Maria Tatar presents us with a new model of female trickster, one which presents females with new public identities. In stark contrast to their predecessors these new twenty-first-century trickstars have a new double mission of social change as well as a mission of personal growth.
Not only do the new trickstars aim to create social change they do so while leaving the domestic sphere. I argue that the true female trickster could not have existed in the time of origin for most folk and fairytales if we are to use the collection of Voices from the Past as our model. Most of our renditions of folk and fairytales come from nineteenth-century European collectors and editors, thus reflecting the values and social hierarchies of that time and place.
The best counter argument to this
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Gretel deceives the guest into thinking that her master will cut of their ears while simultaneously deceiving the master into thinking that the guest has stolen the chickens. All of this is done to cover up her own treachery, an act that may have been driven by apatite but deceitful nonetheless.
In The Gardener’s Cunning Wife, we encounter another woman accredited with some of the same values celebrated in male tricksters who is also driven by apatite. The Gardener’s wife shares a similar plot to Clever Gretel, both show us female tricksters who lack the social missions of our new trickstars, in both stories these women are both driven by their own greed and personal missions to distract from their own wrongdoing. Both of these stories also show us the deceitful nature of female tricksters in folklore, something that helps to enforce the cultural stereotypes of women at the time. In these writing even when women are given the qualities of clever or cunning there remains a strong emphasis on their deceitful nature.
The female trickster has come a long way she has evolved from a deceitful
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.
Though, when one examines their true purpose and commentary it is revealed to be a direct assault on the principles of what it means to be a man. Both short stories depict men whose only purpose is to impress females; or, men who are simply foolish. While both stories are misogynistic superficially as the men treat the women as sex objects, the true offence is the misandristic stereotype that this is what a typical teenage boy would do. This idea permeates through the entirety of both stories. This irresponsible idealism negatively effects ones view of males as a gender. This leaves one question, if the misogyny of the stories is widely reputed, why is the misandry blatantly
“Marigolds”, a short story written by Eugenia Collier, illustrates a very complex struggle,but one almost all of us can relate to. It was set in the Great Depression, yet it has relevance today. It is a struggle all of us must go through, though it may hidden unlike the struggle Collier describes. “Marigolds” conveys the struggle between an aimless and innocent adolescent, and a mature and compassionate adult. The clash of two minds and two consciences. Looking through eyes of a 14 year old girl named Lizabeth, Collier declares a very important and relevant message to the reader. One summer night, Lizabeth learns the same lesson Collier wishes to tell the reader. Her theme in “Marigolds” is living a ignorant life, like that of a child,
Many people, no matter their age or background, find the trickster figure to be intriguing. Karl Jung says archetypes surface in cultural and religious literature all over the world because of what he calls the collective unconsciousness, what connects all humans and cultures, so it is not surprising that the trickster is an archetype that surfaces in many stories. Even in our own culture we see depictions of the trickster in characters like Brier Rabbit and Wily Coyote. In this essay I will describe what a trickster is using the information I learned in class and discuss the role of the trickster in Raven and the African and African-American stories we discussed. Even though every trickster is unique to its culture, all tricksters share certain
At first glance, the reader sees the women shown as malicious, conniving adulterers. But, if one looks deeper into the stories, in reality, the women are rather clever and tactful. In the Prologue, a women who is the prisoner of a jinnee threaten Shahriyar and Shahzaman to do her bidding
The setting of both stories reinforces the notion of women's dependence on men. The late 1800's were a turbulent time for women's roles. The turn of the century brought about revolution, fueled by the energy and freedom of a new horizon…but it was still just around the bend. In this era, during which both short stories were published, members of the weaker sex were blatantly disregarded as individuals, who had minds that could think, and reason, and form valid opinions.
Folktales are a vital oral tradition in Russian culture. They are a powerful form of imaginative expression of some of the oldest beliefs and ideas of the nation. It is exceptionally common for Russian folklore to have a mythological aspects, as it strongly voices Russia’s pre Christianization beliefs such as pagan spirits. By understanding the pagan beings in the folklore, one can have a better understanding of the Russian spirit; Russian folklore is tightly intertwined with its culture. The most infamous and reoccurring mythological character in Russian folklore is Baba Yaga. She is generally a complex female antagonist with an incredibly interesting duality. Koschei the Immortal, Baba Yaga’s male counterpart, hides his mortality in a needle making him
Susan Glaspell’s play, Trifles, was written in 1916, reflects the author’s concern with stereotypical concepts of gender and sex roles of that time period. As the title of the play implies, the concerns of women are often considered to be nothing more than unimportant issues that have little or no value to the true work of society, which is being performed by men. The men who are in charge of investigating the crime are unable to solve the mystery through their supposed superior knowledge. Instead, two women are able decipher evidence that the men overlook because all of the clues are entrenched in household items that are familiar mainly to women during this era. Glaspell expertly uses gender characterization, setting, a great deal of symbolism and both dramatic and verbal irony, to expose social divisions created by strict gender roles, specifically, that women were limited to the household and that their contributions went disregarded and underappreciated.
