Once Upon a Time…
…fairy tales weren’t written for children
Fairy tales are a subgenre of the folk tale and are generally stories that speak of incredible and fantastic events in often unbelievable situations.
Fairy tale’ comes from the French, “contes des fee”, as the French literary fairy tales of the 17th century tend to feature more fairies than the tales which are best-known and loved today. This can be partly ascribed to the French writer Charles Perrault[1] who gathered some of the earliest forms of folk tales we now refer to as fairy tales. Perrault put many folktales into the fairy tale form, creating some of the well known fairy tales most of us are familiar with[2]. Perrault wrote his tales to be read at the court at Versailles and each one ended with a moralistic verse.
These tales, however didn’t start with Perrault, thought they are generally European in origin. Folk tales have always been told around the fire, traditionally by women from all around the world. Education and the provision of learning for all is still a relatively new concept and in the towns and villages of Europe before the nineteenth century, few people could read or write. Also, the daily tasks of women at the time were pretty boring: spinning wool, sewing, sweeping, cooking, cleaning it is no coincidence that the spinning wheel and the sweeping broom are regular props in fairy tales. Also, the popular phrase of spinning a good tale could originate from these storytelling sessions Giambattista Basile published fifty of these tales in 1634; amongst them can be found the earliest written versions of familiar fairy tales such as Sleeping Beauty’. His writing style is droll and vulgar, but it is interesting to note that the narrators of the tales are old women storytellers of the day, albeit given the spin by Basile that they were old crones and hags. They were the original old wives tales’.
Short Essay: Perrault’s Cinderella
Folklore, modern media, and historical events within the western world have shown us time and time again that women are meant to be the fairer and weaker of the two sexes; while reiterating the idea that men are strong, valiant, and ultimately the saviors of all women. This notion has been used to fortify the difference between the two genders, asserting the claim that women cannot save themselves ...
Often fantastical yet gruesome, it has been argued that fairy tales were created by women secretly rebelling against the limitations placed on them by the oppressive society they lived in at the time. Storytelling has always been a powerful medium and this was a form of liberation for women to take a leading role away from the constraints of home and family duties. The folk tales told by village women emphasized the clever thinking of the heroine and her triumph over an adverse world. The darker side of this is that these tales were meant to strike fear into the hearts of children to keep them on the moral path and to keep them close to home and hearth for safety reasons (think Hansel and Gretel and their fatal journey into the forest – also Jack and Jill).
Many involve being beware of talking to and taking gifts from strangers and staying away from temptation and greed (think Jack and the Beanstalk) and others depict female entrapment and eventual rescue (Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella), rejection and male weakness (Snow White, Cinderella) and evil older women (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White the list is endless here!) One could argue that these elements are still a part of many of our lives and that is why fairy tales are still relevant today.
Then the brothers Grimm came along and with their misogynistic view of the world, turned these popular tales on their head and favoured the prince charming over the quick witted heroine. Women’s voices for many years were shunned; literature was a man’s world and to penetrate it, many women had to adopt male monikers to break into the publishing world (George Eliot; George Sand; Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell for example).
Eve’s talk tempted Adam as did her offering of the apple, the forbidden fruit (as in Snow White).
The Essay on The Woman In White
THE WOMAN IN WHITE: THE CREATION OF A NEW REALISM I had now arrived at that particular point of my walk where four roads met - the road to Hampstead, along which I had returned, the road to Finchley, the road to West End, and the road back to London. I had me- chan ically turned in this latter direction, and was strolling along the lonely high-road - idly wonder- ing, I remember, what the ...
In keeping with the oppressive regime of the day, the Grimm Brothers turned the women into victims or vile and evil beings and the men as saviours (Prince Charming various, the woodcutter in Snow White).
Even the arguably weak willed fathers in Snow White and Cinderella are not portrayed as bad as their wives (the wicked step-mother) took the blame for this.Hans Christian Anderson’s[3] fairy tales were more suitable for children. Tales such as The Snow Queen’ and The Little Mermaid’ were more simplistic and less fierce than those by Perrault and the Brothers Grimm.
Although there were many varied authors of fairy tales with their own spins and versions, the majority of them follow similar patterns and plots. The main character usually has supernatural qualities (or is often a young damsel in distress) and characters can often shapeshift into, for example, animals. Inanimate objects can be personified (e.g. the talking mirror in Snow White) and animals are given voices. The setting is usually timeless (once upon a time’), the location is unspecific (far, far away’, the woods, a castle, etc) and the characters tend to be one dimensional (either good or evil).
They are, in general, moralistic tales that function to both entertain and to teach moral values. Many involve an heroic quest of some sort or the other.
There are darker themes within fairy tales which are at first read unapparent. Rumpelstiltskin means shriveled foreskin in old German and there are definite sexual connotations in Cinderella as the prince attempts to find the perfect fit (the slipper and foot as male and female genitals).
Cinderella is Chinese in origin and it can be argued that this story refers directly to the practice of footbinding in China (itself a sexual and oppressive practice keeping women bound to the home with their disability) which was carried on until the late 1940s[4]. In Grimm’s version, the ugly sisters cut off their toes and in another version, one of the sisters hacks off her heel. The curse of the thirteenth wicked fairy culminates in Sleeping Beauty’s finger-pricking incident, a metaphor for her starting her periods. Bluebeard forbids his young new wife to unlock a certain door in the castle. When she does, she finds the mutilated bodies of all his previous wives. The woodcutter’s intentions in Snow White are questionable did he rape her in the forest, or did she strike a sexual deal in return for her freedom? In conclusion, fairy tales are wonderful stories of supernatural happenings, packed with moral values, talking trees and animals, wicked witches, beautiful heroines, charming princes and strong female characters. Like the plays of Shakespeare, they can be adapted to fit any time and any place due to their general unspecified time and location and the everlasting problems facing humanity. However, if you are prepared to scratch the surface, you may find a darker undercurrent and open up a new world of meaning to these ancient well known fables.
The Essay on Analytical Interpretation Of The Tale Of Snow White
An Analytical Interpretation of "Snow-White" Throughout the story of Snow-White, Competition is played out in numerous ways. As the famous saying goes-only the strongest survive and to the victor go the spoils. There were a few power struggles going on even under the primary plot. This is one way to describe some of the seemingly bizarre or extreme motivations that push the story to a grisly, but ...
