Essay Comparing The Sun, Moon And Talia

Everybody loves a fairytale story, one that has a happily ever after in the end. In the 21st century, the fairy tales of Cinderella, Snow White, and the sleeping beauty have been extensively over told. However, the 1632 literary Italian fairy tale “The Sun, Moon, and Talia” by Giambattista Basile was a different kind of fairy- tale. It was basically the sleeping beauty story, but different to the one told to kids in the present day. The sleeping beauty story and the 1634 fairy have a lot in common as well as differences. Take for instance the deep slumber, both Talia and the sleeping beauty both go into a deep sleep, however, in “The Sun, Moon, and Talia,” Talia gives birth while she was still asleep as a result of rape by the king in her slumber

(Travers and Keeping). In the story, Talia is the protagonist of the story. The author uses other characters such as the cook, the queen, the king, Sun and Moon among others to bring out the true character of Talia. She is the entire baseline of the story. As the protagonist of the story, Talia is the center of the story. It is from her that the whole story originates and circulates within. In this essay, I will be discussing the significant role of Talia in the fairy tale and how it influences the rest of the characters.
Princess Talia represented love.

As from the beginning of the story, Talia is loved by her father. He is determined to know the future of her daughter and so he calls the wisest men and astrologers to cast Talia’s horoscope. The men predicted that Talia was destined to a huge misfortune, she would be endangered at a later time in her life from a splinter of flax (Basile 658-88). As a show of love, her father orders that no flax was ever to be brought into his house as a way of protecting his daughter from the predicted misfortune. However, little did he know that his daughter would suffer the predicted fate. “Talia one day ran into an old woman spinning her flax and asked her for a spin on her flax. She immediately pricks herself and apparently dies from the injury.” (Travers and Keeping) Her dad was very saddened. He sets out one of his sanctuaries where he keeps his daughter’s body and mourns her for a long while (Basile 658-88). He wishes to forget this horrible event and therefore abandons his daughter Talia in one of his country estates. He expresses love even to the death of her daughter. The pain of losing his only daughter is very overwhelming, and this can evidently be seen from the emotions displayed by the imagery used by Giambattista Basile in his

writing.
It is through Talia that the King’s true character is revealed. He is married to his queen and yet he commits adultery. During one of his hunting trips, he is led to where Talia was, “One of his Falcons escaped from his hand and flew into the house by way of one of the windows” (Travers and Keeping). After trying to wake her up fruitlessly, and mesmerized by her beauty he rapes Talia in her sleep. In other words, he is a rapist. Though Talia is oblivious of what is being done to her, it is still inhumane for the King to have taken Talia’s condition to take advantage of her. A result of the rape is the two twin children that Talia is impregnated with (Basile 658-88). However, when the King returns, he was delighted to find that the beauty had woken from her sleep and had borne a son and a daughter for him. The effect Talia has on the King is massive. On the other hand, Talia’s character brings out the worst in the queen. She is jealous and enraged by Talia in particular by the fact that Talia gave birth to twins. She is described as being angered by the thought of Talia, “she became hot with another kind of heat than the Suns” (Travers and Keeping). The imagery used here is used to describe her jealousness against Talia and to what extent she would go to actualize her threats.
The queen wishes ill against Talia and her two children, she even at one instance orders that the twins to be killed and fed to the King, “Then the queen, with a heart of Medea, told the cook to kill them, and to make them into several tasteful dishes for her wretched husband. But the cook was tender-hearted and, seeing these two beautiful golden apples, felt pity and compassion for them, and he carried them home to his wife and had her hide them. In their place, he prepared two lambs into a hundred different dishes.” (Travers and Keeping) If it weren’t the compassion of the cook, the twins would have been a meal for the King. In another angle, the Queen is also afraid of doing some of this actions and as from seen from the passage above, she sends the cook to kill the children instead of doing it herself. In one point we can argue that she was taking advantage of her power, but a deed such as that should be done by the person intending to do so to avoid any mistakes or things going as they weren’t planned as it did.
Everything happens for a reason, especially in fairy tales. The events that unravel in Talia’s life seem to have been planned and praising various vices such as rape, adultery, and cruelty. We see the King taking advantage of Talia while she is unconscious. The King then leaves Talia in the mansion for about nine months without even remembering of her. This is an apparent act of adultery and rape; the King is married, and Talia is unconscious. Instead of paying the price for what he did, the King ends up falling in love with Talia (Knoepflmacher 15-36). It helps bring out the theme of cruelty and oppression against the less fortunate like Talia during that time she was apparently dead. Out of his love for Talia the King exercises vengeance against his wife for her intentions to stop his illicit affair demonstrating his love for her. Talia, therefore, represents a woman who has been taken advantaged of and who has not been allowed to make a decision over her body. She, however, takes good care of her children and showers them with all the love that she could afford. Every event that occurs to Talia in the early stages of the fairy tale emanates to an issue afterward in the story (Knoepflmacher 15-36). For example, the love that the King had for her brings forth an enemy against Talia, the Queen. This conflict created in the story is the primary source of the plot. It makes the story interesting and worth reading.
It is her bold character and strength to maintain victory against her misfortunes that allow Talia to become the protagonists of the story. In the start, we are introduced to a vulnerable Talia who is being protected from splinters by her father (Knoepflmacher 15-36). The misfortunes that befall her makes her even rise stronger and more tactful. For instance, she can overcome the Queen’s plan against her, "Having taken off her robe, her skirt, the bodice, and her shift, she was on the point of removing her last garment when she uttered the last scream louder than the rest." (Travers and Keeping). She expresses knowledge and the capability to overcome her enemies. However, the King also comes to her aid against the Queen showing the influence she has the King.
When it comes to the theme of caring and loving, Talia also plays a vital role in expressing it. She takes good care of them and nurses her kids. “When she saw the babies, she did not know what had happened or how they had come to her, but she embraced them with love, and nursed them until they were satisfied” (Travers and Keeping). This shows that no matter where or when the children came from, Talia cares for them and shows affection toward them as much as possible. Talia also represents true love for her children as well as develops into affectionate bond with the King. She falls in love with the King who eventually marries her.
This fairy tale by Giambattista Basile shapes Talia’s character to represent victory and favor. That destiny may be predetermined but that if one is preferred even when they least know good tidings will follow them. The story is also educative; we learn that we should do well to others. This is drawn from the act of the cook who hide Talia’s children and took good care of them (Zipes 207-229). The cook is paid handsomely, and his destiny also changes for the better owing to his good heart to Talia’s children (Zipes 207-229).
Talia’s character influences every other character in the play in one way or another. For instance, the cook who took good care of her children was acknowledged by the King and even promoted to happiness (Travers and Keeping). The wife who set out to destroy Talia and his children also faces the wrath and punishment by the King. The Secretary who aided the wife by spreading the secrets of the King to his wife is also punished for betraying the King. She is the main character in the story, and her role is very significant. She influences some characters and drives the plot of the story making it interesting to the reader. Imagining the story without her is impossible. There would be no story if it weren’t for her.