Looking Critically Upon Fairy Tales

Looking critically at various aspects of fairy tales including gender roles, enables children to understand how these stories change through time. The idea that fairy tales are “beautiful [and] romantic”[1] and must remain untouched has led to criticism of the Respectful Relationships curriculum for manipulating fairy tales due to political correctness. A brief analysis of Perrault’s Donkeyskin and Grimm’s Cinderella indicates some significant gender roles and a considerable change in the way of representing gender in each era. In both stories, the sequences of events are founded on the conflicts which originate from women’s envy, rivalry, and hostility. There is not a single instance of tension between men. Even the king reconciles with the prince,[2] who, in spite of the king's desire to marry his own daughter, has married the princess.

In these fairy tales, women are passive, while men are active and adventurous. Males take journeys freely, but a female has to disguise herself to escape and consent to domestic drudgery upon escaping. In Grimm’s version, Cinderella witnesses the punishment of the stepsisters when their eyes are pecked by doves,[3] but Cinderella shows no reaction. The docility and passivity are treated as Cinderella’s virtue.

There is more than a century between the first publication of these two versions. Donkeyskin may reflect gender roles of the French court, while some changes in Cinderella imply that Perrault’s stereotype belongs to the past. In Donkeyskin the prince comes to rescue Cinderella while in Grimm’s version the mother and daughter come together to overcome the situation, but the prince recognises Cinderella in the end. This is the result of a change in social attitude throughout the time that requires critical reading.

The representation and construction of gender roles in each time are subject to the purposes of that particular era. Therefore, the ability of children to look critically at all versions of those fairy tales is very important.

References:

Collett, Michael. “Fairy tale sexism: Is political correctness getting in the way of good stories?” ABC. Accessed September 1, 2018. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-06/fairy-tale-sexism-and-political-correctness/8420948

Grimm, Brothers. “Cinderella.” In The Classic Fairy Tales: Texts, Criticism. edited by Maria Tatar, M. 1st Edition, 117-122. New York: Norton, 1999.

Perrault, Charles. “Donkeyskin.” In The Classic Fairy Tales: Texts, Criticism. edited by Maria Tatar, M. 1st Edition, 109-116. New York: Norton, 1999.

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[1] Collett, “Fairy tale sexism”.

[2] Perrault, “Donkeyskin,” 116.

[3] Grimm, “Cinderella,” 122.