Sleeping Beauty, By The Brothers Grimm And Perrault 's Version

The story of Sleeping Beauty has evolved over time and has been changed slightly throughout the different versions. It has changed in order to fit social norms for the time and context has been altered to appeal to the current audiences. The three main versions of Sleeping Beauty are the Charles Perrault in 1697, which was adapted from the original fairy tale Sun, Moon, and Talia by Giambattistas Basile in 1634. Perraults version was a tale of rape, adultery and cannibalism. The Brothers Grimm interpretation, from 1812 that made the story more tame and the Walt Disney version from 1959 that was drawn mainly from the St. Petersburg Ballet version of 1890 and the Grimm Brothers

The story of Sleeping Beauty is told in many different forms and is most famous from Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. For example, the fairytale “The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood” by Charles Perrault is quite different than Disney 's version. This fairytale should be researched because it has an interesting historical background and it is still culturally relevant to this day. The three main points that will be discussed about Sleeping Beauty in this paper is historical background, the different ways this fairytale is represented, and the cultural significance this story has on society. Researching this story has opened my eyes that the Sleeping Beauty movie I

Fairy Tales are not just stories that parents tell to their children, but stories with hidden valuable messages which are mostly left on a side. In the article “An Introduction to Fairy Tales,” Maria Tatar clearly explains how people need fairy tales in their lives. Tatar also states how fairy tales have the ability to take the listener, especially children’s, into a journey in which they can play with their imagination so that they can discover their deepest fears and wishes. Personally I agree with the author, because of the fact that in an individual’s lives as they get older, they will try to define themselves, sometimes comparing their own life with a character from their favorite story or Fairy Tale.

More specifically this tale takes place in the Victorian Era, in which many of the characters do not reflect the values that were taught open them this time period. Where aggressive and dominating behavior is seen as masculine, and sensitive and submissive acts are considered feminine, Carroll paints a picture of a society where these qualities are switched. The Victorian Era was a strict time for women, where they were expected to act “proper” at all times, especially in public and in the presence of men, emphasizing that a woman was expected to be innocent and almost completely arrogant of intellectual opinion at all times. Additionally, Charles Perrault’s “Sleeping Beauty in the Wood”, demonstrates the traditional expectations upon males at the time, portraying masculine characteristics through the prince. He is shown as a power figure, as his relationship with sleeping beauty expresses his need for dominance as she is the damsel in distress. The tale reads, “A young and gallant prince is always brave, however; so he continued on his way, and presently reached a large forecourt” (Perrault 51). Due to the expectation of bravery, independence and assertiveness upon males, the prince had saved the princess from the 100-year slumber, satisfying his masculinity. Furthermore, an English poet named,

She uses the metaphor of “sleep” to convey the message that something terrible did indeed occur and this issue must be talked about. In the conventional Sleeping Beauty story, the princess and everyone else that was put to sleep gets to wake up in one hundred years. Yolen makes the claim “A hundred years is forever”, proving that everyone was put to death (Yolen 61). No matter what age group one is in, it is not likely that one will be able to emotionally handle the cold, hard terrors that the Holocaust entails. Margarete J Landwehr, Professor of Languages further describes how “fairy-tale metaphors indirectly portray that which may be too monstrous to comprehend...and, thus, serve as a protective buffer between the horrors and the reader’s experience of those horrors. In particular, if a fictional scene is too horrific or graphic, then the emotional reaction that it may evoke may be too overwhelming and would repulse the reader rather than elicit empathy” (Landwehr 157-158). Yolen is trying to get across the message that the Holocaust, while a very scary and traumatic event, must be talked about, and in order to never get repeated

A merchant has many children, the youngest called Beauty. Once they were rich, but one day they lose almost everything. Beauty is the only one to be cheerful. Two years later, one of the merchant’s boats come into port. Before he goes to it, he obtains requests from all his children, except Beauty, about what they wanted. When pressed, she asks her father to bring her a rose. There were no funds from the ship, so the merchant heads home. Along the way, he stops at a castle where he finds a rose. After he picks the rose, a beast appears and tells him that he needed to bring one of his daughters to the castle. The merchant returns home and tells his children what happened and Beauty volunteers to go. At the castle, she dreams of a prince who asks for her help. Every day she wanders around the empty castle, and every evening she dines with the beast. When he leaves each night he asks Beauty, “Do you love me? Will you marry me” (Lang)? And every night, Beauty tells him no and fall asleep and dreams about her prince. One night Beauty asks if she could be with her family for a short time. In response to her request, Beast said, “I cannot refuse you anything you ask, even though it should cost me my life… Good night, Beauty. Fear nothing, sleep peacefully, and before long you shall see your father once more” (Lang). When Beauty rises, she was in her father’s home. Beauty is slow to return to the castle and when she finally did, she found the beast on the brink of death. Beauty finally agreed to marry Beast, and as soon as she does, the beast transforms into her prince and two women appear. One was the queen and the other a fairy. Beauty and her prince married the next day

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.

