"Bluebeard Illustrations"

This illustration is done by George Melies, it was published in 1901, and it came from a short silent film called "Barbe Bleu". It portrays Bluebeard's wife who opened up a room at the end of the hall that she's banned from looking in and she finds all the bodies of the previous wives in a bloody mess. She decided to open up that room because she couldn't control her curiosity.

"Bluebeard" was first written down by Charles Perrault who also wrote "Sleeping Beauty", "Cinderella", and "Little Red Riding Hood" and is known as the father of the modern fairy tale. But Bluebeard is remarkable for being a fairy tale without much magic; it's very much about real people. It also reads as fairly modern in some ways. It was written in the 17th century, but it's about a man who goes on a bunch of business trips and his smart, curious unsatisfied wife! Bluebeard is rich, generous and owns several beautifully furnished homes. He's also lonely and thought of as ugly (indicated by the hideous blue beard.) And he has a terrible reputation for marrying frequently and having these wives then mysteriously disappear. A young, unnamed heroine marries him anyway, with much pressure from her impoverished family. He gives her a full set of keys for exploring all the castle's innumerable treasures as he goes off on his frequent business trips, but he also gives her one small key to a room at the end of the hall that she's banned from looking in. Temptation! So, of course, she has to have a peek. She does and finds all the bodies of the previous wives in a bloody mess. A spot of blood gets on the key, and the only fantastic element of this story is that the spot won't disappear. Once Bluebeard sees the bloodied key he has to kill her, at least according to his rules.