The Effective Use Of Archetypal Narrative Patterns In Rapunzel

There are numerous genre’s in literature, but the level of importance and influence on an individual will differ. Exposure to books and stories is especially important for children because it their chance to acclimate themselves to written language and in turn create their own visuals for the toneless words. “Why Fairy Tales Matter: The Performative and the Transformative”, by Maria Tatar contains an ample amount of textual evidence from author’s research into fairytales, as well as writer’s personal experiences with fairytales. Although Tatar supports her claims with evidence, her resources are not concrete, and seems excessive at times. Also, her assertions are weakened by her failure to defend her conclusion against competing beliefs.

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.

Cinderella has changed so little over time that it seems we’re still in the 1700’s listening to Charles Perrault. And yet it remains of the most popular fairy tales read to children. The role of women continue to be either the cruel, evil one or the good, docile one while the prince continues to be the saving grace of the helpless girl. The skeleton hasn’t changed much as well. A damsel in distress, saved by a knight in shining armor, who falls in love with her and they live happily ever after. Does this sound familiar? This sentence might as well be a fairy tale. We’ve seen this over and over in Cinderella, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White.

Once upon a time, there was a literary genre commonly know as fairy tales. They were mystical and wonderful and a child’s fantasy. These fairy tales were drastically misunderstood throughout many centuries, however. They endured a hard life of constant changing and editing to fit what the people of that time wanted. People of our own time are responsible for some of the radical changes endured by this undeserved genre. Now, these fairy tales had a young friend named Belle. Belle thought she knew fairy tales very well, but one day she found out just how wrong she was.

Triumphant reward in spite of unjust punishment is a universal sentiment that transcends languages and cultures. There are thousands of folktales and fairy tales that are firmly rooted in individual cultures, yet the tale of Cinderella has been told through many centuries and throughout the far corners of the world. With thousands of versions of this classic tale in print worldwide, the tale is believed to have originated with the story of Rhodopis, a Greek slave girl who is married to an Egyptian King. The story of Rhodopis, which means rosy-cheeks, dates back to 7 BC and is attributed to a Greek geographer named Strabo. The Chinese variation of this fairy tale is named Yeh-hsien. The Chinese version is traceable to the year 860 and appears in Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang by Duan Chengshi. Yeh-hsien is a young girl, motherless and in the control of her stepmother, who befriends a treasured fish. The jealous step-mother kills the fish, but it’s bones provide Yeh-hsien with magical powers, eventually enabling Yeh-hsien to escape the control of her step-mother for a royal life. The Story of the Black Cow which is found within the pages of Folk Tales from the Himalayas by John Murray, published in 1906, the child who is mistreated by a stepmother is a male and the role of savior is portrayed by a snake, with a cow serving as the moral of the story, faithfulness. These two versions of Cinderella carry many common threads that are

This translated to today’s literature, by establishing that no one wants to read about an unflawed character or one with excess. This leads to discussion about another characteristic, the happily ever after. “Then he took her to his kingdom, where he was received with great joy, and there they lived long and happily.” (Grimm 94) In these fairytales, the down on their luck, the poor are rewarded with unknown riches or marriage into nobility, or escaping their curse. In Rapunzel, the cursed maiden is discovered by her long lost prince and married into royalty. The basic concept is that we want to read about flawed persons who rise to the occasion and best those who don’t believe in them, ending up happy. This echoes in today’s literature still, because we see ourselves in these flawed characters, seeing as if they can persevere, then so can we. What makes all of these happy endings possible (and why we connect to the characters) is the way these characters come upon riches and joy. Another characteristic of the Grimm’s stories are the main characters perseverance, selflessness, patience or beauty to achieve betterment. Rapunzel waited several year, while raising her children before she found her happy ending, but it states that “Rapunzel was the most beautiful child in the world” and that “as he drew near he heard a voice singing so sweetly that he stood still and listened. It was Rapunzel in her loneliness trying to pass away the time with sweet

Traditionally, Disney tales have a common theme where their princesses or princes’ curses need to be broken by the spell through a kiss of love, so the dream becomes a reality. In the first feature-length animated film from Disney, The Snow White, and Seven Dwarves. Jasmine the princess and Aladdin the street boy both they had chemistry and realized their wishes against Jaffar and Middle-Est culture. Passing over the fabulous story of Ratatouille, Alfredo Linguini and Remy that is the story about rejected someone according is status. Disney animated movies blend social diversity through their tales, but they didn’t realize to go so far until they see the first African – American president in the White House, Disney made a First American princess who is black, The Frog and the Princess. Moreover, Disney animated movies are diversities whose people knew as The Jungle from Indian culture, Mulan is a Chinese tale, the Amerindian- Princess Pocahontas, and so on. Thus, Disney animated movies include more various cultures and teach children to know and appreciate diverse cultures.

