Damsels in Address It is clearly evident that many fairy tales of childhood tend to shape the reader. Certain moral codes and ideals are tightly woven into the text of many fairy tales, promoting or denoting a character’s actions. In the Grimm’s fairy tales Cinderella, Brier Rose, and Rapunzel, the heroines of these tales exhibit strong behavioral codes, thus providing opportunity for the young female reader to relate to the damsel, or to model herself to behave in a similar fashion. In accordance with Marcia R. Lieberman’s essay, " ‘Some Day My Prince Will Come’: Female Acculturation Through the Fairy Tale," I agree with the assertion that positive traits in fairy tale indicate reward, while the negative characteristics bring misfortune. A heroine in a fairy tale is to be seen as a mentor, a model to easily portray what is right, and what is inherently wrong. For instance, a passive heroine proves to bring eventual reward through pain and suffering, while a female who is assertive, either mentally or physically, is shunned. Suggestions integrated throughout the text of the three tales provide strong evidence as to the desired morals and values of the society in which the tales were written. Through the examination of tales, their inherent messages surface. Children’s perceptions of fairytales can go a long way towards shaping social interactions among said children. Passivity is a major player in the personalities of Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty. Rapunzel relies completely on a determined prince to escape her imprisonment; Cinderella uses a fairy godmother to help her cause and Sleeping Beauty waits until Prince Charming wakes her. Children could see these characterizations of women and begin to intertwine them with their own budding personalities. Boys begin to see women as weak and Girls may interpret these behavior traits as indicative of their being the lesser part of relationships with men. Sexual roles, although not overtly discussed within the pages of fairytales, becomes the focus for these young people. Marcia Lieberman reiterates the idea of inherent roles stating, "a picture of sexual roles, behavior psychology, and a way of predicting outcome or fate according to sex"(Lieberman, 384). As they grow older, the children may begin to fall into the roles they discovered in the fairytales; boys begin ... ... middle of paper ... ...uch beauty, the maiden is chosen, married, and loved by the hero. This process leads not only to beauty by means of passivity, but also to security and happiness. Assertion equates not only with beauty, but ugliness and misfortune as well. Boys in turn develop a sense of responsibility and see themselves in the dominant role. In other words, they must save the day by getting the girl and then of course spreading wealth. For the young girls of the fairy tale audience to acknowledge that they must act out roles similar to the behavior of the heroines in the three tales under examination, thus guaranteeing eternal wealth and happiness. Boys will see the same roles played out and revert to the breadwinning hero role. Lessons portrayed throughout the story are epitomized by Marcia Lieberman to support the notion of love, success, and failure. Bibliography Works Cited Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. Trans. and with an introduction by Jack Zipes. 2 vols. Toronto: Bantam Books, 1988. Lieberman, Marcia R. " ‘Some Day My Prince Will Come’: Female Acculturation Through the Fairy Tale." College English 34 (1972/73): 383-395.
In James Poniewozik's "The Princess Paradox" (323-325) the author explains how the idea of a feminist, independent woman becoming a fairy tale princess is a paradox and that society is engaging in a paradox through the belief of it. He utilizes the recent bout of Cinderella retellings to show the paradox of how girls cannot be both completely independent and a fairytale princess, and yet society perpetuates the paradox through believing that this is not only possible, but realistically attainable as well. Poniewozik exposes the contradictions that surround these new Cinderellas to defy these "realistic" stories that society has come to embrace. By showing how truly constrictive and illogical these fantasies are, Poniewozik also shows how hypocritical society has become for idolizing them and why this new princess is a true paradox.
This book was written much earlier than Dworkin’s book, when this was acceptable behavior for a woman. Heckel uses these examples successfully in his article because they support his ideas and topic. Both sources provide two different views other than Heckel to make the article convey its purpose successfully. In the fairytales, women are dependent on their princes to come and rescue them. However, as time passed, women and fairytale princesses changed their dependent ways and started becoming
There are several events in the play which at one point or the other take a tragic turn which constantly undercut back into the play by speeches. What is set out in the play is a festive mood where people were engaged in activities of ‘Maying’ where people get together to sing and dance in the woods, activities that led to the maids’ belief that the pursuit if true love can be scored only through divination dreams (Barber 18). The fairy’s existence is conceptualized from the act of fusing pageantry together with popular games in a menacing way bring out their actual image of a relaxed
Young girls are often stuck in a world of make believe, they are fed fairytales, dream up unimaginable views of reality and believe everyone will find their prince charming. This unrealistic perspective is formed through their experiences with different fairytales. As G.K. Chesterton tells the fairytale are a realistic world for children, “Fairy tales are more than true — not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten”. Fairytales lead these girls to believe that in order to find true love there is some sort of intense journey one must go on. This idea of a journey for love has created a specific ideology for what love is and how to achieve it. In the text Beauty and the Beast by Madame Le Prince De Beaumont, Little Mermaid by Andersen and Cinderella by Perrault the authors all deal with the same plot on how love is achieved. The direct correlation between the three fairytales analyzed will prove that there is a sacrificial journey needed to find true love and this mystical journey is mostly targeted at young girls because they are the most easily influence. Three main plots connect each fairytale; self-sacrifice, family sacrifice, and identity sacrifice. Self-sacrifice will be proven through what the characters sacrifice themselves Family sacrifice shows how the characters sacrifice those whom they love for a better life. Finally, happily ever after will prove that no matter the hardships these characters are faced identity sacrifice will show how the characters loose who they are in order to find true love. The specific focus on young girls will show how these plot settings are targeted to influence their innocent minds. The main correlation of these fairytales can be proven in plot co...
