Submissive Roles In Fairy Tales

Submissive Roles in Fairy Tales Grimm’s Fairy Tales (1812) “Cinderella” and “Snow White”, and Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales (1837) “The Little Mermaid”, shows an existence of gender stereotypes occurring in a children’s story. Although fairy tales are an important part of children’s literature, in what way do they influence them? The debate is endless; however, people think the bad influence is mainly on the women because of the way they are stereotyped. The female’s roles in fairy tales characterize women not having their own independence, power, and voice to represent them. In these three stories, the women’s characters perpetuate the stereotypical gender message that the ideal woman is submissive in different ways. The story of

This statement insinuates that a woman’s obedience can be looked at positively. Without obedience, the stability and well-being of female will become non-existent. The narrator illustrates how the stepsisters and stepmother had the main character doing all the chores and refer to her as a “kitchen-wench” (121). The ability to maintain housework, such as cooking and cleaning, is a duty the submissive women are expected to fulfill. Even though the main character remains obedient even when she victimizes by her family, this also shows a sign of weakness because she did not stand up to her family. Sometimes the portrayal of submissiveness defines a woman as being helpless in the certain situation. However, the main character obedience and patience can lead to positive incentives. One more example that follows with being submissive can be when two white doves cry to the King 's son, “Turn and peep, turn and

The main character rather gives up being a mermaid and instead, have an immortal soul, but for the change to happen, she must sacrifice a lot of her important values. When the mermaid went to visit the witch she already had an idea of what she wants and told her, “If you will bear all this, I will help you” (8). This statement shows the example of how women are obedient to make choices in their life, even if does not end on a positive outlook. Some females are willing to alter their lifestyles even if it causes affliction later. The mermaid went through skepticism at first, but her pride and obedience finally giving her the voice to finally say, “I will do it” (8). In these three stories, it shows that a female must be obedient to get a reward. Although the mermaid got her award for being obedient, some type of obedience can be quite absurd. The prince treats the mermaid with genuine hospitality, as they enjoy the entertainment by the “Female slaves” (10). Sexuality was reason slavery among female was popular because with a woman that can do different work, cooking and cleaning the key trait of submissiveness and be suffering from a different punishment. Also, it is easier to control women than men in some situations. Another example would be how the prince treated the mermaid. The narrator illustrates that the prince