Symbolism in "Bluebeard" and "Fitcher's Bird"

Some interesting symbolism was used in the Bluebeard tales by Perrault and the Brothers Grimm. In Perrault's version, he did literally have a blue beard. I agree with the student in our class who said that the color blue may have been used to portray a cold, hateful personality. The color blue is a cold color, and when people have no friendly or loving qualities, we often say that they are "cold." Blue is also a color associated with death, which Bluebeard knew all about. So, we could say that he was a cold-blooded killer.
The fact that it was his beard that was blue may also be symbolic. In some cultures, the beard is a symbol of male virility and masculinity. In the Bible, there are stories about them cutting off the men's beards to humiliate them or to show that they were captured. In some cultures, all the older men keep full beards to show their masculinity. Growing facial hair is something that separates men from women, so I guess it was a sign of dominance and manliness. So, it is interesting in this fairy tale that his beard was blue and this made him ugly to women. They rejected him because of his blue beard. His identity as a man was compromised. Perhaps his ability to be a virile lover was cold and impotent. The color red is associated with passion and heat and his beard was blue--thus cold and indifferent. Though I could not find a good artist's representation of the blue beard, I did find a couple of good pictures of Bluebeard at this link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluebeard
In the top picture, his eyes are really freaky and bulging. I wonder if the artist wanted to make him look a bit crazy. Also in this picture, we see how anxiously she seems to be reaching for the keys. This may be depicting the woman as grasping and conniving--she wants his money and yes, she will search out all his secrets. The key is another symbol and it is used in both tales. We often say that something is the "key" if it is the most important part or clue. Bluebeard used the key as the most important element in his little test. The key had to be used to get in the room, and in Perrault's tale it even becomes blood stained to clue him in to the fact that she disobeyed. If she had not used the key in both tales, we get the impression that he would not have killed her. Thus maybe it was like the "key to his heart."
In the Grimm's version, the key was important to open the door, but the item that got blood-stained was the egg that he made her carry. The egg was another symbol. An egg is a sign of female fertility, and she was to carry hers around and keep it pure. When the first two sisters let it get stained with blood, he knew that they were disobedient and unfaithful. Thus the egg was symbolic of female fidelity. The last sister kept her egg "pure" by trickery!
I have discussed several of the symbols in the Bluebeard tales...these tales are so complex that I'm sure there were many more!