Oscar Wilde Fairy Tales

In the Poetics, Aristotle provides an outline of how the artist is to portray or represent the perfect Tragedy. A Tragedy, of course, was nothing more than a drama, in which the characters appeared "better" than in real life (in a comedy, they appeared "worse," according to Aristotle). Aristotle's Poetics makes several references to other dramatic works to illustrate his points, but he most commonly calls upon The Odyssey to support his argument for how a dramatic structure should be designed. However, along with the Odyssey, Aristotle extensively references Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. Both poetic works were enormously popular in their time (the former had been passed down orally for generations, and the latter won the top prizes at the dramatic festivals). Therefore, Aristotle is comfortable using both to support his viewpoint concerning Tragedy and the Tragic Hero. This paper will analyze the standards that Aristotle sets out concerning the definition of the Tragic Hero and show how Sophocles' Oedipus exemplifies Aristotle's definition of a Tragic Hero.

A tragedy in its own right must evoke emotion and a response from the audience through effective use of several elements evident in Shakespeare’s and Aristotle’s style of tragic writing. The plot progression of a tragedy should be rather specific under the idea which leads, ultimately, to the downfall of the protagonist. Despite the sorrowful story behind Richard Van Camp’s short story “Mermaids,” the exclusion of several core elements from both styles of writing prevent this piece from being classified a tragedy. “Mermaids” lacked the development of a tragic flaw in the main character, Torchy, and furthermore did not lead the character to their tragic demise, Van Camp also excluded the idea of isolating him over time and rather brought him closer to those around him to get over his inner conflict, which is unlike a tragedy.

Everything from music, to movies, and fairytales has been influenced by society. More specifically, society has influenced the Grimm Brothers fairy tales. The Grimm Brothers fairy tales would be considered dark and gruesome by today’s standards. Parents would not allow their own children near the stories, which caused society to give the tales a more PG feeling. The tales changed and became what we know them as today. Disney has played a major role in creating the innocent versions that today’s early generations have experienced. While they rarely admit it, societies, such as Disney, caused the original works of the Grimm Brothers to be overshadowed by their infantile adaptations.

Fairy tales are an entertaining and memorable way to teach valuable lessons to children. However, things have not always been this way with fairy tales. In the past, fairy tales could serve as an outlet for unpopular ideas and thoughts, or a way for people with little value in society to express themselves. Fairy tales were often tightly related to their author’s culture, possibly because it made the story more familiar. In Hans Christian Andersen’s “Den Lille Havfrue”, better known as “The Little Mermaid”, Andersen uses prominent mythological and cultural ties to display the struggles of a young girl who wants to see what the world offers, as opposed to staying at the bottom of the ocean and living a mermaid’s long, but soulless and definite life.

Maria Tatar begins her chapter, “Just Desserts: Reward-and-Punishment Tales”, with a testimony of the manner in which parents were encouraged to instruct their children through the breaking of their will in which to save their souls. These instructions carry forward into the weaving of fairy tales in the eighteenth and nineteenth century in a way that Tatar describes as having “stretched the limits of the parental and pedagogical imagination of those times” (53). It is this imagination that drove the punishments of children within fairy tales to the extreme, not to be carried out in rage towards the child, but what a child represents in contrast to the strict and seemingly tame adult civilization.

the play that it turns to a tragedy. It is a tragedy for the king because he dies but it is also a

A tragic hero demonstrates three critical effects on the audience. First, the audience emerges an emotional devotion to the tragic hero; second, the audience dreads what may transpire the hero, and finally, after the tragedy strikes, the audience condolences the distressed hero. The independent members of the audience go through a purgation because of these inevitable attachments. Evidently, a tragic hero must be a multiplex and vigorous title character such as Sophocles’ “Oedipus the King” and “Antigone”.

There are certain elements present in tragic stories that qualify them to be identified as tragic. Because tragedy as a genre was not an inexorable matter, authors have been able to take it into their own hands, diverting from the traditional styles as they desire. Among the traditional elements of the genre is the inclusion of a tragic hero who finds defeat through his fatal flaw. While still confining to certain attributes of tragedy, these remodeled stories portray tragic heroes in an especially unique way. Two such tragic tales that modify the idea of a tragic hero are Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Euripides’ Medea. The characters Oedipus from Oedipus Rex and Medea from Medea alter the perception of tragic heroes evident in their many differences and few shared tragic hero qualities.

