Margaret Atwood
"Bluebeard's Egg"
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Background:
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the fairy tale: "Blue Beard's Egg": p. 137;
wizard, three daughters, forbidden room, the egg -- an important symbol
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the fairy-tale setting and the other fairy-tale
motifs: forest, sauce, playhouse, prehistoric windbreaker, games (Monopoly,
Pick Up Sticks p. 145)
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Sally, the third wife of Ed.
The previous two wive--reasons for departure unknown: pp. 117; 131
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Ed, a heard doctor. --> heard,
another important symbol in this story
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Sally's
growth
I.
Her relationship with Ed
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her view of Ed, her husband: p. 116 (reversing
the blonde tradition); p. 117; influenced by fairy-tales and murder mysteries
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insecure about her identity, but actually
strong and patronizing/mothering the men around her: 122-23
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her relation with Ed.: 118; Ed as the center
of her life
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worry about her being a "nothing" like Marilyn
in marriage
Symbolic representation of her problem
with Ed:
II.
Sally's worries, misunderstanding and misgiving
in terms of fairy-tale motifs:
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p. 130: The women will chew him up.
(A reversal of the Bluebeard plot)
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Ed like a Russian doll 133; wandering in a
forest--like Hans or the Little Red-Riding Hood who gets lucky? 133
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the ice-made house breaking apart 134
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III. Clues to Ed's
hypocrisy:
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Marilyn's remarks p. 120 (Ed as a shiny button);
p. 142 (getting a seeing-eye dog for him)
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the other women 121 and Sally's worries
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stupidity or indifference? p. 125; 129--
machanical love-making
IV. Turning
Points:
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take courses to interest Ed, 125; real reason:
to distract herself from him 134
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Sally is asked to revise the story of Bluebeard.
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the party: Sally prepares the meal while thinking
about Ed as the egg p. 140
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the discovery p. 144 -- "Possibly Ed is not
stupid. Possibly he is enormously clever." (145)
V. New Awareness
at the end:
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a heart--in black and
white-- that will go on and on, over which she has no control.
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an egg which suggests
new possiblities.