The Origin Of Sleeping Beauty

The sleeping beauty tradition is one where the female lead, usually a Princess always needs a Prince Charming to save and bring her back to life. This allows men in patriarchal society to be express themselves due to sexual freedom while women had to be married before any sexual relationships. According to Zago, “Marquise lived in the strictest seclusion for three years. She returned to her parents' house and led an irreproachable life; it is fair to assume that any sexual urge remained dormant. Those three years are analogous to the lapse of time spent in lethargy by the Princess in the fairy tale.” (Zago, 6) This quote shows how sexual repression could have been a reason as to why the incident occurred when she was under a “spell” because she needed a change instead of doing what society demands of her. As a widow, society demanded that she live peacefully while taking care of and educating her children so being sexually promiscuous was out of line due to double standards for each gender. So my point here is that the idea of femininity in society is one that limits and restricts females from having to freedom to do anything without watchful eyes condemning them. And just like fairy tales, the novella ends happily with Giulietta and the Count reconciled which supports the fact that the sleeping beauty tradition has become a metaphor for feminine passivity and supports my argument that women are at a disadvantage in a male dominated society (Zoga,

The fairytale “Beauty and the Beast” by Jeanne-Marie LePrince De Beaumont was produced in France in 1756. The story is about a wealthy merchant with six children, three boys and three girls. With the story’s primary focus on the girls, we learn that the youngest of the daughters, named Beauty, was admired for her kindness and well behaved manners. Due to Beauty being the town favorite, her sisters grew jealous and hated her. When Beauty’s father falls in debt with a Beast, her father sends her off to live with the Beast. In the end, Beauty gets to know the Beast and accepts to be his wife. Although, Beauty and the Beast have their ‘happily ever after’, social and economic complications hindered their relationship.

Giambattista Basile’s dark rendition of “Sleeping Beauty,” entitled, “Sun, Moon and Talia,” is a story that brings the reader into a world that encompasses the idea of women being submissive creatures only valued for their beauty and at the mercy of men. The 2014 movie Maleficent, directed by Robert Stromberg, tries to subvert the notions of a male patriarchy by establishing Maleficent as an unlikely hero whose motivations go beyond the classic architype of a handsome prince claiming a one dimensional princess. Despite the movies attempts at establishing a more feminist friendly view of “Sleeping Beauty,” both Maleficent, and “Sun, Moon and Talia,” reduce the central characters of Aurora and Talia to simple props; completely devoid of

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

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,

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

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.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez is not the first author to reinvent classic European fairy tales. Yet his short story "Sleeping Beauty on the Airplane," alternatively titled "The Plane of Sleeping Beauty" is a remarkable retelling of the Grimm Brothers' original "Briar Rose." The original story includes themes of jealousy, fate, and romantic love. Marquez abandons jealousy, as there is no evil queen spinning a trap for the princess. Therefore Marquez's "Sleeping Beauty on the Airplane" provides a unique lens for viewing and revisiting the Grimm Brothers' "Briar Rose." Marquez's story distorts the original fairy tale, highlighting the power of unrequited physical attraction between strangers.

Basile’s Sun, Moon, and Talia starts with the king asking the wise men what will happen to his daughter. They say Talia will be hurt by a splinter of flax. Eventually a splinter of hemp went into her finger, and she died. The king was so devastated, he kept her on a chair in the palace. Another king was hunting with his falcon, and the falcon entered the window of the castle. The other king that visited sleeping beauty could have found her unconscious body sexually irresistible. He then raped her dead body, and impregnated her (Bettelheim 227).

We have often seen numerous folktales that appear to be similar among different cultures. Often at times, the characters or locations change to accommodate the surrounding culture, but the message or moral of the story stays the same. In the case of the story, Sleeping Beauty, we notice that the earlier versions of the story are more crude and “adult” and as time passed on, the story evolved to become more suitable for a younger audience. Sleeping Beauty became a story of “rape, adultery, sexual rivalry, and attempted cannibalism” (Hallett, 1) to the clean and innocent Disney version we know today. The three versions of Sleeping Beauty that I will compare are Sole, Luna, E Talia (Sun, Moon, And Talia) by Giambattista Basile, The Sleeping

Little girl's fantasize about being a Disney Princess and living in a fairytale world. For Jean Weyer, watching her 18-year-old daughter, Delanie Weyer transform into sleeping beauty was a confusing and frightening experience. Delanie suddenly began sleeping for extended amounts of time for days on end.

Disney’s animated film, ‘Sleeping Beauty’, centres around the female lead, Aurora, and from the very beginning, a huge emphasis is placed on her physical characteristics and unrealistic body proportions. In a scene at the start of the film, infant Aurora is blessed with magic gifts from each of the three fairies, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather. Each of the fairies bestowed upon Aurora one gift; the first of which, from Flora, was beauty, and the second of which, from Fauna, was the gift of song. Aurora was to have, ‘Sunshine in her hair,’ with, ‘Lips that shame the red, red, rose.’ This strong emphasis on physical traits and beauty reinforces gender ideals in women and carries the negative message that being beautiful is more important than having other traits such as kindness and

The Sleeping Beauty by Tchaikovsky is another ballet that is based on a fairy tale, and was first presented to the Tsar of Russia.

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.

We begin with a tale unlike the other “Sleeping Beauty” stories. In this tale, we have three European soldiers, a Roman,