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Gender stereotypes in fairytales
Constructions of gender in fairytales and how this impacts children
Gender stereotypes in fairytales
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Charles Perrault’s classic fairy-tale Puss-in-Boots has been admired and loved by children and adults alike for centuries. This engaging tale features a walking, talking cat who goes out into the world to make his young master’s fortune. It is an adventure of the side-kick hero, of the loyal friend and devoted underling who has only his own exquisite wit and industriousness to help him on his quest. It is also a story with one of the most enigmatic and perplexing protagonists in fairy-tale culture. Puss is a feline who embodies ancient cat symbols in a uniquely paradoxical fashion; he is a female entity in a male character as well as a magical and demonic totem who is perceived as such by only a select few.
Cats have always had a powerful feminine aspect to their image. This is little surprise considering the number of ancient cultures who associated cats with goddess worship. The Egyptians placed a cat’s head upon their goddess Bast, both the Greeks and Romans made cats attributes of their virgin huntress goddesses Artemis and Diana, and the Norse goddess Freya drove a chariot drawn by cats (Walker 367). As Hans Bierdermann comments, one can see “the frequent feline metaphors in misogynist expressions and clichés: ‘a cat fight’ between two women, a ‘catty remark...’” (60).
One may then ask about Perrault’s motives behind using a female symbol in the creation of the male Puss. Upon close inspection of the text, the need for the feminine cat becomes evident, and is addressed right at the beginning of the story. The cat must immediately be seen as a relatively useless thing, incapable of the heavy labour needed to generate a reasonable living, unlike the mill or the ass bestowed upon the two ol...
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...e Meanings Behind Them. Trans. James Hulbert. New York: Facts on File Inc, 1992
Julien, Nadia. The Mammoth Dictionary of Symbols: Understanding the Hidden Language of Symbols. London: Robinson Publishing, 1996.
Morgan, Jeanne. Perrault’s Morals for Moderns. New York: Peter Lang Publishing Inc, 1985.
Opie, Iona, and Peter Opie. “Puss in Boots.” The Classic Fairy Tales. New York: Oxford University Press, 1974. 142 - 146.
Perrault, Charles. “Puss-in-Boots.” Folk and Fairy Tales. 3rd ed. Ed. Martin Hallett and Barbara Karasek. Ontario: Broadview Press Ltd, 2002. 155 - 159.
Walker, Barbara G. The Woman’s Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects. New York: Harper & Row, 1988.
Zipes, Jack. “Of Cats and Men.” Out of the Woods: The Origins of Literary Fairy Tale in Italy and France. Ed. Nancy L. Canepa. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1997. 176 - 193.
In one, a specimen-creating brute robs a pelican child’s life and her guardian trying to bring her back to life. In the other, a prince learns the value of his frog-turned-princess and sets out on a quest to find her. Joy Williams’s Baba Iaga and the Pelican Child and Alexander Afanasev’s The Frog Princess are both critical facets of the fairy tale genre. While initially it may seem that Williams preserved no elements from Afanasev’s tale, upon a closer glance, it is evident that the two tales’ similarities outnumber their differences. By incorporating a generous portion of the original story into his, Williams’s version brings forth an innovative arrangement of classic and new. As a result, William’s tale introduces features to the tale that mirror everyday life lessons while simultaneously maintaining qualities that are reflective of the definitional aspects of the fairy tale genre.
Faris, Wendy B. Ordinary Enchantments: Magical Realism and the Remystification of Narrative. Nashville: Vanderbilt UP, 2004. 24 Sept. 2012. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. 21
In “The Company of Wolves” Carter employs conventions of gender construction and didacticism, which help establish a fairy tale space (Koske 323). Carter presents a world in which fairy tale notions of gender are upheld. In her paper, “In Olden Times, When Wishing was Having: Classic and Contemporary Fairy Tales”, Joyce Carol Oates explains that the girls and women in fairy tales “are the uncontested property of men”. Carter alludes to this male dominated reality in her tale (99). When the girl, Carter’s Red Riding Hood, insists on venturing into the woods, the narrator says that “[h]er father might forbid her, if he were home, but he is away in the forest, gathering wood, and her mother cannot deny her” (1224). There is perhaps no gendered element to a parent preventing his child from wandering into the wilderness, b...
...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.”
Overall, in these fairy tales Carter succeeds in delivering a feminist message and provides a counter argument for the moral message of traditional fairy tales in which young women were encouraged to remain obedient and pure. Unlike in earlier fairy tales, in these stories it is the straying from the path that results in transformation and releases women from the subjugation that women over history have been subjected to.
Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. New York: Vintage, 2010. Print.
Warner, Marina. From the Beast to the Blond on Fairy Tales and Their Tellers. New York: Chatto & Windus, 1994. Print.
(Google ebook page 96) Roemer, D.M and Bacchilega, C. (2000) Angela Carter and the Fairy Tale. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.
The simplicity of fairy tales and non-specific details renders them ideal for manipulation allowing writers to add their own comments often reflecting social convention and ideology. Theref...
Anne Sexton’s poem “Cinderella” is filled with literary elements that emphasize her overall purpose and meaning behind this satirical poem. Through the combination of enjambment stanzas, hyperboles, satire, and the overall mocking tone of the poem, Sexton brings to light the impractical nature of the story “Cinderella”. Not only does the author mock every aspect of this fairy tale, Sexton addresses the reader and adds dark, cynical elements throughout. Sexton’s manipulation of the well-known fairy tale “Cinderella” reminds readers that happily ever after’s are meant for storybooks and not real life.
read through the article I had to pick out ten important facts about the fairy tale genre and its origins. Collecting my facts was difficult because there were many writers that changed the audience for fairy tales. I didn’t want to just write down 10 authors and their works t...
Fairy tales are one of the longest lasting forms of literature. Though now they bring to mind classic movies engendered by Disney, many of these stories were first passed on in an oral manner, meant to convey a message, moral, or lesson. Alison Lurie’s “What Fairy Tales Tell Us” covers a broad range of classic tales, discussing how under the guise of an entertaining story comes life lessons we would all do well to follow. To begin this paper, some of the tales Lurie examines in her article will be looked at and critically examined beyond what she discusses. This will then move the text towards its remaining sections, which will take Lurie’s ideas and have them applied to folk and fairy tales that have not yet been contemplated; for the purpose
Fairy tales have been part of our lives ever since we were young children. We all either grew up watching Disney renditions of fairy tales, or we had storybooks filled with vivid pictures of a tale. Fairy tales are so important in our culture that it would be difficult to find someone who has not heard of Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, or other fairy tale protagonists. Interestingly enough, fairy tales have been a very integral part of Western culture since the time they were written. Fairy tale writers, such as Charles Perrault and the Grimm Brothers, revolutionized culture in the 17th and 18th centuries with their writings. Not only did these writers write these tales for entertainment, but they also accomplished to influence the
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.
Fairy tales have been an essential part of history since the dawn of time. Many people remember reading them as a child, or hearing them told by a parent. They have been written as books and created as movies and tv shows for humanity to enjoy. What do we know about where fairy tales originate? In this essay, we will dig deep into the history of fairy tales, and see what we can discover. Fairy Tales written many years ago are still famous today. They create a world of imagination for children and gives them a brief break from day to day realities.