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Comparing and contrasting fairy tales
Analyze sleeping beauty
Comparing and contrasting fairy tales
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In the twenty-first century, children still spend countless hours reading fairy tales. They read about their favorite heroes, witches, villains and damsels in distress. One story that has lasted all this time is the tale “Sleeping Beauty.” An older version written of the tale was written by the Grimm Brothers, which was named “Briar Rose.” The fairy tale of “Briar Rose” been around for hundreds of years and has inspired many other versions to follow such as “Snow White.” “Briar Rose” is appealing to so many readers because it has components of royalty, romance, and a happy resolution. Through analyzing the history, archetypal elements, and the psychological value of “Briar Rose,” the tale of “Briar Rose” is a story that has and will continue …show more content…
to withstand the test of time because of its uniqueness. The history of “Briar Rose” sets it apart of any other fairy tales, and it indicates why it has and will continue to withstand the test of time. One of the earliest versions of “Sleeping Beauty” was known as “Briar Rose,” which is written by Brothers Grimm. Sleeping Beauty is the modern name of the princess in the tale, but in earlier versions it was Briar Rose. The story is part of a large collection of tales, that the Grimm Brothers rewrote. The Brothers Grimm version is the first version to exclude the adultery and cannibalism, that all prior versions had included. A reason that many of these parts are excluded is because the Grimm’s version ends much earlier than most. Instead of writing the events that go on after the kiss, “the Grimm tale ends earlier than the others with Beauty awaking with the Prince's chaste kiss” and a happy-ever-after ending with a magnificent and royal wedding (History of Sleeping Beauty). This different story propels many modern tales of Snow White. Regardless of the numerous versions of “Snow White” since 1528, the tale continues to withstand the test of time. The tale of “Sleeping Beauty [is] now in America... and she has long since traveled throughout the rest of the world” (Documentation). This global story appeals to all cultures from America to France and Italy to the Middle East. However “Sleeping Beauty” is originally from time period of the French Renaissance. Charles Perrault, a writer living a France during the Renaissance, created the story of what is now known as “Sleeping Beauty.” He got the idea of the fairy tale from Louis I, when he decided to demolish some building to have a view of the parterre. The castle in the tale, which everyone is trapped in, is the castle that Louis I lived in. However there is a lack of evidence to understand other motives Perrault may of had for writing “Sleeping Beauty.” The different history and culture of “Briar Rose” makes it a truly unique story from any other fairy tale. The archetypal elements in “Briar Rose” also make it a truly unique fairy tale.
Three of the archetypal elements are the number seven, the damsel in distress, and the hero. First, the number seven appears at the beginning of the tale, when seven fairies attend the birth of Briar Rose. Each fairy gives the newborn princess a gift. However an older fairy shows up, who had not invited, and grants a horrible spell on the newborn. The seventh fairy attempts to make the spell better, but there was only so much the fairy could do. She was able to change death to a one-hundred year sleep. The number seven is important because “it appears in the Bible in many places in numbering years and other important events” (Annotations for Sleeping Beauty). Some scholars say that the first seven fairies were ‘holy’ like and the last was evil. Next is the damsel in distress. After Briar Rose was pricked by the spindle she fell on the bed and began her century of sleep. Briar Rose was a princess, who was always vulnerable. When the angry fairy placed her evil curse on the baby princess, the king and queen took every precaution in protecting her daughter. Even though her parents burned almost every spindle in the kingdom, Briar Rose was still vulnerable. Briar Rose was vulnerable, and she required the help of a hero to be rescued. When she was pricked everyone the castle fell asleep, and the castle was surrounded by a huge rose bush that did not allow anyone in for a century. This is when the hero arrives at Briar Rose’s
side.
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,
In many of the stories we read, we will find cultural hero’s. They come in many different forms depending on the medium, culture, and historical context. When trying to spot the cultural hero, you might be looking for someone who is “a legendary figure variously represented as a beast, bird, man, or demigod to whom a people attributes the factors that appear most essential to its existence and culture” (Webster). In other words, someone who symbolizes the ideals of people or a group. There are two stories we will be strictly focusing on. Those stories will be, Little Briar Rose and Big Fish. In Little Briar Rose, the cultural hero is the prince. He is a hero to Briar Rose. Meanwhile, in Big Fish the cultural hero is Edward Bloom. He is a hero to his culture. Both of these stories use two different mediums. In Little Briar Rose is a fairy tale told through print and Big Fish is a tall tale told through film. While it depends on the genre and how they are presented, the modes of delivery of these stories and the conventions of the story type, shape and reinforce these cultural hero roles.
Though "Briar Rose" is completely fictional, the storyline of Gemma reflects a great deal of truth in every modern fairy tale ending. Yolen's ability to craft a fairy tale story without the typical fairy tale ending is what sets this book apart. For example, the contrast of beauty and brutality of life during this period is a major theme. Briar Rose's story does not end when she is "kissed by the breath of life," she still must face numerous hardships just to stay alive. Also, Argon's tragic death is just flat out unfair: but that is how life often is. The perfect ending is not always attained, sometimes you just get reall...
