Feminine Roles in Fairy Tales Essay by writingsensation
Feminine Roles in Fairy Tales
Examines the feminine roles in three fairy tales: "Cinderella", "Sleeping Beauty" and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs".
# 67706
| 2,356 words
| 12 sources
| MLA
| 2005
| 
Published
on Jul 14, 2006
in
Literature
(Children)
, Women Studies
(Feminism)
, Women Studies
(General)
$19.95
Buy and instantly download this paper now
Description:
As a genre of children's literature, fairy tales are filled with magic, coincidence and good luck for the good characters and bad luck for the bad characters. These delightfully entertaining tales are also filled with gender stereotypes. This paper examines female stereotypes within three fairy tales in particular: "Cinderella"; "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "Sleeping Beauty". The paper examines their representations of female passivity, their emphasis on outer beauty as the quality that saves the heroine and their portrayals of competition among women for male attention (e.g., to marry the handsome prince), based on external beauty.
From the Paper:
"Next Cinderella wishes, like her stepsisters, to attend the festival at which a handsome prince will be looking for a bride. But her request is refused by her stepmother because, "You have no clothes and shoes" (Grimm). The stepmother acts as if she is trying to protect Cinderella from ridicule, but it is clear instead that she wants as little competition as possible for her own daughters. Cinderella is ordered to help her stepsisters get ready, the first instance of feminine rivalry among Cinderella, the stepmother, and the stepmother's blood daughters."Cite this Essay:
APA Format
Feminine Roles in Fairy Tales (2006, July 14)
Retrieved May 28, 2023, from https://www.academon.com/essay/feminine-roles-in-fairy-tales-67706/
MLA Format
"Feminine Roles in Fairy Tales" 14 July 2006.
Web. 28 May. 2023. <https://www.academon.com/essay/feminine-roles-in-fairy-tales-67706/>