Gender Roles in Fairy Tales
Encouragement of Gender Roles Through Fairy Tales Female characters in many fairy tales are the perfect epitome of women following traditional female roles and possessing qualities of worthiness. I will illustrate how fairy tales inscribe gender roles upon females based on Karen Rowe's argument "[t]hese tales which glorify passivity, dependency, and self sacrifice as a heroine's cardinal virtues suggests that culture's very survival depends upon a woman's acceptance of roles which relegate her to motherhood and domesticity." (Karen Rowe cited in Hallett and Karasek 348) I will discuss and analyse this through four fairy tales, Charles Perrault's "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood" and "Cinderella" as well as Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm's "Snow White", and "Rapunzel". The female protagonists of fairy tales possess qualities in which women are seen and accepted. The main trait of a virtuous woman is that of beauty. Never is the protagonist ugly, or have qualities less than perfect in their looks. She is either the most beautiful, angel like or fairest of them all. As Marcia K. Leiberman states, " the prettiest is invariably singled out and designated for reward." (Leiberman cited in
As Karen Rowe states in her essay, " [f]airy tales are not just entertaining fantasies, but powerful transmitters of romantic myths which encourage women to internalize only aspirations deemed appropriate to our 'real' sexual functions. " (Grimms cited in H & K 52) Snow White ended up falling into a sleep caused by her stepmother and remained reliant on her prince to come and rescue her. are locked up in towers, locked into a magic sleep, imprisoned by giants, or otherwise enslaved, and waiting to be rescued by a passing prince. These traits are common among female protagonists and are portrayed with the meaning that they are qualities women should and do have. " (Leiberman cited in CCM package 192) Sleeping Beauty and Snow White both were passive in their stories, demonstrated as they slept awaiting their prince to rescue them. Despite this 'beauty' she still leads a time in her life of hardship, but is rewarded in the end with a handsome prince. " (Grimms cited in H & K 61) When the witch realized Rapunzel, had deceived her, she cut off her beautiful hair and sent her away to a far off place where Rapunzel lived in misery and want. Not only do women follow these 'unset' rules, but also they live them in every part of their lives. Sleeping Beauty first relied on the cook to save her from the Ogress's order and again on the King to save her and her children from the Ogress's final attempt to kill them. She kept house, and cooked for the dwarves in order to survive. Likewise, Rupunzel "grew to be the loveliest child under the sun. Beauty is an asset of the girls', as Leiberman says, "focus on beauty as a girl's most valuable asset, perhaps her only valuable asset.
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Acceptance Essays
