For centuries, fairy tales have been passed down from generation to generation. Stories that told morals and lessons, princes rescuing the damsel in distress, magic, created imagination, and good versus evil. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Rapunzel, Beauty and the Beast, and the Little Mermaid all have these five characteristics in their own personal stories, but are just told differently. In Sleeping Beauty, which the earliest known version was first composed around 1330 and 1344 and first printed in 1528, a beautiful princess has a curse put on her and only a prince can break the spell. But because of how old the tale is, there are many different variations including "Little Briar Rose" by the Grimm Brothers, "The Beauty Sleeping …show more content…
In the Grimm and Perrault version, there was a different person or fairy that softens the curse so that Sleeping Beauty would instead fall asleep for a hundred years in compared to being dead enforcing the good versus evil. In the movie, Maleficent softens the curse herself, which symbolizes that even the evil can become good. But the other part of the curse was that it could only be broken by true love 's kiss, perceiving women that when they are in trouble, they can 't help themselves and must have help from a man, in this case a prince.
Unfortunately because of this curse, Sleeping beauty 's fate ultimately was in the hands of the wise woman, fairy, or Maleficent. The wise woman, fairy or Maleficent is bent on revenge in all three versions, but why she wasn 't invited in the first place are not necessarily the same. The reason why she wants revenge is because the wise woman, fairy, or Maleficent wasn’t invited to the party, which might not have seemed like a major deal, but that is quite the opposite in this situation. In the medieval time period, when a king and queen were holding a royal party, for example the birth of their child, the party was public and everybody was invited. The wise woman, fairy, or Maleficent being not
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The authors want to establish a moral to help teach the young and old about the world around us, may it be through the view of the good for example in the Grimm or Perrault versions, or through the evil person 's point of view like in Maleficent. But in some occasions, stories can teaches us two lessons at the same time. In Sleeping Beauty, the more important lesson teaches that love is the most powerful force in the world. The Grimm and Perrault versions both state that the princess is to fall asleep for a hundred years before she is able to be waken up. Perrault 's version though goes a little more in depth and says that to be waken up after a hundred years, a kiss from only a prince would wake her up. In Maleficent, Maleficent only says that Arora, the princess version of Sleeping Beauty, will be asleep until true love 's kiss wakes her up which in the movie, it was actually Maleficent who break her own curse for she truly loved Arora as a dear friend. The second lesson is not as common to be taught, but it teaches that a person should be careful when he or she offends someone in life whether it was deliberate or not. Each of the versions has someone being offended when in fact they weren 't meant to be and as an end result, the princess, in the stories ' case, was the one
Additionally, the sisters in the story only wanted jewels, blamed Beauty for their dilemma, and acted as if Beauty did not exist when she came back whereas the brothers, “begged her to stay,” “declared that nothing should make them let her go,” and even offered to fight the beast when it were to come to take Beauty. Therefore making the women seem catty, weak, materialistic, but making the men appear as brave, strong, and caring. Again, the story presents misogynist views that are unhealthy to society. Lastly, the beast projects anti-feminist views. Although the beast speaks politely after Beauty refuses his marriage proposal, he repeatedly asks her and completely disrespects her answer. As mentioned before, women were treated horrible the era the story was written in making this story acceptable at the time, but presently this story should not be read to children. For many years, people viewed Beauty and the Beast as an uprising from misogyny, but when analyzing from a feminist perspective it is clear that the story is the complete
People that grow up watching the classic Disney Princess movies, which give us false hope that every simple quiet girl will end up marrying a prince. The Beauty and the Beast being one of those movies, teaching us that if you fall in love with a hairy like creature he will turn into Mr. McDreamy. The bubbly Disney version of the Beauty and the Beast usually does not allow scholars to find a deeper meaning. Believe it or not, Disney did not create this classic tale. In fact, Charles Perrault wrote a darker version of it almost three centuries before. Perrault’s twisted feminist version has hidden messages and meanings still puzzling scholars today. Some say that at the end of every fairy tale he would put a rhyme that would be a hidden message to little girls. The messages presented caution about not trusting strangers or to stay true to who you are. Unlike Disney’s anti- feminist version, often characterizing girls as the damsel’s in distress, Perrault’s gives girls the look of independence. He shows young girls that they do not always need a prince charming by giving Beauty the decision that could change her life.
