1 Beard, 2 Beard, Redbeard, Bluebeard

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 I’m not sure why, but I really enjoyed the various Bluebeard stories we read for class, but If I had to pick a favorite it would be Margaret Atwood’s “Bluebeard’s Egg.” My favorite types of stories are ones with nuance, and for me this modern retelling was nuanced in which character matched up with which traditional counterpoint, as well as if the symbols and motifs meant the same things. Something that particularly interesting to me was the concept of the Egg, and how it relates to Ed in Atwood’s story. 
In the story, the narrator Sally reads the story of Bluebeard in one of her classes and reflects “Ed isn’t the Bluebeard: Ed is the egg. Ed Egg, blank and pristine and lovely. Stupid, too. Boiled, probably.” (223) This is particularly interesting to me, since the character of Bluebeard in this story is not as obvious and is left up to interpretation over whether it is Ed or Sally’s friend Marylynn who is the Bluebeard figure. The image of the egg itself is also very interesting. In this telling of the story, Sally initially ignores and dismisses the egg, but by the end of the story it is “pulsing; Sally is afraid of it … This is something the story left out, Sally thinks: the egg is alive, and one day it will hatch.” (227) I love the added dimension the egg was given in this retelling, and how it is not just an object that leads to discovery, but an active, living part of the story. Sally has every right to be scared of the egg; it symbolizes horrible discoveries and in the story’s context, information she may not want to know about Ed and his possible infidelity. I also thought it was interesting that this version of the folktale references the original folktale itself inside the text. I think this version of the Bluebeard tale, besides bringing it into the modern day, offers a modern take and reveals a version of Bluebeard that is not literal but metaphorical. Though very different in both plot and tone, this story is still very obviously a Bluebeard story, even without the references within.

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