Oscar Wilde Fairy Tales

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.

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,

In his evaluation of Little Red Riding Hood, Bill Delaney states, “In analyzing a story . . . it is often the most incongruous element that can be the most revealing.” To Delaney, the most revealing element in Little Red Riding Hood is the protagonist’s scarlet cloak. Delaney wonders how a peasant girl could own such a luxurious item. First, he speculates that a “Lady Bountiful” gave her the cloak, which had belonged to her daughter. Later, however, Delaney suggests that the cloak is merely symbolic, perhaps representing a fantasy world in which she lives.

Fairy tales is the term also used to describe something adored with unusual happiness, like “fairy tale ending” a happing ending or “fairy tale romance”, though not all fairy tale as a happy ending. A fairy tales is a type of short story that consistently features European folkloric fantasy characters, such as dwarves, elves, fairies, giants, gnomes, goblins, mermaids, trolls, or witches, and usually magic or enchantments. Fairy Tale Fairy tales may be acclaimed from other folk narratives such as legends which generally involves belief in the veracity of the events described and explicitly moral tales, including beast fables. Fairy Tale." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 11 June 2014. Web. 13 Nov. 2014. According to Arthur Schlesinger, classical tales “tells children what they unconsciously know-that human nature is not innately good, that conflict is real, that life is harsh before it is happy-and thereby reassure them about their own fears and their own sense of self” (229). Fairy tales, according to the British illustrator Arthur Rackman have become “part of our everyday thought and expression, and help to shape our lives” (229). Fairy tales are mostly used in any story that is not only true, but could not possibly be true. Maria Tatar the author of numerous articles on fairy tales and also ten scholarly books wrote that “fairy tales are up close and personal, telling us about the quest of romance and riches, for power and privilege, and, and most important, for a way

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.

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.

Fairy tales have been told for years and have been adjusted as authors see fit to portray their particular message or create a more applicable story for a new culture or era. At times, these tales remain true to their purpose even when written in different. By specifically evaluating the purpose, moral, and characters within two versions, Brothers Grimm’s titled “Briar Rose” and Charles Perrault’s “Sleeping Beauty in the Wood,” an understanding of their relevance can be distinguished. These versions of Sleeping beauty act as one of these tales though “many…have done their best to make her story go away” (Tartar). Although written in an earlier era, Brothers Grimm’s “Briar Rose” and Charles Perrault’s “Sleeping Beauty in the Wood” work effectively on a modern teenage and young adult audience evident in the similar purpose through their tale’s distinct morals and character portrayal.

In Margaret Atwood’s poem “There Was Once”, Atwood uses irony to point out the societal problems within the genre of fairy tales. Charles Perrault, the author of the short story “The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood”, writes about fantastic creatures, magic, and love, following the generic conventions of fairy tales. When compared to Perrault’s short story “The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood”, Atwood’s poem both compliments and contrasts Perrault’s. These two texts, although similar, offer different views on the genre of 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.

What is the correct definition of tragedy anyways? Many people would define tragedy as a disaster, but according to the book The Cambridge Guide to World Theatre by Martin Banham, the word tragedy is “a word whose meaning changes with time and place” (1002). In Medieval times, “tragedy came to mean the downfall of a person of high degree” (Banham 1002), but in recent times, the meaning of the word tragedy has many definitions. According to Banham, “realists refused to limit tragedy to privileged protagonists” (1002). Two famous tragic plays that I found to have a genre of tragedy are Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl. In both of these plays, the downfall was not of a person of high degree but there was a

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

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.

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.

In our modern language, the word “tragedy” has become a word that describes mundane incidents that are negative. At the most, a tragedy is used describe horrific event that involves severe misfortune; however, when comes to the theatre term, the definition of tragedy is much more specific then the modern use of the word. In essence, a tragedy depending on the time and place was used to tell the tale of tragic hero and the flaw that contributed his eventual downfall. Unfortunately, this too simple of an answer. Shakespearean and Aristotelian tragedy are the most widely excepted forms of theatric tragedy, yet their execution and their method of exposition have major difference which greatly effects the interpretation of the story.

From Wilde’s point of view, the world of reality is full of evil, and the only purity land is kept in people’s deep heart, where we can get the true, purity beauty. In Wilde’s fairy tales, the true