...n” is a great example of an old myth or tale reconstructed and adapted for a modern audience in a new medium. It is a progression on one hand in its use of modern language, setting, and style but it is also the product of the old myths in that it is essentially the same on the thematic level. In addition, the level of self-awareness on the part of the narrator and, by extension, the author marks it out as an illustration of the very notion of evolutionary changes of myths and fairy tales. Adaptation is the solution to the fairy tale, and fairy tales have been endlessly changing themselves throughout history and, by some strange transforming or enchanting power endlessly staying the same.”
As the world has transformed and progressed throughout history, so have its stories and legends, namely the infamous tale of Cinderella. With countless versions and adaptations, numerous authors from around the world have written this beauty’s tale with their own twists and additions to it. And while many may have a unique or interesting way of telling her story, Anne Sexton and The Brother’s Grimm’s Cinderellas show the effects cultures from different time periods can have on a timeless tale, effects such as changing the story’s moral. While Sexton chooses to keep some elements of her version, such as the story, the same as the Brothers Grimm version, she changes the format and context, and adds her own commentary to transform the story’s
Imaginary stories are interesting and these stories for ages of people. In the novel Briar Rose idolizes three character Bacca, Gemma, Josef Potocki. Fairy tales original purpose was to teach people about moral, lessons regarding for example: greed, hate, envy and jealousy. In this instance, the base is “Sleeping Beauty.” The heroine of Briar Rose is Becca Berlin, a young Jewish woman who grew up hearing her grandmother (nicknamed Gemma) tell the tale. Her grandmother Gemma dies, she tells Becca that the familiar bedtime story is no fantasy: The old woman was the princess who woke to a prince’s kiss. Gemma begs when Becca to find the castle where it happened, and her granddaughter promises to do so. The comfort in America, to the suffering of darker parts of fairytales world and the holocaust the experience, reality and suffering identifying in the truth of the
At first glance, what makes a fairy tale a fairy tale may seem obvious—some kind of magic, hidden symbols, repetition, and of course it’s evident it’s fiction—but fables are more than that. As Arthur Schelesinger puts it, it’s about “[expanding] imagination” and gaining understanding of mysterious places (618). While doing this, it also helps children to escape this world, yet teach a lesson that the reader may not be conscious of. A wonderful story that achieves all of this is Cinderella, but not the traditional tale many American’s have heard. Oochigeaskw, or The Rough-Faced Girl, and Ashputtle would be fitting for a seven-year-old because they get the gears of the mind turning, allowing for an escape on the surface, with an underlying enlightenment for children of the ways of the world.
What is your heroine like? How is she described physically? How does the writer characterize her personality? Through what scene or scenes do we see her acting in accordance with this personality?
When the word “fairytale” is mentioned, nearly everyone thinks of light-hearted stories with friendly characters and happy endings. However, these are not the ideas that classic fairytales originally sparked. In fact, numerous modern Disney movies were based off stories that were not so sugar coated. In the 19th century, the Brothers Grimm were responsible for multiple of these popular children’s tales. The Disney remakes of classic fairytales such as Cinderella, Tangled, and Snow White exclude the dark, twisted themes that are significant in the Brothers Grimm fairytales, because society tendencies continue to evolve toward sheltering and overprotecting young children.
Concerning the contextualization of A Rose of Family as a sign of the times of women at that point, where cultural norms of women lead to a life in domestication. The recognition of the rose here as it is carefully placed in the title of the piece as well bears significance to the physical rose and what it meant to the young women in the South during the 1800s (Kurtz 40). Roses are generally given as tokens of love and affection by males to females. There are even remnants of it today where young lads also profess their love to women with roses; women still see it as an act of endearment towards them.
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.
...cles under her eyes and a look of weary resignation upon her face with an older man lying on top of her, caressing her face. Briar Rose was, in a way, forced to accept her father’s abuse as a part of her life because even if she cried out, no one would listen. When the original fairy tale was published in the early 1800s, most people would have quickly and quietly dismissed her claims. In the mid-twentieth century, Sexton experienced the same thing. Most accusations of sexual abuse at the time were quite simply ignored. Sexual violence was a topic to be avoided, especially when it concerned incestuous relationships (Skorczewski 323).
Fairy tales have always been told to us as children; whether to comfort or entertain us, they always seem to be a part of most everyone’s childhood. When Nadine Gordimer was asked to write a children’s story, she replied with a short story titled “Once Upon A Time”. Although the title is characteristic of a fairy tale, she leads the tale to an ending that is anything other than “…happily ever after.” Gordimer distorts the fairy tale by dealing with certain issues rather than giving the reader the usual fairy tale characteristics. Three of the more significant issues Gordimer likes to deal with in her story are racial discrimination and prejudice, society’s insecurities, and the persuasive way fairy tales have with children.
I am writing this paper because I was assigned to write it as a class project. Along the way I realized the importance of sharing the real meanings of all these stories. Stories are important because in the society we live in things are constantly changing. Fairytales change but the base of the story always remain the same no matter how many times it has been retold. It’s important to reveal the true meanings of these stories, even with its dark characteristics, because the world is dark .Children need to know that there are people that have told stories relatable to what they are going through. Fairytales help the development of children; it helps their maturity as they confront someone else’s tough situations, instilling hope of a more positive ou...