Stereotypes In The Twelve Brothers

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The idea of gender and gender roles plays a large part in the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, The Twelve Brothers. The Brother Grimm challenge the usual stereotypes associated with women and girls and their text provides different interpretations depending on the gender of the reader, most likely resonating well with young girls. The Twelve Brothers is a positive fairy tale which does not follow the normal stereotypes when it comes to females in stories.
The Twelve Brothers undermines the gender stereotypes normally used in fairy tales through its use of a strong female lead. Generally in fairy tales it is a prince or king who saves people, but in The Twelve Brothers it is a princess who is saving her brothers. Throughout the fairy tale, she is …show more content…

This is seen when she leaves her home in search for her brothers walking into “the great forest” to “walk as far as the sky is blue until [she] finds” her brothers. She goes against the general stereotype of a princess being a helpless girl in need of help because she isn’t sitting around waiting for someone else to save her brothers; she is going out herself prepared to do anything for them. Once she meets her brothers she discovers that they had made a plan to kill the first girl they saw and instead of fearing for her life she said she would “willingly die if by doing so [she] can save [her]… brothers”. This shows that she is not only brave, which is a trait very few princesses are seen to have, but she is also selfless and thinking of others above herself. Most princesses in stories only think of themselves but she, even in the face of death, is thinking of her brothers. Finally …show more content…

The message and morals of the story stay generally the same but different genders could recognise some more strongly than others based on the way they are presented. Females could take the message from the story that girls can do anything males can do, and that if you are part of a problem you should become part of the solution. Throughout the fairy tale the sister in seen doing the same things that a traditional fairy tale hero would do however in most fairy tales the hero is a prince or king. She demonstrates this when she goes on her quest to “seek [her] brothers” and later “set [her] brothers free”. In most fairy tales there would have been a prince set to save the brothers but instead the princess goes on the quest; showing girls that females can be the hero instead of males. Also girls are more likely to focus on and relate with the sister so they will take more meaning from her actions. When the sister discovered that her “twelve [brothers] [were to] die” if she was born a girl she realised that it was her fault that they had to leave and she made it her responsibility to find them and bring them home. Girls focusing on the sister would recognise the message that if they cause or are part of a problem they should try and fix it. Finally boys reading the fairy tale would focus and relate more with the brothers. So, when the brothers forgive and welcome

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