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Madison Walker

Professor Fritz

2370

01 September 2023

Homework Assignment: “Fitcher’s Bird”

Fitcher’s Bird and Blue Beard both have very similar themes, however, there are a

few key details that make them different. In Fitcher’s Bird the sisters have no idea prior

to their capture that they are a candidate for marriage. However, In Blue Beard both the

sisters were made aware of the potential of being selected as a bride. I chose this specific

detail because It alters the way I view each woman in the story. In Blue Beard my fellow

peers and I viewed the younger sister as greedy and wanting marriage only for a life full

of luxury. Although, in Fitcher’s Bird I feel sympathy for the sisters. They did not have a

choice of whether they went with Fitcher or not. Their fate was chosen for them. I think

this detail is important because instead of putting the focus on greed it highlights the

brutality of the man.

Another detail that had a huge change on the theme of the story was in Blue Beard

the younger sister called out to her older sister for help. However, in Fitcher’s Bird the

third sister immediately sprung into action and formed her own plan. I picked this detail

because it really highlights the strength and wit of the third sister. In Fitcher’s Bird the

third sister could have easily gotten away with opening the forbidden chamber and lived a

long life of luxury. Instead, she saved her sisters without the aid of anyone else. In Blue
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Beard the younger sister desperately called out for her older sister to save her. Which

then led to a group of men coming to her rescue. Although this detail is quite miniscule, I

think it shows how powerful a woman really can be. In Blue Beard it almost feels like the

women are made out to be weak and ignorant. This small detail shifts the power from the

man and to the woman.

These two very different and small changes aided in giving the reader a different

perspective on women. As I stated before, in Blue Beard the women were not given much

power. It seems like they are being down played and made out to be these weak and

dependent characters. When reading Blue Beard, I blamed the younger sister. Even

though her fate was in the hands of a man, I still found a reason to pin this monstrosity

onto her. I thought to myself “She knew this was coming. She was deliberately told not

to enter.” However, when reading Fitcher’s Bird I was thrilled to see a female character

being depicted as knowledgeable. She seemed strong and brave. Although she still

disobeyed the wishes of the man, she outsmarted him. To me, this was empowering. It

shows that your gender has nothing to do with intelligence.

In both of the stories there were characters that could be considered the Other.

The Other is known as a character who is perceived as different and even sometimes

dangerous because of this. In Blue Beard and Fitcher’s Bird, I believe both of the male

characters were the Other. The sisters in Blue Beard were frightened by him initially. I

think this goes to portray their gut instinct about him but were eventually swooned by the

money. In Fitcher’s Bird we were not directly told that the sisters were frightened by him,

but it is reasonable to assume that his appearance did cause some unsettling feelings.
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Fitcher told the first sister “My dear, you will like it here with me.” I think this shows that

she was scared of him and this was his way of trying to convince her that all was fine. In

the end, all was not fine. I think this portrays how we should approach the Other with

caution. Humans can tend to possess traits that we are not aware about and it is important

to trust your gut. To this day, we still tend to teach the youth the same rules that could

have saved these sisters a lot of trouble. Never answer the door for a stranger, stranger

danger, and many more guidlines society has created.