Sincere repentance (Metaphor)
When Bluebeard discovered that his wife dared to disobey him, he said that she would “take your place among the ladies you saw there”. The poor girl “threw herself at her husband’s feet, and begged his pardon”. She was so sincere in her apologizes that she “would have melted a rock”. It was next to impossible to stay unmoved by her sorrow but he did.
Heartless (Metaphor)
No matter how deep his wife repentance was, no matter how hard she begged him to spare her life, Bluebeard was not moved. He was determined to kill her and all her struggles were in vain. Bluebeard “had a heart harder than any rock”. His wife’s despair couldn’t make him sympathetic.
Despair (Metaphor)
The young wife couldn’t understand why her husband was no cruel. She apologized, promised to forget about the dead ladies she saw in the closet, vowed to obey him, all in vain. She was looking at him with “eyes all bathed in tears”, but he wasn’t sorry. Her death wouldn’t even disappoint him.
Seized with fear (Simile)
A prospect to say goodbye to her life almost killed the young lady. When he brothers arrived, her husband was ready to behead her. They prevented this terrible crime from happening, but it took the young lady some time to realize that everything was going to be all right. She was “as dead as her husband”, courtesy of enormous stress.