Anne Sexton wrote her Transformations collection after she noticed her daughter’s fascination with Grimm 's’ stories. Sexton asked her daughter to select a few of her favorites and she rewrote them with “adult” themes, including rape, incest, and fluid sexuality. In her retelling of Rapunzel, Sexton rewrites Rapunzel as the young and unwilling object of Mother Goethel’s sexual desires.

Many people wonder where all the Cinderella stories originated from? They originated from the most popular version written in French by Charles Perrault written in 1607. The Little Golden book, the Grimm brothers version and the 2015 Disney Film version of Cinderella are all taken from the original story. All Cinderella stories have the same storyline, but there are differences and similarities between the archetypes and the characters and in the theme in the three versions.

“Winnie-the-Pooh” by A.A Milne presents its readers with a multitude of archetypes. One such archetype is Owl, who perhaps would be considered the smartest resident of One Hundred Acre Wood. In most fictional stories, the Owl is considered to be an knowledgeable character and such is the case in the adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh. Owl displays signs of intelligence when he is often asked to spell different words or asked for advice by our fellow characters. However, it is important to note that his intelligence is also his weakness as it often comes under question. His inability to actually spell and read correctly often indicates signs of his flawed intelligence and sign of dyslexia. At times, owl tends to be absent-minded, often ignoring

No matter what, the idea of evil amongst mankind stays prominent in society. In the movie Cinderella, the deliberate and appropriate choices Ella makes when faced with adversity reveals her feelings, thoughts, and actions. She constantly witnesses evil things being done around her, for which she is undeservingly punished. She is hopeful that the stepmother will treat her right one day, however, her kindness and innocence blinds her from distinguishing the difference between what is good and what is evil. Ella is an innocent girl, who lost her parents at a young age, and is trying to seek love and attention from her stepfamily, who treat her horrifically. A family who practically has her serving as a maid in the house, rather than a daughter of their own. When her fairy godmother appears and magically transformers her reality to a dream, leaving the prince madly in love with her beauty and character. In the movie Cinderella, archetypes are used to teach the lesson that good always triumphs over evil. This is shown through different archetypes such as mentor, unhealed wounds, and the magic weapon.

Like the introduction, the main part of the tale is also composed of three distinct parts which form a short story on their own. A clear beginning, a central story, and an ending exists. The opening of the main part is concluded after the prince, although enchanted by Rapunzel’s singing, gives up his plan to pursue her when faced with a barrier: no entryway to the tower in which Rapunzel lives. When the prince enters the forest a second time, he is a changed person – he now has a motivation to act on his desires for Rapunzel. The prince is no longer a man who easily gives up; he is eager to form a plan for entry into the tower, and at the same time, the life of the sheltered Rapunzel. She too undergoes a

Continuing in her position as the moral control, the witch tries to protect her Rapunzel by locking her up. This attempt to preserve the girl's chastity ultimately fails because a prince discovers her when he hears her singing. Song is a symbol of

Sagas about princes and princesses, beauty, magic, and love, fairy tales like Snow White and Cinderella among others have become children’s favorite bedtime stories. However, as parents tuck their sons and daughters in, they fail to realize that there is a much more daunting purpose to these stories. American writer and poet, Jane Yolen suggests that fairy tales indicate life values. Furthermore, Yolen insists that these tales are “thumbprints of history” (Yolen 27). Studying fairy tales in depth, she proves that the “functions of myths” consist of “creating a landscape of allusion [and] enabling us to understand our own and out culture from inside out” (Yolen 18). Yolen confirms that these stories comment on, “the abstract truths of our

Also similar things like the mother get sent away or died; stepsisters always try to stop the wedding or the prince from being with Cinderella; in the end the stepfamily get what they deserve and so do Cinderella.