Bluebeard
Bluebeard - fact Summary
From the Ariel Collection
In "Bluebeard," the speaker returns the key to the eponymous study as an act of refusal and self-protection after intimacy that exposes and objectifies her. The repeated line frames the gesture as decisive. Stark medical imagery—"X-rayed heart, dissected body"—conveys violation and the aftermath of betrayal. The poem aligns with Plath’s recurring themes of autonomy, bodily exposure, and hostile intimacy, and appears in her Ariel collection.
Read Complete AnalysesI am sending back the key that let me into bluebeard's study; because he would make love to me I am sending back the key; in his eye's darkroom I can see my X-rayed heart, dissected body : I am sending back the key that let me into bluebeard's study.
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