In both of these stories there are certain characteristics of females that are the same, they are inner strength, obedience, honor and respect, the good of the family is better than the good of the individual.
In a society unbridled with double standards and set views about women, one may wonder the origins of such beliefs. It might come as a surprise that these ideals and standards are embedded and have been for centuries in the beloved fairy tales we enjoyed reading as kids. In her analytical essay, “To Spin a Yarn: The Female Voice in Folklore and Fairy Tales”, Karen Rowe argues that fairy tales present “cultural norms which exalt passivity, dependency, and self-sacrifice as a female’s cardinal virtues.” Rowe presents an excellent point, which can be supported by versions of the cult classics, “Cinderella” and “Snow White”. Charles Perrault’s “ The Little Glass Slipper” and the Brothers Grimm’s “ Snow White” exemplify the beliefs that females are supposed to be docile, dependent on the male persona and willing to sacrifice themselves. In many cases, when strong female characters are presented they are always contradicting in these characteristics, thus labeled as villainous. Such is the case of the Cinderella’s stepsisters in Perrault’s “Cinderella” and the stepmother in the Brothers Grimm’s “Snow White.” These female characters face judgment and disapproval when they commit the same acts as male characters. With such messages rooted in our beloved fairy tales it is no wonder that society is rampant with these ideals about women and disapprove of women when they try to break free of this mold.
Folktales are a way to represent situations analyzing different prospects about gender, through the stories that contribute with the reality of the culture in which they develop while these provide ideas about the behavior and roles of a specific sex building a culture of womanhood, manhood and childhood. This is what the stories of Little Red Riding Hood of Charles Perrault (1697) and Little Red-Cap of the Grimm Brothers (1812) show. This essay will describe some ideas about gender in different ways. First, the use of symbolic characters allows getting general ideas about the environment in the society rather than individuals. Second, it is possible to identify ideas about gender from the plot from the applied vocabulary providing a better understanding of the actions. Finally, the narrative perspective of the tales analyzes deeply the status of the characters referring to the thoughts among the society.
Villeponteaux, Mary. “Displacing Feminine Authority in The Faerie Queene.” Studies in English Literature 35:1 (1995) Winter 1995: 53-68.
Social factors have always encouraged the idea that men embody masculinity and women embody femininity and, thus, certain gender-norms are expected accordingly. In the past, such expectations were traditional and to go against them was frowned upon by the general public. Contemporarily speaking, there is more freedom to avail oneself of today than there was once upon a time. Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont’s fairytale adaptation of ‘Beauty and The Beast’ was published in 1740. During this time, men and women were compelled by the social conventions associated with their gender. When analyzing the literary work, the reader can grasp what gender roles are eminent in the characters identity and motives. By exploring the choice of language being
As a man fascinated with the role of women during the 14th Century, or most commonly known as the Middle Ages, Chaucer makes conclusive evaluations and remarks concerning how women were viewed during this time period. Determined to show that women were not weak and humble because of the male dominance surrounding them, Chaucer sets out to prove that women were a powerful and strong-willed gender. In order to defend this argument, the following characters and their tales will be examined: Griselda from the Clerk's Tale, and the Wife of Bath, narrator to the Wife of Bath's Tale. Using the role of gender within the genres of the Canterbury Tales, exploring each woman's participation in the outcomes of their tales, and comparing and contrasting these two heroines, we will find out how Chaucer broke the mold on medievalist attitudes toward women.
Women were often subjects of intense focus in ancient literary works. In Sarah Pomeroy’s introduction of her text Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves, she writes, “Women pervade nearly every genre of classical literature, yet often the bias of the author distorts the information” (x). It is evident in literature that the social roles of women were more restricted than the roles of men. And since the majority of early literature was written by men, misogyny tends to taint much of it. The female characters are usually given negative traits of deception, temptation, selfishness, and seduction. Women were controlled, contained, and exploited. In early literature, women are seen as objects of possession, forces deadly to men, cunning, passive, shameful, and often less honorable than men. Literature reflects the societal beliefs and attitudes of an era and the consistency of these beliefs and attitudes toward women and the roles women play has endured through the centuries in literature. Women begin at a disadvantage according to these societal definitions. In a world run by competing men, women were viewed as property—prizes of contests, booty of battle and the more power men had over these possessions the more prestigious the man. When reading ancient literature one finds that women are often not only prizes, but they were responsible for luring or seducing men into damnation by using their feminine traits.