Elements of Horror

The most common element of horror that I found in the readings was a forbidden room with bloody dead bodies in it. I found this element in “The Seven Wives of Bluebeard,” “Fitcher’s Bird,” “Bluebeard,” and “Mr. Fox.” In most of these stories, Bluebeard’s wives, or soon-to-be wives, are given keys to the house but forbidden to enter a certain area. The women are too curious to obey, enter the room and see Bluebeard’s past wives chopped up into little pieces. This element startles the audience and helps move the plot along, because the women then must be punished for their disobedience.
Another element which I noticed in “The Robber’s Bridegroom” and “Mr. Fox” was that a male figure would have a female’s body, mutilate it, and chop off their finger to get a ring. I think this element is to startle the audience, elaborate the story, and help move the plot. After the female figure shows the finger with the ring to everyone, the male is then killed.
The final horror element was from “Bluebeard’s Ghost,” and it was the ghost coming out of the grave. It helped Mrs. Bluebeard select her future husband, because it turned out that Mr. Bluebeard was not coming out of his grave, but was one of her suitors posing as the ghost. It startled the audience and helped move the plot along.