CHARACTERS

The sixth door opens to a lake of tears, and Judith begins to understand Bluebeard’s secret. She stands before Bluebeard, asking about his past loves, but he merely repeats his request for her to love him without question. At the final door, Judith reveals his secret: the door hides Bluebeard’s former wives, now made immortal. There are three wives, one for dawn, noon, and dusk; it is their blood that stained the castle and their tears that filled the lake. Judith is meant to be the wife of the night, and Bluebeard begins adorning her with jewelry. Horrified, she begs Bluebeard to stop, but she surrenders under the weight and takes her place among the other wives.

Allison Chu is a Ph.D. candidate in Music History at Yale University. Her research focuses on the intersection of identity and opera in the twenty-first century.