Love is for Fairy Tales

517 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Beauty and the Beast short essay

Every little girl grows up dreaming of finding their Prince Charming, their “true love,” the boy who loves them for who they are and expects nothing more than that. When they become teenagers, and experience that first heartbreak, that dream loses some of its shine as they realize the world is not a fairy tale and they are not a princess. By the time they are adults, possibly married, some not, that dream is but a foolish childhood fantasy and they’ve left it completely behind. In Castello, which is a twisted retelling of a classic story, The Beauty and the Beast, Emma, a laundry maid and the Beauty, falls in love with the cursed Duke’s son, the Beast, which portrays the theme “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

In Castello, the author immediately introduces us to our main character, Emma, who is an invisible servant at the Duke’s castle. For the past 94 years, ever since “the Duke’s son’s coachman ran over the magician’s little boy, and the magician cursed [us] all” (Ames-Hale), a thief who attempts to take from the castle “must die, or provide an unmarried female relati...

Show More
Related

  • Romeo And Juliet Queen Mab Speech

    672 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the most prominent faces of Disney, Cinderella was most famously known for singing ‘A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes’, in which she proclaimed that “the dream that you wish for will come true”. However, when the Disney movie graced the screen in 1950, the film conveniently left out the parts in the original story in which the two sisters, desperate for the Prince’s affections, chopped off the heels of their feet and were later blinded by vindictive pigeons. As was with the sisters in the story of Cinderella, in the classic tragedy Romeo and Juliet, seemingly happy things hide an undercurrent of maliciousness, and dreams are often cruelly broken by reality. William Shakespeare uses Mercutio’s “Queen Mab” speech in Romeo and Juliet to

    Read More

  • The Reality as Opposed to the Disney Versions of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty

    1563 Words  | 4 Pages

    Presently, many books and fairytales are converted movies and often, producers alters the original tales to grasp the attention of a large audience. However, some of these interpretations hide the primary interpretation. The original interpretations of the Disney classics Snow White and Sleeping Beauty are greatly reinvented from the original fairytales Sun, Moon, and Talia and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs because of the brutal nature of the treatment women in these original forms. Although there are differences in certain aspects from the original tales to the movies, there are many issues that are influential to the young girls who are still watching the Disney version. I realize this when my youngest niece, Anella asks me, “Why can’t I be beautiful and fall asleep and suddenly wake up to finally find my prince?” This is true in all cases of the four different translations of the fairytales. Every single girl in these stories are in a “beautiful” state of half-death who wake to find a prince who if eager to carry them off. This can lead to negative psychological effects on young girls as they are growing up, creating a large amount of pressure and low self-esteem due to the beauty that these stories portray and maintaining restrictions that these women experience in the stories. While it is true that Sleeping Beauty and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves are considered Disney classics that entertain children and provide meaningful role models, it is evident that the true, vulgar nature of these tales are hidden; these stories are about women who are thrown away.

    Read More

  • Conflict in Wuthering Heights and La Belle Dame Sans Merci

    1038 Words  | 3 Pages

    The use of ‘wild’ in both Catherine and La Belle’s descriptions shows their similarity in nature. The similarities of their descriptions of a charming, appealing appearances compared with their saucy, wild natures demonstrate the comparison of conflict within these texts.

    Read More

  • Angela Carter Beauty And The Beast

    1004 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont’s take on “Beauty and the Beast” is a pretty simple story. A single merchant father of six kids loses his fortune. He meets the Beast when

    Read More

  • Feminism And Feminism

    1100 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast”, Beauty rescues the Beast and her family with brilliant morality and arduous efforts. Rowe merely focuses on the oedipal complex between Beauty and her father, so she overlooks Beauty’s persistent character and a...

    Read More

  • Sleeping Beauty: Feminist Critics

    1097 Words  | 3 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Cinderella Story In Gina Prince-Bythewood's Beyond The Lights

    1648 Words  | 4 Pages

    Once upon a time, there was a beautiful girl named Cinderella. She lived with her wicked stepmother and two stepsister who treated her like a servant. One day, they were invited to a ball at the king’s castle, but Cinderella’s wicked stepmother would not let her go. Against her stepmother’s orders, Cinderella attended the ball and met the prince who she fell madly in love with. Together they lived happily ever after.

    Read More

  • What Fairy Tales Tell Us Lurie Meaning

    1512 Words  | 4 Pages

    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”

    Read More

  • Theme Of Love In Perrault's The Sleeping Beauty In The Woods

    1066 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Perrault’s “The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods”, love is a general theme. With a prince finding his princess, the two of them are bound to the lies that come with the choice of their young love. However, this love grows a prince into a king and a princess into a queen. Love sometimes also involves parental involvement. Love is so big sometimes that is seconds as blinders. Being a different type of mother, the former queen has always been seen as a normal person. But, she loses sight of the love she has for her son until a tragic and horrific scene reminds her of what love really is. Through Perrault’s idealistic view, he reminds his audience that love conquers all things.

    Read More

  • Impact Of Social Classes In Cinderella

    1051 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the history of folklore and fairytales, many interpretations of tales have been created and introduced. When exchanged, many details have been lost in translation, only to be redistributed as a similar tale following a certain moral. But throughout the life of the tale “Cinderella,” one objective has never been misconstrued; the social structure and the status Cinderella falls and rises to. Many fairytales display a rise and fall of a protagonist, often in the case of social classes. The many versions of “Cinderella,” including Ever After, exhibit a definite, strong, monarchical settlement with a defined arrangement of classes that create and develop the beloved character of Cinderella, or Danielle De Barbarac, herself.

    Read More

  • The Wife of Bath: Illustrating Courtly Love

    960 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” is written in an entertaining and adventurous spirit, but serves a higher purpose by illustrating the century’s view of courtly love. Hundreds, if not thousands, of other pieces of literature written in the same century prevail to commemorate the coupling of breathtaking princesses with lionhearted knights after going through unimaginable adventures, but only a slight few examine the viability of such courtly love and the related dilemmas that always succeed. “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” shows that women desire most their husband’s love, Overall, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” shows that the meaning of true love does not stay consistent, whether between singular or separate communities and remains timeless as the depictions of love from this 14th century tale still hold true today.

    Read More

  • Disney Beauty Criticism

    1411 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Gender In Perrault's Cinderella

    652 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Social Perception Of Beauty Essay

    721 Words  | 2 Pages

    All young girls in America can remember watching the movie Beauty and the Beast by Walt Disney. At that time, it was a story of love and triumph, a girl falls in love and gets her prince charming. As we grow older, we question that movie and its intentions that we were too young to understand. Who is the real beauty and who is the real beast? A puzzling question due to our society constantly telling us how we need to look and be perceived as in order to not be “the beast” and more of “the beauty”.

    Read More

  • Beauty And The Beast

    1453 Words  | 3 Pages

    Beauty and the Beast is probably one of the most well known fairy tales that the Grimms’ reproduced. In it’s original form it was a long, drawn out story that was catered to adults. The Grimms’ changed the story to be more understood by children and made it short and to the point. Unlike many of the other fairy tales that they reproduced, Beauty and the Beast contains many subtle symbols in its purest form. It shows a girl and how she transfers to a woman; it also shows that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The one major thing that separates this story from all the rest is that Beauty gets to know the Beast before marrying him.

    Read More

More about Love is for Fairy Tales

Open Document