The ultimate tragic hero is presented in all its glory in the play “Oedipus the King.” Rather than being a typical tragic hero, “Oedipus,” has gone beyond the traditional into the unbelievable. “Oedipus” when we come to him in this play has already taken three noble positions. He was born the babe, and prince of one Royal Family, then discarded because of an oracle. This cast off prince, was then brought low to die, facing the flaw of naivety, which a babe only knows. A shepherd discovered him and took him to another royal couple, to which he became a prince once more. Later, as he became older another oracle was spoken of him and in his flaw of fear, he fled from the second royal family, becoming of no account once more. The purpose for this qualification. Following this, on the way he killed several men in ignorance, impulsiveness and anger. Later, when he would sit in his own father’s throne, sleeping with his mother, who bore children of this ungodly union, his tragic flaws would strike at his core and be brought lower than a man could ever or should ever know. Thus, the identification of “Oedipus” as a tragic hero is fulfilled and demonstrated three times over in this heartbreaking tale of woe.

Originally, fairy tales were used to teach children social norms or cultural beliefs within a society, instead of primarily being used as entrainment. Fairy tales are also known to guide children to accept the traditional stereotypes of being female and male, as they typically reinforce the idea that women would be more desirable if they are not only obedient, but pure and beautiful as well. The view of women as a ‘lessor sex’ is also a common belief in a patriarchal society, which is commonly found in most fairy tales. The ideas which fairy tales reinforce needs to be challenged. Written by the Grimm brothers, the two fairy tales Little Snow White {1819} and Little Briar Rose {1812} will be analysed, along with Hans Christian Andersen’s

Plays have been written by authors from hundreds of years ago. In there plays they allow people to learn from the characters mistakes. These dramatic tragedies have so many versions of sadness and fear. The two tragedies Antigone and Othello show us how they were victims of the monarchy despite what there wrong doings were.

Fairy tales have been embedded into our culture and date back before recorded times, they provide a source of entertainment and imagination for children. Despite today’s fairy tales having positive moral intentions they have been adapted from earlier versions which often can be very different and much more sinister. The fairy tale “Sun, Moon, and Talia” by Giambattista Basile formed the basis for the more commonly known Disney interpretation called the “Sleeping Beauty” however they are vastly different, Basile’s original is a very dark and twisted story compared to the Disney version.

In order to gain a proper perspective on the concept of what a tragic hero is, we must synthesize information from the following play’s, “The Death Of A Salesman”, and “Oedipus The King”. Both plays takes the stance on the idea that validates the ultimate notion,  “tragic hero. From Willy’s hubris personality to his questionable and mysterious death, to Oedipus dynamic and complex choices and kingly personality that determines his fate. A tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgement that leads to his/her downfall. In other words, even though both characters made incredible contributions and left a very noble legacy, their choices and decisions determined their ultimate fate. In today’s world tragic heroes are commonly present,

As we grow up, we hear fairy tales and we read them into our lives. Every word and every image is imprinted into our minds. The fairy tales we read are never abandoned. They grow with us and our dreams become molds of the many morals and happily ever afters fairy tales display. We tell children fairy tales when they go to sleep and they read them in school and we even have them watch Disney adaptions that reinforce them further. Generally, they were everywhere while we grew up and they continue to be present while children are growing up now. But what influence do these stories have? We casually expose our children to these tales, but in some cases they can have particularly, harmful personal effects on them, although there is nothing completely or visibly “bad” about them or about the characters in them. Before we divulge our youth to these stories, we should assess their substance and see what sort of effect they may be having on them. They have received so much scrutiny and have been studied by many. Recognizing fairy tales effects on the minds of children is vital in their development. This paper will focus on the underlying messages that the average person wouldn’t recognize in these everyday stories. There’s a modern distort with fairy tales because while they still are widely popular with the youth, they influence children’s self images, outlooks on reality and expectations for their futures, especially for young women.

1. What is the genre of this story? Are there any other possible genres this story could fall into?