" Children's Literature in Education, vol. 46, no. 4, Dec. 2015, pp. 424-437. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s10583-014-9239-6. This work explores the social issues of children’s fairy tales and the effects of them on children. Such as gender roles and how they tried to reinforce theses gender identies in face of changing times. Sunderland, Jane.
The portrayal and role of characters in fairy tales is often something limited to gender; the adherence or deviation from those prescribed expectations is what labels a character 'good ' or 'bad ', particularly in the case of women. Female character were expected to be 'good ', which was described as following the rules and being submissive to embody the idea of femininity, and commonly described only by how beautiful and fair tempered they were. Women with outstanding characteristics outside the idea of femininity, such as ambition, vanity, greed, or want of authority, were handed the roles of the wicked witches, ogres, stepmothers, or were simply unimaginably ugly and made a point of describing them with unflattering imagery. While the
In the article, “Fairy Tales and a Dose of Reality,” Catherine Orenstein attempts to show the contrast between the modern romanticism of marriage and the classic fairy tale’s presentation of them (285). She looks at the aristocratic motivations for marriage and the way these motivations are prominent in Cinderella. She then looks at the 20th century to highlight the innate difference of our mentalities, showing a much more optimistic and glorified relationship. In the article, “Cinderella: Not So Morally Superior,” Elisabeth Panttaja claims that Cinderella’s success can be attributed to her craftiness (288). She shows her and her mother as an equal to the stepfamily, analyzing each family’s goals and values. She attempts to show their similarities,
Hopkinson uses the narrator to spread the same moral as Perrault did three hundreds year ago, girls, especially younger inexperienced girls need to be careful when they encounter nice and charming men, because it could end in completely unwanted situation. This is the reason why the grandmother intervenes, she tries to complete her granddaughter's education by telling her her own story in which she can find advices that will save her to bear the same experience as her grandmother. Indeed, fairy tale has an educational mission in addition of pure entertainment. Hopkinson provides a moral to reader through a modern and different tale, more adapted to nowadays reader but without weakening its quintessence.
A prolific exemplification of the ideal female virtues portrayed in fairy tales is Charles Perrault’s “ The Little Glass Slipper”. Perrault presents the ideal female fairy tale character through his portrayal of Cinderella. Cinderella is a tame and forgiving individual who subjects herself to the will of her father, stepmother and s...
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.
Thinking back to our childhood, we all remember hearing many kinds of fairy tales. Some of them inspired us others confused us, and most of them taught us valuable lessons. Through out centuries tales and stories have been used as a valuable tool to pass on our culture to new generations. There is a strong belief that these fairy tales mirror and influence society. All cultures interpret tales in their own unique way. They add and subtract various aspects of the tale to fit the needs of their particular society. The same tale in the United States is different from the tale told in Asia. A good example of tale evolution can be seen in one of the most famous tales ever told which is “Cinderella”. As a professor of women’s history Karol Kelley points out in her essay Pretty Woman: A Modern Cinderella “There are some 700 versions of Cinderella”.This fairy tale as many others has been changing for many years, and in recent years Cinderella has come under some criticism for its depiction of women’s roles in society.
Few people can grow up within today's society without knowing the tale of Snow White. From the Grimm Brothers to Disney, it has been told and retold to children throughout the ages. However, what is often overlooked are the true meanings within the story. Fairytales typically have underlying messages that can be found written between the lines, generally in terms of the key themes. Snow White discusses the themes of envy and beauty, and shows how humans' obsessions can lead to their own downfall as well as the harm of others. When focusing on the relationship between Snow White and her step-mother the Queen, it is evident that the combination of these two themes results in a power struggle in which beauty is seen as a commodity and is the basis for the step-mother?s envy towards Snow White.
Fairytales have been around as long as man can remember. Fairytales are told not just for entertainment but try to instill morals and build character. The cultural norms represented in fairytales play a large part in the socialization processes of the child who reads them. Contained within these cultural norms are the beliefs about gender roles that are held by society. The characters in the stories help children to determine what behaviors, traits, or roles are acceptable for children of certain genders. In Angela Carter’s book, The Bloody Chambers, one sees major themes being used to influence people. One of these themes is objectification of women. In every one of Carter’s stories women are objectified. These stories portray women as weak, submissive, dependent, and self-sacrificing while men are powerful, active and dominant. As long as women are primarily bought and sold and are willing to be bought and sold, women will always be looked at as only objects. When looking at the stories, The Bloody chambers, The Courtship of Mr.Lyon, and The Tigers Bride, women are seen being objectified by men. Carter doesn’t give men all the blame, she also shows man as being objectifies in Lady in the house of Love.
The obedience curse in Ella Enchanted and the desire for beauty in Fairest are reflective of the expectation imposed by the gender norms of society and the obsession with appearance. The young female heroine in The Paper Bag Princess defies the social norms of women by courageously saving her prince. Much like Lady Wendylyn in The Knight Who Was Afraid of the Dark faces her fears to help Sir Fed the brave female roles stand out as more than the damsel in destress or the needy princess waiting for her prince to sweep her off her feet. The plots of all four of these books present the reader with a strong female character and a non-conventional spin on the gender norms we expect to read in a
The Damsel has spanned throughout history as a popular archetype in literature, movies, and music. Through these forms of entertainment, The Damsel is portrayed as naïve, innocent, and feeble. In media, she eagerly awaits to be rescued and protected by a handsome prince, and live “happily ever after.” The Damsel has potential for greatness, yet only realizes it when guided by a prince. In addition to the naïve feebleness of The Damsel, the archetype originally symbolized purity, kindness, and an immunity to the taint of evil. In relation to romance, the light attributes of The Damsel encourages her to rely on herself, and recognize the qualities of a healthy romance. The shadow attributes of The