The story Sun, Moon, and Talia by Giambattista Basile takes place in a medieval country house in the woods. The major characters in this version of Sleeping Beauty are Talia, the King, and the Queen. In the beginning of the story Talia gets put in a country house and gets raped by a King, Talia has twins, upsets the Queen who tries to murder the twins and Talia. The Queen ends up dead and the King, Talia, and their twins live happily ever after. Sleeping Beauty in the Woods by Charles Perrault is very different than the first and is set in a medieval castle. Sleeping Beauty, a Prince, and an Ogress are the main characters and there are also the fairies that gift Sleeping Beauty. The story all starts when Sleeping Beauty is born and an

A telling of the Sleeping Beauty tale by Brothers Grimm called “Briar Rose” begins with a king and queen long for a child and are promised they will receive one. The queen indeed has a daughter and the king throws a feast in celebration inviting twelve of thirteen Wise Women due to having only twelve golden plates. At the feast, the child is bestowed many gifts and the uninvited Wise Woman appears and curses the child saying when she turns fifteen she will prick her finger on a spindle and die. The last Wise woman uses her gift to keep the princess alive by placing her in a hundred-year sleep.

One of the first versions of Sleeping Beauty was published by Charles Perrault in 1697. However, he based his story on a tale by Giambattista Basile in 1634, called Sun, Moon and Talia. A lord got a beautiful daughter, named Talia. He asked many astrologers and wise men to tell him her fate and after a while they concluded that she would be put in great danger by a splinter of flax. The lord ensured that no flax, hemp or anything of that kind was brought into the house to keep his daughter safe.

Young girls are often stuck in a world of make believe, they are fed fairytales, dream up unimaginable views of reality and believe everyone will find their prince charming. This unrealistic perspective is formed through their experiences with different fairytales. As G.K. Chesterton tells the fairytale are a realistic world for children, “Fairy tales are more than true — not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten”. Fairytales lead these girls to believe that in order to find true love there is some sort of intense journey one must go on. This idea of a journey for love has created a specific ideology for what love is and how to achieve it. In the text Beauty and the Beast by Madame Le Prince

Fairy tales like Snow White and Cinderella both contain the struggle of good vs. evil. The struggle of good vs evil in these tales teaches us that good always prevails over evil. The fairy tales often times contain common elements that represent good and evil in the story. Both of these tales show the good and evil elements in similar forms. Both tales have the same outcomes where good prevails and they live happily ever after. These tales expose important concepts like good and bad for young readers. Tales such as these two can also teach young readers about good and bad things in life and ways of handling them.

The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood by Charles Perrault has a similar story line to Sole, Luna, E Talia (Sun, Moon, And Talia) by Giambattista Basile. The use of extreme violence can be seen in this version, which continues the story after the Prince and the Princess are united. As Perrault tells it, the happy couple get married and have two children. However, at the end of the story, the Prince never tells his family about the marriage. Soon the Prince becomes the King after his father dies and must leave for war. He finally tells his mother about the marriage and leaves his wife under her care. The Prince’s mother, who is described as an ogress dislikes children and similar to the Queen in Basile’s story practices cannibalism, as she orders the cook to kill the children and Princess for her to eat. She is later discovered by the Prince and is punished by being pushed into a vat filled with vipers and snakes which kill her instantly.

In Sleeping Beauty, the Prince is portrayed a strong and courageous person, he can be seen as a great character because he overcomes many obstacles to be able to help the Princess survive. Although Sleeping Beauty is a fairy tale and is stereotypically more admired by girls, the masculine tale might be liked by the male population because they aspire to be the male hero. Maleficent shows the feminine tale and warns the girls that not men cannot be trusted in some cases, and that there is no need to have a man by your side. A woman can survive on their own using her own intelligence and courage to overcome any obstacle that she might face. For the female population, this change is very important because this “hero” story helps us relate to the character and our desire to do great and special acts (Seger 387). This film proved that a woman is capable of defeating evil, and brings a new perspective into Disney

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.