Submissiveness Of Women In The Brothers Grimm's Fairy Tales

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Next, both tales depict the submissiveness and naiveness of women, particularly adolescent, childbearing-aged women. For example, in Briar Rose, although a curse was cast on her in her toddlerhood, she was kept in the dark for her entire life and thus as she sees the woman spinning, and is mesmerized and fascinated (therefore, adding to the fact that a woman’s desire should be inherently domestic) and foolishly grabs the spindle setting the curse (Little Brier Rose). Additionally, in Briar Rose, her submissive qualities become very apparent as she awakes from her deep sleep by the kiss of the prince. Briar Rose instantly falls in love with the prince and agrees to marry him, all seemingly prior to them ever sharing a dialogue. Once again, however, Snow White portrays the stereotype to a much greater extent and is much …show more content…

The characters’ roles in the Grimm’s fairy tales such as Briar Rose and Snow White are consistently gender uniform. The princess, because of her submissive and naiveness, is stricken by misfortune and is left to suffer until a male character comes to solve the conflict. Additionally, the accessory characters in the tale are also gender uniform. Many tales contain the evil stepmother not the evil stepfather. In Snow White, it is the stepmother who is envious and abhorrent of her stepdaughter, which leads her to wish for her stepdaughter’s death. In contrast, in Briar Rose, the father carries out a massive demand: to destroy all spindles throughout the kingdom in his attempt to protect his beloved daughter. Therefore, it is the male figures who are depicted as the most caring and the best parents, where the female characters are depicted in a much more negative way. Even when a female character is initially positively presented, she often succumbs to a sudden catastrophe, such as death (Little Snow

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