A change of heart
Bluebeard made various efforts to engage affection of his neighbor’s daughters. He took them with other young people of the neighborhood, to one of his country seats, where they stayed a whole week. They enjoyed “parties of pleasure, hunting, fishing, dancing, mirth and feasting”. Bluebeard succeeded, for the youngest daughter agreed to marry him. The irony is that before that vacation the girl couldn’t stand him. A week of parties and she starts believing that the master of the house is “a mighty civil gentleman”. She forgets all those stories about his other seven wives.
Visitors
As soon as Bluebeard had left the house, his wife’s friends started arriving. “So great was their impatience to see all the rich furniture of her house” that they decided not to wait for an official invitation. When they arrived, they “checked all the rooms, closets, and wardrobes”. They could not sufficiently admire the place. The irony is that the young wife’s friends seem to be more interested in the tapestry and other fancy things than in their friend.
Curiosity kills the cat
While the young wife’s friends were having fun, she couldn’t forget about the small closet. She was “so much pressed by her curiosity” that she left her guests and “went down a little back-stair-case” with great haste. The irony of this episode is in the fact that curiosity is a mighty force. She had keys to every door in the house, she had all money of her husband, but that wasn’t enough, for there was a secret and she longed to solve more than anything.