Similar to the above conversation, one must take these tales with a grain of salt, and keep in mind the time period in which they were written. For the purpose of this paper, the focus will only be on what the tale is striving to teach those who read it. Similar to Lurie’s opinion on “The Light Princess,” readers of “Sleeping Beauty” may come away from the story thinking the best was to grow up or be helped is to fall in love; let the man (prince) solve the problem (Lurie 360). This thought is further echoed by Martin Hallett and Barbara Karasek, the authors of “Folk and Fairy Tales,” as they describe the story “as a metaphor for growing up: the heroine falls asleep as a naïve girl and awakens as a mature young woman on the threshold of marriage”
One folktale that has multiple versions is the story of “Cinderella/Ashenputal”. Each story contrast the two time periods and cultures of France and Germany. The story of Cinderella was written for royalty, while Ashenputal was written for peasants. In Cinderella is a much more gentler take on the story, suggest that it was written for the upper-class. It involves The King’s Ball, a fairy godmother, and all other actions to create a harmonious conclusion. In the end Cinderella also forgives her family for her mistreatment. She also wears glass slippers instead of gold because these would be only something you could get with great wealth.
Cinderella is about a beautiful young girl that is mistreated by her step family. They give her the worst chores, make her sleep in a very dirty room up in an attic, and even give her the name “Cinderella” because they say she is always playing in the cinders of the fire. Cinderella is different though because despite being mistreated, she is still very nice and warmhearted. She represents how you should act in a world full of hate. If you are nice to everyone despite their rudeness and hate you will be rewarded in the end. Since Cinderella was so nice to her step sisters throughout her whole life, when she wanted to go to the ball her fairy godmother granted her wish. Cinderella got to go to the ball and looked absolutely beautiful, beautiful enough to catch the attention of the prince. While at the ball she was still very nice to her stepsisters, giving them food and telling them how nice they looked. When the stepsisters got home from the ball that night, they explain how lovely the mysterious princess was and how they thought she was so beautiful, not knowing that the mysterious princess was Cinderella. Cinderella played it off like she knew nothing of the princess but agreed with them that she must have been very beautiful. The next day came around and the stepsisters returned to the ball the
Fairytales, the short stories that most children heard as they went to bed, are actually folktales from previous decades. The fairytales today are primarily adaptations of older versions recreated by Disney— the pioneers of this generation. With that said, the modern versions consistently display good triumphing over evil, a prince charming that constantly came to the rescue, and a happily ever after ending. However, the original folktale version didn’t always come with fortunate events, but often were more violent and gruesome. With the fairytale Cinderella, Disney maintains a similar theme as its Grimm version; however, the conflicts, events, and characters that support this idea are rather different.
The witch learns of Rapunzel's interaction with the Prince and places her in the desert, and when the Prince climbs the tower to seek Rapunzel, he finds the witch waiting there for him. At this point, the witch's assumption and belief that she has won coincides perfectly with Satan's arrogance in believing that by killing Christ, he would forever have dominion over man. To the witch's dismay, the Prince hurls himself from the tower, putting out his eyes on the thorns below. This is symbolic of Christ's conscious sacrifice for humanity on the hills over Nazareth. The Prince wanders blindly through the desert, and, after several years, is reunited with his beloved Rapunzel. Ultimately, the story's happy ending is a realization of God's promise that through Jesus Christ, we are forgiven and find everlasting life.
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.
Fairy Tales have been around for generations and generations. Our parents have told us these stories and we will eventually pass them down to ours. In this time of age the most common fairytales are Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and The Beast and many more. Children idolize their favorite character and pretend to be them by mimicking everything they do in the stories. The character’s behavior is what is viewed as appropriate in society. These fairy tales show a girl and a boy fall in love and live “happily ever after”. The tales in many people’s eyes resemble a dream life that they would want to have of their own. However, have you ever really looked at what makes up a fairy tale? Many things are unrealistic but the most unflattering aspect of these tales is how women are depicted in them. Fairy tales give an unrealistic view to how women should look and behave in real life.
