Folktales

There are almost innumerable ways to examine culture and cultural change. Perhaps one of the most interesting of these studies is determining the cultural influence on literature. This specific type of study can be valuable when looking at all types of literature, but a specific branch of literature, fairy tales, offers an intriguing outlook. Fairy tales are some of the oldest stories in literary text; in this scenario the question becomes the following: How and to what extent does the given cultural situation affect the status of fairy tales in that time? Fairy tales are the center of constant analysis by literary scholars and psychoanalytic experts alike. The stories are probed, analyzed and examined time and time again for they offer

Folk tales are stories with no known creator. They were originally passed down from one generation to another by word of mouth. The authors on folk tale books today are retelling these stories. Although, folk tales are sometimes based on real historical figures, there are fictional elements to the story. Tall tales are generally folk tales in which the main character is bigger than life in some way

Fairytales are stories that have some magical aspects. They usually tell a story about a castle and times when kings ruled the land. I always loved the princesses in these stories. When I was young, I would dress up as them. My friends and I would act out the stories. They usually teach a lesson. I always wanted the princess to escape of find a happy ending. Most fairytales end with “Happily ever after.”

In the conventional fairy tales, after love comes marriage and it is no different for our two princesses. Both of the heroines first felt like they had been the chosen one. The unusual scenarios and very improbable events that lead to the meeting and marrying of their prince are one most of us can only dream of. Just like it is understood that Cinderella went on to live with her prince, Johanna moved to British Columbia alongside Ken. After all the maltreatment, Cinderella and Johanna were able to taste happiness and love in a new life with their new lovers. Johanna came to be Ken’s wife and gave birth to his child which seemed to surprise many. In fact, after Edith’s mom expressed her disbelief to her daughter, Edith who was working on her

Fairy tales are read and told by many and leave lasting impressions and memories long into adulthood. While some of the originally intended morals of pre-modern fairy tales can be seen as outdated by today’s standards, these tales still hold great relevance because of the virtues they teach, their ability to foster the ability of imagination, and the way they are able to show how to deal with difficult situations often with great resourcefulness. Many people in today’s society feel the need shield their children from these tales because they deem many too scary or disagree with certain examples being set, but there is still much value to be found.

Classic fairy tales are getting closer to the adult genre. The children's author Diane Purkiss states that, “There has been a move toward seeing fairy tales as an adult, or any rate, a young adult dark sort of genre.” She also told BBC, “In the past, fairy tales were told by adults to adults, in William Shakespeare’s time.” This shows that classic fairy tales are meant more for adults to read not as much for children.

The fairytale genre and folk tale stories have dated back centuries ago, written by literary geniuses such as the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen and Charles Perrault. The movies we see as kids have clouded the nature of the fairytale genre and have imposed a different view on society. Traditional fairytales go beyond the typical Disney themed movies, they dig deeper into the child’s imagination and convey a reflective meaning about the way we live. Through the works of Hans Christian Andersen and Charles Perrault’s fairytales, we are able to conclude the true meaning of fairytales and how they have served as a stepping stone to early childhood development.

All of these folk tales are still relevant today and have withstood the test of time because

For as long as humankind has been around, stories of folklore have been passed down from generation to generation. In order to teach children a lesson in an interesting way, people began fabricating stories filled with adventure, royalty, and villains. As the invention of novels started to become more popular, so did these elaborate stories. In time, the wild fables once reserved for a number of countries now existed all over the world. This is how fairy tales came to be. A fairytale is a fictional tale that centers around a hero on a mission filled with out of this world elements such as magic, royalty, and adventure. For years, children were entertained by the charming storybook elements that fairy tales

A folk tale is a type of story passed down from generation to generation. These tales encounter a method to explain things to people did not understand, or to teach a life lesson. Different cultures have different folktales and many of the time there are varying versions of the same story. One of the most popular fairy tales from around the world is Cinderella, there are over 900 variations of “Cinderella” folk tales around the world. Furthermore, the most famous Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is the longest play in five acts. Not to mention, there is a lot of similarity between the two tales some are obvious like the family unity or the Oedipal Complex, other are more concealed like the law of three or the law of twins.

Since I was little stories have had a part in who I am because of the morals that they teach. One of the first stories that I remember having an impact on me is Cinderella originally written by Charles Perrault. At the time, it was the basic idea of never give up and be kind to people no matter who they are that stuck with me. If I met someone my goal was always, don’t be like the evil stepsisters. There have also been stories like Mulan that I didn’t see a message in until I was in the play. From Mulan it was just a constant reminder to be who you are and defy stereotypes.

Traditional tales are a reflection of the culture in which they are told due to various aspects such as their concern with goddesses, gods, and other supernatural creatures that relate to humans. The importance of myths being traditional tales and a reflection of culture displays the civilization and society of a myth and its truths. Human culture conserves historical records through the human language. It is known that humans were passing oral stories soon after they developed the ability of speech, resulting in important supernatural events and dates to be told before the present day, though they are accepted as “imaginative creations similar to Greek tragedies.”. 1P. Ian. Myth in the Ancient World (Palgrave, 2012), p. 11. They also do not have a known author, which results in the inevitability of multiple versions of a specific story being told. By means of this, ancient traditions reflected numerous elements of culture.

Fairy tales origin dates back to thousands of years ago. Fairy tales have fantasy creatures like fey, goblins, talking animals, trolls, elves, faeries, witches and giants. As the word fairy means in Latin, enchantments and events that are usually farfetched comprise the story. They are not always realistic and

In many ways, fairy tales influence how people see the world or how they used to see it when the story was created. Leo Tolstoy argued in his work “What is Art?” that “The majority has always understood, and still understands, what we also recognize as being the very best of art…folk legends, fairy tales and folk songs are understood by all” (266). The universiality of the stories stem from the relatable stories in a

As folklore has become an increasingly more studied field, the importance of proper classification of folkloristic material has also grown in importance. Axel Olrik contributed to this goal by articulating numerous “laws” of what he considered the “Sage”, or works of myth, folktale, legend or folk song that could be used to identify folklore from other written works. Three of these such laws are The Law of Repetition, The Law of Two to a Scene, and The Law of Opening, which we will examine through their presence in the folktales of “Jack Frost” (Guterman 366) and “Three Pennies” (Guterman 115).