Toads And Diamonds Analysis

The tale to be interpreted is Charles Perrault’s, “Toads and Diamonds”. This tale type is AT 480: The Kind and the Unkind Girls. The tale is to be analyzed through a Socio-Historical analysis. This type of analysis fits best with this particular tale because, it distinctively captures the strict norms and values placed on women of that era. What is meant by this is that, this tale shows some of the many tasks that women of that time were expected to complete, such as, work in the kitchen, run errands, and overall just work continuously to provide for their families; as well as how they were expected to act. The tale further emphasized the importance of power relations, and how they were able to help or hurt the sex that was supposed to be obeying them. By

One sister is kind-heart, and extremely well-mannered, while the other is rude, and not so mannerly. Both sisters are sent on a journey by their mother, to a fountain, to gather drinking water for their family. Once reaching the fountain, each sister is tested by a fairy in disguise, and asked to complete and obey a certain task. The kind sister, is approached by an old woman, and asked for a drink of water. Once given this task she is kind, and obeys completely, and allows the old woman to drink from her pitcher, and is rewarded by having flowers and jewels fall out of her mouth with every sentence she speaks. However, the unkind sister is given the same task, but with a wealthy woman dressed like a princess. Once given the take, she does allow the woman to drink from her pitcher, but is completely rude and unmannerly to her, resulting in her being punished. She is punished by having snakes or toads fall out of her mouth with every sentence she speaks. These actions by both sisters illuminate the main points being made, and will further be illuminated in the following