Have you ever heard of Disney’s Cinderella? Have you ever heard of Grimm’s Cinderella? There are many stories about Cinderella and her “Happily Ever After.” Many versions end the same way as the original story. But sometimes they don’t always end that way. Many writers have re-created versions of Cinderella. The differences and similarities between Disney’s Cinderella and Grimm’s Cinderella are pronounced, and they deserve thorough examination.
The tale of Sleeping Beauty is influenced by oral folklore and various written versions. Today fairytales are told as a domain for the entertainment and teachings of children. In traditional storytelling, peasants transmitted folklore orally around campfires to audiences of mixed ages. However, during the 17th century, peasant tales, such as Sleeping Beauty, were altered by writers like Charles Perrault’s, to appeal to the courts of aristocracy. Thus the characters of Sleeping Beauty adorned a courtly air to appeal to the crown, such as Louis XIV of France. Throughout history, various cultural influences transformed the tale of Sleeping Beauty through the manipulation of various social forces to achieve better entertainment purposes and reflect Christian beliefs and customs. In addition, the moral of the tale conveys a message that women remain passive in hope to marry her true lov...
The stepmother poisons an apple, Snow White eats it and then dies. After this, Gaiman’s version strays significantly from the fairy tale happy ending. As did the Queen’s and Snow White’s character change, so did the Prince’s. In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the prince kisses the princess and breaks the curse. In the Grimm brothers version, which is more like Gaiman’s, the piece of poisoned apple is dislodged from her throat and she comes back to life. In “Snow, Glass, Apples”, the prince’s true motives are uncovered. “He bade me remove my shift, and made me stand in front of the opened window, far from the fire, until my skin was chilled stone-cold. Then he asked me to lie upon my back, with my hands folded across my breasts, my eyes wide open – but staring only at the beams above. He told me not to move, and to breathe as little as possible. He implored me to say nothing”(Gaiman 342). The prince’s requests are strange and uncommon but the Queen complys. The prince is trying to make the Queen seem dead. This reveals the prince to be a necrophiliac, which is why he shows great interest when he first discovers Snow White’s body. He is willing to give the dwarfs anything in turn for Snow White’s corpse. They give it to him and while he is having his way with it, the piece of apple that is lodged in her throat becomes loosened and she comes back to life. Snow White stayed cold and always looked as if death was upon her, so the prince’s desire for her was not diminished when she awakened. The prince is not the valiant savior he is thought to be, but a lust driven necrophiliac in search of
The story teaches us that society expects women to be passive. Cinderella’s abuse by her stepsisters and stepmother cause her to live in grief silently without expressing her emotions. She does nothing to fight for her freedom except sing about all the dreams of happiness that she hopes will come true someday. She only wishes for things to change rather than attempt to do anything to change it for herself. Cinderella waits to be rescued by Prince Charming instead of fighting for her own freedom. This teaches women that they should suffer in silence without doing anything for themselves.
The one thing that separates Beauty and the Beast from all the other fairy tales is that Beauty gets to know the Beast before marrying him. She lives with him for several months and gets to know him for what he is inside. He is not a prince that rescues her but she is a woman that rescues him. It is only when she professes her love for him that he is transformed. If it wasn’t for her love of the Beast from the inside he would have never been transformed and they would not have been wed. Yes, he helps her mature and become a beautiful, young women but it is her that causes the transformation.
Fairy tales have been a part of our lives for as long we can remember and they have long lasting repercussions. These stories go as far back as the early 1600's when the stories of sleeping beauty began to surface ("Sleeping Beauty") As always the dominate theme in these tall tales is love. Nothing could make a story more interesting than a love affair between a knight and a fair maiden. Through the centuries, the art of telling stories has captivated listeners and readers as they developed and grew. The more you heard the more intrigued you became and by the end the story tell would have you sitting on the edge of your seat ready to jump up and scream at the exciting finale to come. Whether these legends ever actually happened or not doesn't even matter if it entertains you. Telling stories is a purely recreational act but it might have heavier consequences on our relationships in life that we never expected.