“Bluebeard,” or Barbe bleue, may very well rank among the most disturbing of Perrault’s fairy tales. Its notoriety is such that bluebeard, in everyday language, is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a man who marries and kills one wife after another.” The storyline is precisely that—though it has a happy ending, if slaying the murderous protagonist is the type of justice {…}