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Discuss the role of fairy tales
Discuss the role of fairy tales
The importance of fairytales
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Fairy tales are an integral part of American culture. From Grimm’s Fairy Tales --- what most people consider the “classic” or “traditional” stories --- to Disney movies, the idea of the fairy tale permeates our society. While the written fairy tale is, at its base, literary, the social sciences also can illuminate the origin and meaning of fairy tales. At a glance, Rumpelstiltskin looks just like any other children’s fairytale, but when further examined, new and deeper meanings are discovered. The concept of Rumpelstiltskin has gone through many permutations in western society. Even in recent years, fairy tale retellings have become more popular, suggesting that fairy tales still hold a deep resonance in our culture. The contemporary literary …show more content…
Foster’s main points in How to Read Literature Like a Professor. According to Foster, the fairy tale with the most enduring appeal is “Hansel and Gretel. Here, Foster makes clear the connection between fairy tales and real life. Although “Hansel and Gretel” might seem fantastical and silly, it is in fact rooted in one of the most fundamental fears of humanity—the fear of losing ourselves and becoming lost and vulnerable. Provided with these interpretations, it is clear the explicit idea of Rumpelstiltskin is being the bad guy isn’t always terrible, which is a commonality between both the 19th century and …show more content…
He is seen as the villain because it looks like he tries to manipulate the miller’s daughter when in actuality he was just lending her his services at a specific price. Who’s to say that Rumplestiltskin is the bad guy because she couldn’t pay her dues? In fact, the real villains of the story were the king and the miller. They both let greed and the want for power get to their heads. The miller exploited his daughter for a second in the spotlight. The king not only abused his authority to imprison the miller’s daughter, but also exploited her “talent” in order to make himself richer. In what way is this better than what Rumplestiltskin did? Yes, he may have appeared shady when he came to the miller’s daughter’s aid but all he did was help, and when she couldn’t pay her dues later in the future, he even offered her a way out. On the surface Rumplestiltskin may seem like the villain, but when looking deeper into the text, one can clearly see he was just doing his job. Need help with analysis/ending. While it is not the sole reason of writing, discovering a moral within a story helps reflect on modern society, influence its normalities, and question societal values and stereotypes. In Rumpelstiltskin, the explicit and implicit meanings in the story not only reflect on issues in today’s world, but also touch on deeper conflicts within one’s self and between other
Demonstrating that Rumplestiltskin had purely accepted the gifts because “she drapes the necklace over [his] head” and “she slips [the ring] onto [his] pinkie” (68). The miller’s daughter offered them as a gift of appreciation in order to thank him for his work, contrary to the depiction in the original story where Rumplestiltskin demands something in return. From the reader’s point of view, it is intended to display that if Rumplestiltskin had refused her gifts it would have been considered impolite, after all she put them in his reach. This new twist brings an alternate aspect to who was once thought-out to be merely an imp of a man, maybe Rumplestiltskin was never a mischievous person to begin with in which case the reader experiences a change of heart, feeling compassion for
A fairy tale is seemingly a moral fiction, intended mainly for children. A lesson in critical analysis, however, strips this guise and reveals the naked truth beneath; fairy tales are actually vicious, logical and sexual stories wearing a mask of deceptively easy language and an apparent moral. Two 19th Century writers, the Grimm brothers, were masters at writing these exaggerated stories, bewitching young readers with their prose while padding their stories with allusion and reference: an example of which is "Rapunzel." Grimm's "Rapunzel" is packed with religious symbolism, which lends a new insight to the meaning of this classic story.
If children or adults think of the great classical fairy tales today, be it Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, or Cinderella, they will think Walt Disney. Their first and perhaps lasting impression of these tales and others will have emanated from Disney film, book, or artefacts (Zipes 72)
Little Red Riding Hood is a story with many different morals. Each new version has a different lesson and each character changes. Between Charles Perrault’s version of “Little Red Riding-hood” and the film “Hoodwinked,” many differences were noticed. In both stories one must look at what defines each character. But who learned what? There were twists and turns throughout both stories that were completely unexpected. Some of the reactions were out of the ballpark and nothing was quite like it seemed. The characters all learned something about themselves, the people around them, or learned from their mistakes. Little Red Riding-hood, the Wolf, and Granny all seemed like completely different characters in the two different stories. The different reactions of those characters determined varied consequences and outcomes. Looking throughout the two stories, each character learned a different lesson or faced various endings.
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.
In conclusion, the extent to which a specific fairy tale meets Zipes’ definition varies dependent upon its adaptability and acceptance by society. Some fairy tales are harder to manipulate and their plot is insufficient to reflect society’s values so not all fairy tales are institutionalised. Thus, the manipulation of Little Red Riding Hood throughout its history and its adaptability to a myriad of usage passes Zipes’ definition of ‘institutionalisation’.
