Would You Have Done It?

Continuing our study of the tale of Bluebeard, we have read Angela Carter's "The Bloody Chamber" this week.  As in the Perrault version, we are again presented with a heroine who has been instructed not to use the last key on the ring but, alas, she does.  In doing so, she discovers her husband's terrible secret; he has murdered (and preserved) his previous wives and the heroine rightly fears she will be his next victim.

What I found interesting in this version of the tale is that the heroine is aware of of where she went wrong and her shortcoming in disobeying the instruction she was given.  As she acknowledges this, she compares herself to Pandora and later she is also compared to Eve.  I am not sure if these comparisons are a subtle hint that women who succumb, and are too weak to resist, to temptation always find trouble.  I am sure there are some who would it interpret it that way. 

I am much more fascinated with the thought of what would I do in their place.  I would like to be all righteous and secure that if the man I loved told me I could not peek at one little thing that I would not.  Surely, the fact that I do not go around checking my boyfriend's email backs that idea up.  Of course, he's never actually forbidden me to do so, and therefore, never made me curious about it.  Is that the difference?

All three of these women were content until they were told not to do something and then the temptation became an overwhelming, burning desire they had to sate.

It is a little like Christmas presents when you are a child.  My mother had a maddening habit of hiding our presents in the closet that we never had any desire or inclination to go into all throughout the year.  Had she simply hidden the presents in there and said nothing it would have been fine.  However, every year she felt the need to announce the presents were hidden there and we needed to stay out of the closet.  All of a sudden it became a challenge to get in there and see what was hidden because we could not bear the thought of waiting a couple more weeks.  Even worse, there were years where we knew she had begun hiding the presents in there and had no urge to peek because she hadn't yet forbidden it.  Only after the magic words were uttered did the compulsion take over.

Okay, so now I know that for me, at least, the temptation comes in the knowledge that it is a forbidden act.  This is most likely true for Eve as well, as she isn't truly tempted by the tree until the serpent plants the idea into her head.  Pandora and Bluebeard's wife were not really given the opportunity to demonstrate what the catalyst is for them as Pandora is given the box and immediately told not to open it, and the same occurs with Bluebeard's wife and the key. 

The question of the day though is, would you have done it?

Are you sure?