Bluebeard in Opera

I take a post-tonal theory course here on campus. As apart of this course, we are required to listen, and be able to identify, several works for of the corresponding tests we are to take. For this upcoming test one of the listenings involve an opera based on the story of bluebeard. The opera is by hungarian composer Bela Bartok, and the piece is translated as Bluebeard's Castle.

Looking at the libretto, it is rather different from any of the versions we have read in class. The opera is in one act, and involves only two characters, Bluebeard and Judith (the name given to his bride). Basically the plot is as follows...... (this is taken from a website)

A spoken Prologue tells us that the scene is as much within ourselves as on the stage.
Bluebeard and and his wife Judith enter through a small iron door. He asks her whether she want to leave her family and follow him into such a place. Judith loves Bluebeard. She is sure. She has left her family for him and is not discouraged by Bluebeard's dark and gloomy castle. He shuts the door.
Judith notices the darkness and the dampness. She sees seven black doors. She insists that the seven locked and bolted doors be thrown open. She wants to bring light and warmth. Bluebeard responds that it can never be. Bluebeard gives her a key as they proceed to each door.
Behind the first door is Bluebeard's torture chamber, the walls dripping with blood. Bluebeard wonders why Judith wishes to pry into every corner. "Because I love you," she answers. He warns her to be careful.
The second key reveals the armory, with blood on the weapons.
The third key opens to the Treasury, where the blood is all over the crown and robes.
The fourth key reveals a secret garden, with blood on the roots of the flowers..
Behind the fifth door, she finds Bluebeard's kingdom, and the clouds are red with blood. Bluebeard asks her not to open the final two doors, but Judith insists.
The sixth door conceals a flood of tears. Bluebeard passionately kisses Judith and tells her not ask anymore questions. Having guessed what is behind the seventh door, Judith inquires about Bluebeard's former wives.
The seventh door conceals Bluebeard's former murdered wives. Judith is locked in with the former wives.
The stage grows dark.

apparently the entire work is supposed to be a psychoanalytical work, and each room could be seen as some sort of surrealist sketch, with nothing meaning what it literally is. It is interesting that the opera is rather set on the psychological aspects of the work, and not the physical. It would be easier to construct a story centered around the main action of the story, a man killing his wife, but this opera takes a look at the mental aspect of it. The castle could Bluebeard's mind, and judith his conscious, and each door could symbolize one of the seven dealy sins. The confusing part,though, is the fact that Judith is killed, and Bluebeard remains alive. Also, there is no happy ending, just a fade to black.

The prologue says that the scene is as much within ourselves as on the stage. Maybe it's trying to get the audience to realize some type of 'Bluebeardesque' action that we've commited, whether it be physical or mental, and take time to evaluate it.