From Bluebeard’s Bloody Chamber to Demonic Stigmatic

Abstract

‘Female Gothic’ is a contested term which, when unveiled, is characterised by a number of recurring plots written by women writers. Ellen Moers, who coined the term, refers to the novels of one of its earliest exponents Ann Radcliffe, whose typical heroine is ’simultaneously persecuted victim and courageous heroine’.² Her predecessor may be found in the ‘Bluebeard’ fairy tale, which in turn is a reworking of the archetypal narrative of female disobedience prompted by curiosity which appears in classical mythology as in the tale of Pandora’s Box, and in the Bible as the story of Eve. This chapter explores the relationships between desire, texts and death, including the connection between dangerous reading and sexual knowledge out of which spring archetypal narratives of female disobedience. Particular attention is given to the reworking of the motif of the forbidden room in the traditional Bluebeard fairy tale.

One need not be a chamber to be haunted … Ourself, behind ourself concealed— Should startle most

Emily Dickinson¹