for bluebeard’s mind and the secrets he keeps ciphered in his thought processes. In a sense, Plath is saying that she is sending back the “key” that unlocks bluebeard’s mind.

Building off of what Madeleine posted, the tone was very empowering for the woman and indeed dismantling for the man. This is evident in Plath’s choice; look at how she describes the act of making love. Plath writes, “because he would make love to me,” rather than “I made love to him,” or “we made love together.” This particular choice in words designates the woman as the protagonist; because he made love to her, and not the other way around, it sounds as if the woman is the victim in this relationship between her and bluebeard.

Lastly, as a man of many rhymes, I found it interesting how the use of the rhyme differs from one poem to the next. Whereas some poems contain no rhyme scheme, others use rhymes to promote a general silliness, such as Guy Wetmore Carryl’s “How the Helpmate of Blue-Beard Made Free with a Door”. Rhyme pairs like bosphorus and phosphorous make the reader feel like he is reading a nursery rhyme and therefore encourages a more comical approach. On the contrary, Plath’s rhyme scheme is somewhat less Dr. Seussical and in effect gives the poem a more serious tone.