The message that fairy tales send readers about female virtues has been debated time and time again. Some people, like Karen Rowe, believe that fairy tales exhibit "passivity, dependency, and self sacrifice". While many fairy stories embody self-sacrifice, passivity and dependency are two virtues not widely portrayed in fairy tales.
             Self-sacrifice can be found throughout fairy tales. The tale of Donkeyskin has a young girl who gives up her rich life to be able to leave her incestuous father. She also disguised herself in the skin of a donkey in order not to be recognized. This took away her beauty. These two instances show that she was capable of sacrificing her comfort and beauty for her safety. While she does not sacrifice herself for others, she does "expose herself to harsh adversity" (116).
             An even greater example of self-sacrifice can be found in Beaumont's telling of Beauty and the Beast. Beauty sacrifices herself many times throughout the story. Her first sacrifice is not marrying. She chooses to stay with her family, even though times are tough and she would be far more comfortable with a wealthy husband. She also does not want to leave her father alone with only his sons and two lazy daughters to give him comfort and help him with the chores. She sacrifices her own comfort for that of her families. She does this again when she wakes up extra early each morning to cook breakfast for her family and do the household chores. Her lazy sisters would never have cooked. Men would never think to cook food. Therefore, had Beauty not cooked for her family everyday, they would not have eaten.
             Beauty's greatest sacrifice is agreeing to die in her father's place at the Beast's castle. Instead of just crying about her father's fate, Beauty offered to go to the castle as the Beast requested. She was prepared to give the ultimate sacrifice to save her father's life. She was willing to make this sacrifice because ...