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Stereotypes About Gender Roles In Fairy Tales

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Fairy tales are deeply-rooted in Europe and they are passed down from the one generation to the other both orally and in writing. It cannot be denied that one of the most favorite past time for all children is listening to fairy tales about mythical creatures, princesses, castles and other enchanting stories. However, until very recently, parents have not realized the immense, hidden power these stories have over the unconscious and conscious mind of young readers. Many classical fairy tales lurk dangers, as they reinforce stereotypical perceptions about gender roles and especially about women. This research paper will attempt to analyze these perceptions, based on some researchers (Rowe Karen E., 1979 and Kumly Esin, 2017). According …show more content…

Esin Kumlu claims that ‘’one of the best examples of that kind of social contract is seen in Rapunzel and the Sleeping Beauty [where] both protagonists are the very center of passivity of the female body’’(129). In order to receive their prince, the first one is captured in a palace and the second one is in deep sleep, both of which are forms of inactivity (119). Furthermore, Kumlu highlights the fact that in the story of Twelve Dancing Sisters and Little Mermaid, the idea of rebellion is penalized. On the other hand, in The Sleeping Beauty and in Rapunzel, passivity is praised (116). As a result, the readers usually ‘’identify with the prettily passive heroine whose submission to commendable roles insures her triumphant happiness (Rowe 248). From all the above arguments, the reader understands that many popular fairy tales urge young girls to be passive in order to lead a happy lifestyle. As far as I am concerned, I believe that both of the sources are right, as for one more time and especially Kumlu Esin refers to specific fairy tales that every kid has read during his childhood and which depicts heroines as subordinate characters, reinforcing in this way another gender …show more content…

In all of the fairy tales that have been mentioned many times before, according to Kumlu, the heroines ‘’are socially existent on condition that they are under the umbrella of the father’’ (122). It is also evident that the heroine does not have the power to act on her own and save herself as ‘’[she] is helpless and needs the strength of man in order to survive’’(Kumlu 130). In addition, in the article of Karen E. Rowe, it is mentioned that a woman protagonist is ‘’subjected to masculine supervision and denied any true independence’’(245). As a result, ‘’she is unable to act independently or self-assertively; she relies on external agents for rescue; she binds herself first to the father and then the prince’’(Rowe 239). At this point, I partially agree with their arguments that fairy tales focus only on women’s dependency on male. There are some stories, in my opinion, such as Beauty and the Beast or Hansel and Gretel, in which female protagonists not only are totally independent, but rescue, the father in the first story and the brother in the second, from death with their own

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