At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Puritans viewed fairy tales as inappropriate literature because they believed fairy tales to be a form of witchcraft. The attitude toward fairy tales soon changed when the Brothers Grimm published their two-volume collection called Kinderund Hausmarchen or German Popular Stories. Overnight, fairy tales became an acceptable form of literature. This sudden popularity raises some related questions: What are the reasons behind the increased popularity of fairy tales? What function did fairy tales play in Victorian society? Is there a connection between fairy tales and the Victorian social issues? This paper will examine the discourse of fairy tales through a historical lens to reveal how the literary form shaped Victorian society. Fairy tales were the first poetic literature that became a part of people’s lives. For the majority of the population, fairy tales left deep and lasting childhood impressions. Although fairy tales provides warm, comfortable, and entertaining moments, they did not establish themselves as a viable literary form in Victorian England. In England, fairy tales seemed to have gone into hiding opposite to what was happening in Germany and France. The French fairytales came from the oral traditions of French peasants which were edited to not offend the aristocracy. Later, French fairy tales became a way for wealthy women to practice and improve their speech and to discuss morality and manners. German fairy tales were used to create a national identity and unite a divided country than as entertainment for the privileged. The suppression of Victorian fairy tales was due to the “social enforcement of the Puritan cultural code” (Zipes XIII) because there was an emphasis on... ... middle of paper ... ...f the egocentric characters to reveal social conflicts and contradictions” (Zipes 285). The Christ-like figure is represented by the statue of the Happy Prince that stands high above the city. The position of the statue is a direct criticism toward the British aristocracy hiding behind their throne, preventing the sadness and inequalities of society to enter the Palace; “did not know what tears were, for lived in the Palace, where sorrow is not allowed to enter” (Zipes 289). Sitting above the city allowed the Happy Prince to “see all the ugliness and all the misery of my city” (Zipes 289) and to utilize the gold and jewels from his statue to improve the lives of the poor. Wilde’s “The Happy Prince” exposed the domination and exploitation of the working class and giving them a voice to demand the end of the industrial revolution’s destructive effects.
Tatar, Maria. Off with Their Heads!: Fairy Tales and the Culture of Childhood. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1992. Print.
Fairytales express the creative fantasies of the rural and less educated layers of common man (Cuban, 1984). They are characteristically full of magic, often involving upper class characters (Cuban, 1984). In short, Fairytales are organically grown with the creative material of a collective group. The Grimm Brother’s fairytale, The Frog Prince, is no exception. The Grimm Brothers’ fairytale is about a handsome prince trapped in the repulsive body of a frog, but who nevertheless overcomes and transcends this bewitched state through his wit, perseverance, and magic (Prince, 2009). Until the seventeenth century, it was the adult population that was interested in fairytales (Cuban, 2009). Their allocation to the nursery was a late development (Cuban, 2009). This allocation can be credited to the rejection of the irrational, and development of the ra...
During the 19th century, Grimm’s fairytales were strongly disapproved of due to harsh, gruesome details and plots. One American educator from 1885 stated, “The folktales mirror all too loyally the entire medieval worldview and culture with all its stark prejudice, its crudeness and barbarities.” As childre...
In Feminism and Fairy Tales, Karen E. Rowe asserts that “popular folktales” have “shaped our romantic expectations” and “illuminate psychic ambiguities which often confound contemporary women.” She believes that “portrayals of adolescent waiting and dreaming, patterns of double enchantment, and romanticizations of marriage contribute to the potency of fairy tales” makes “many readers discount obvious fantasy elements and fall prey to more subtle paradigms through identification with the heroine.” As a result, Karen Rowe contends “subconsciously women may transfer from fairy tales into real life cultural norms which exalt passivity, dependency, and self-sacrifice as a female’s cardinal virtues suggest that culture’s very survival depends upon a woman’s acceptance of roles which relegate her to motherhood and domesticity.” It is undeniable that numerous folk tales implant male chauvinism into women’s minds and thus convey an idea that woman should obey and depend on men. However, Rowe neglects the aspect that many other folk tales, on the contrary, disclose the evil and vulnerable sides of man and marriage and thus encourage women to rely on their own intelligence and courage other than subordinating to man. The Fairy tales “Beauty and Beast” and “Fowler’s Fowl” challenge Rowe’s thesis to some extent and exemplify that some fairy tales motivate women to be intelligent and courageous and to challenge patriarchy.
Contrary to popular literary studies, French fairy tales may not accurately depict the lives of 17th century peasantry. In Dorothy Thelander’s “Mother Goose and Her Goslings,” she argues that these stories are actually a mixture of “folk literature and high literature” (Thelander 35). Better suited to the name “Salon tales” (Thelander 34), these stories have both peasant and bourgeois elements and are more representative of the environment in which their authors wrote. Because authors such as Perrault and d’Aulnoy came from the bourgeois class, their versions of traditional fairy tales reflect the social values found within aristocratic literary salons, not the hardships and taboo issues of peasants.