For their second edition of fairy tales, the Grimms and their publisher deemed their original version of “Rapunzel” to be inappropriate for children for “what proper mother or nanny could tell the fairy tale about Rapunzel to an innocent daughter without blushing?” (Tatar 18). The Grimms, in fact, changed details of “Rapunzel,” ridding the story of even t...
Fairy tales portray wonderful, elaborate, and colorful worlds as well as chilling, frightening, dark worlds in which ugly beasts are transformed into princes and evil persons are turned to stones and good persons back to flesh (Guroian). Fairytales have long been a part of our world and have taken several forms ranging from simple bedtime stories to intricate plays, musicals, and movies. However, these seemingly simple stories are about much more than pixie dust and poisoned apples. One could compare fairytales to the new Chef Boyardee; Chef Boyardee hides vegetables in its ravioli while fairytales hide society’s morals and many life lessons in these outwardly simple children stories. Because of this fairytales have long been instruments used to instruct children on the morals of their culture. They use stories to teach children that the rude and cruel do not succeed in life in the long run. They teach children that they should strive to be kind, caring, and giving like the longsuffering protagonists of the fairytale stories. Also, they teach that good does ultimately defeat evil. Fairy tales are not just simple bedtime stories; they have long been introducing cultural moral values into young children.
During the 19th century, Grimm’s fairytales were strongly disapproved of due to harsh, gruesome details and plots. One American educator from 1885 stated, “The folktales mirror all too loyally the entire medieval worldview and culture with all its stark prejudice, its crudeness and barbarities.” As childre...
...errault’s “Cinderella” and Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm’s “Ashputtle” both feature a young heroine who despite overwhelming obstacles manages to change the course of her life, and live happily ever after with her prince. Both of the stories have a similar plot, characters, and events, but it’s the moral lesson that modifies the two stories and makes them different. The audience also impacts the story and the way it is presented. There are many things that authors consider before writing their story, and all their concerns reflect on the story. Charles Perrault’s concern was his audience, and he made sure that it didn’t offend the upper class. The Grimm brothers were not concerned about the upper class because they wrote their tales for ordinary people and they had no worries of people getting upset. All their feelings about values and morals are expressed in “Ashputtle.”
In today’s society, there are many who believe that humans have an innate sense of virtue and morality. They are confident that all human beings are born with a perception of what is right and what is wrong. However, there are others who take the traditional biblical stance, in which it is simply human nature to be sinful. In Gulliver’s Travels, the author, Jonathan Swift shows a strong inclination towards the latter thought: that all people are inherently evil. His disposition can easily be seen through his novel’s outlandish narratives that satire the corruptions of humanity. He puts the main character, Lemuel Gulliver, through four distinct journeys, which all inadvertently reveal vices in human society. In Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, the theme of corruption is portrayed through the evils of politics, the deceitful nature of humanity, and the characters’ exploitations of pride.
Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels presents a narrator, Lemuel Gulliver, who recounts his various sea voyages to fantastical lands. During each voyage, Gulliver encounters different societies and customs to which Gulliver must adjust to. in order to be accepted into their society The entire novel serves as a commentary on how people everywhere have a tendency to abuse the power given to them.
I chose to research the genre of fairytales because the genre retold by Grimm’s caught my attention. Fairytales in modern day usually have a happy ending after the good versus evil concept. Rapunzel specifically, isn’t told in its original form.Theres much more darkness and even though happily ever after is in play, not all fairytales end that way. Fairytales have much more depth than people realize in modern day. It portrays the real struggles we face growing up. In Rapunzel, her mother gave her away and she was raised by an enchantress who locked her away. This very much explains child abandonment or a child that has been given up for adoption and the things they face growing up.Theres a connection between these fairytales and real life situations .Fairytales have a way of expressing real life situations in a way that uses a few elements that help tell the story in a way children can understand. Some of the elements include: magic, morals, royalty and love.
It is this element of hope in a true fairytale that creates the support for a protagonist to overcome the opposing force that has been thrust onto them. A genuine fairytale is said to have the element of, “A innocent character [placed against] the evil character who normally loses somehow,” (Gokturk) which is seen as Cinderella is chosen by the prince over the evil step-sisters at the ball. As human beings with a developed moral system, it has been seen that the more deserving, mistreated character is favored to succeed in the story. Cinderella is seen as this “underdog” character in her quest to find love with the prince and overcome her step-sisters’ mistreatment. As Cinderella is mistreated by her new family, sympathy is built for the emerging protagonist and hope of her to conquer her situation follows. The underdog of this story grows in favorability to be picked by the prince due to the societal belief that the more deserving candidate should overcome their opposition. If there was no sense of hope thought the story of Cinderella, this story could not be categorized as a true embodiment of a
By Deanna Bosley, Certified Parenting Educator. “Parents as Teachers - Teach Life Skills to Your Child.” The Center for Parenting Education, http://centerforparentingeducation.org/library-of-articles/responsibility-and-chores/teaching-children/.