Fairy tales portray wonderful, elaborate, and colorful worlds as well as chilling, frightening, dark worlds in which ugly beasts are transformed into princes and evil persons are turned to stones and good persons back to flesh (Guroian). Fairytales have long been a part of our world and have taken several forms ranging from simple bedtime stories to intricate plays, musicals, and movies. However, these seemingly simple stories are about much more than pixie dust and poisoned apples. One could compare fairytales to the new Chef Boyardee; Chef Boyardee hides vegetables in its ravioli while fairytales hide society’s morals and many life lessons in these outwardly simple children stories. Because of this fairytales have long been instruments used to instruct children on the morals of their culture. They use stories to teach children that the rude and cruel do not succeed in life in the long run. They teach children that they should strive to be kind, caring, and giving like the longsuffering protagonists of the fairytale stories. Also, they teach that good does ultimately defeat evil. Fairy tales are not just simple bedtime stories; they have long been introducing cultural moral values into young children.
Mankind has used fairy tales to both entertain and educate each other and their families about the world around them since the beginning of time. Fairy tales have been used to explain more mature aspects of life to children such as social roles, religion, culture, everyday dangers, morality, and so on. A popular sociological theory on the purpose of fairy tales is that they are used to explain to children and relate to families via social Marxist ideas; many tales by the Brothers Grimm can be related to this theory. “The Golden Children”, a tale from The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, clearly showcases class advancement which is linked to a fulfilled life, an exceedingly Marxist idea.
As the world has transformed and progressed throughout history, so have its stories and legends, namely the infamous tale of Cinderella. With countless versions and adaptations, numerous authors from around the world have written this beauty’s tale with their own twists and additions to it. And while many may have a unique or interesting way of telling her story, Anne Sexton and The Brother’s Grimm’s Cinderellas show the effects cultures from different time periods can have on a timeless tale, effects such as changing the story’s moral. While Sexton chooses to keep some elements of her version, such as the story, the same as the Brothers Grimm version, she changes the format and context, and adds her own commentary to transform the story’s
The simplicity of fairy tales and non-specific details renders them ideal for manipulation allowing writers to add their own comments often reflecting social convention and ideology. Theref...
A fairy tale is seemingly a moral fiction, intended mainly for children. A lesson in critical analysis, however, strips this guise and reveals the naked truth beneath; fairy tales are actually vicious, logical and sexual stories wearing a mask of deceptively easy language and an apparent moral. Two 19th Century writers, the Grimm brothers, were masters at writing these exaggerated stories, bewitching young readers with their prose while padding their stories with allusion and reference: an example of which is "Rapunzel." Grimm's "Rapunzel" is packed with religious symbolism, which lends a new insight to the meaning of this classic story.
Most modern fairytales are expected to have happy endings and be appropriate for children, nonetheless, in past centuries most were gruesome. Consequently, fairytales have been modified throughout time. The stories “Beauty and the Beast” by Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont and “The Summer and Winter Garden” by Jacob and Wilherm Grimm share similarities and differences. The two stories are distinct because of the peculiar year they have been written in. LePrince de Beaumont’s story is written in London of 1783 and Grimm’s in Germany of 1812. At the time, wealthy people in London, were educated and had nannies who would read to their children; whereas, in Germany, the Grimm brothers created their own interpretation into a short story. Because many high class parents in 18th century London would not be able to spend time with their children, nannies would read “Beauty and the Beast” to them since they were intended for children and considered appropriate. In “The Summer and Winter Garden,” the Grimm’s’ story was mostly based to entertain misbehaved children and teach them the valuable lesson that everyone should be treated with kindness. The Grimm brothers’ goal in rewriting this short story is to better children’s behavior which worked quite well. Since these stories have been re-written for children, it would be safe to say the reason why parents expose the two stories to their children is because they both portray the same moral: good things happen to good people. The two interpretations of “Beauty and the Beast,” although written in separate countries, share important similarities and differences even though the authors have different interpretations and came from different cultures.
I chose to research the genre of fairytales because the genre retold by Grimm’s caught my attention. Fairytales in modern day usually have a happy ending after the good versus evil concept. Rapunzel specifically, isn’t told in its original form.Theres much more darkness and even though happily ever after is in play, not all fairytales end that way. Fairytales have much more depth than people realize in modern day. It portrays the real struggles we face growing up. In Rapunzel, her mother gave her away and she was raised by an enchantress who locked her away. This very much explains child abandonment or a child that has been given up for adoption and the things they face growing up.Theres a connection between these fairytales and real life situations .Fairytales have a way of expressing real life situations in a way that uses a few elements that help tell the story in a way children can understand. Some of the elements include: magic, morals, royalty and love.
Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment: the Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. London: Thames and Hudson, 1976. Print.
Some fairy tales are so iconic that they withstand the passing of time. One of those fairy tales is that of Cinderella. The rags to riches story that gives even the lowliest of paupers, hope that they may one day climb the social ladder. While the core message of the story has transcended time, over the years it has been adapted to address a variety of audiences. One of those renditions is Perrault’s Cinderella where the traditional idea of gender is conveyed and therefore associated with good/evil. This idea is challenged by a fellow 1600’s French author, L’heriter de Villandon’s, who’s version of Cinderella brings about a female protagonist who is also the heroine.
Zipes, Jack. Why Fairy Tales Stick: The Evolution and Relevance of a Genre. New York: Routledge, 2006. Print.