Charles Perault's 'Donkeyskin'

Materialistic Beauty
Fairytales have been criticized for their misogynistic views, teaching readers to distrust the ugly hag offering an apple and to idolize the beauty of the innocent princess. On the surface, Charles Perault attempts to break this stereotype in his story “Donkeyskin” by creating the notion of finding beauty even in the most hideous of things. He explicitly states it is better to “expose yourself to harsh adversity than to neglect your duty” (116). Perault believes those who work hard – even if hideous – will be rewarded and successful in the end, like the heroine, Donkeyskin. However, evidence show that the story of “Donkeyskin” devalues Perault’s view of diligence, by also suggesting that materialism and beauty lead to true happiness. In fact,
“Donkeyskin” actually affirms the characters’ superficiality and material obsessed culture in his story.
“Donkeyskin” opens with an extravagant description of the king’s wealth and kingdom. When the queen dies, she forces her husband to promise to never remarry unless his new wife is even more beautiful, smarter and virtuous than her. After weeks of grieving, the king states that he can no longer stand the pain of being alone and wishes to remarry. On the contrary, the only other woman in the kingdom who lives up to his deceased wife’s standards is their very own daughter, the princess. Horrified by this arrangement, the princess seeks advice from her fairy godmother who tells her to make a list of demands that must be fulfilled before they wed: a dress the color of the sky, a dress the color of the moon, a dress as bright as the sun, and the hide of his beloved donkey. The king fulfills all the princess’s desires, much to her dismay, and she flees from home disguised under the hideous donkey hide. She finally finds refuge in a royal farm, but is taunted and ridiculed because of her foul appearance.
Now known as Donkeyskin to the rest of the kingdom, she would dress up in her beautiful gowns and jewelry on holidays to remind herself of her past life and help her get through another week of hard labor. However, when spying through a keyhole, the prince of the royal farm catches a glimpse of her true beauty and falls sickly in love. Through one of his fits, the prince orders Donkeyskin to bake a cake. So, of course, Donkeyskin bakes him a cake, and he finds an emerald ring upon consumption. The prince immediately requests to marry the owner of the ring, and thus began the quest for the woman with the slender finger. Women nationwide of all classes came to test the ring, but all fail except for Donkeyskin. The story ends happily with a revelation of the princess’s true identity and beauty upon marrying the prince. Even her father attends the wedding with his new wife. From the beginning of the story, Charles Perault uses elevated, embellished language to paint the setting; thus, establishing the tone and subtly noting the role beauty and luxury would play. For example, “civic virtues and fine arts flourished everywhere,” “[the king’s] luxurious castle was magnificent” and the stables were covered with “braids of gold” (109). However, in the midst of all the allure, an ugly donkey was placed in the middle of the castle for everyone to see (109). It is said that the only reason why the donkey was kept there was because it defecated gold, making him “well worth his keep” (109). This supports Perault’s idea of finding beauty where least expected, paralleling and foreshadowing Donkeyskin’s future tribulations. Yet, on a closer look, it also portrays the superficiality and vanity of the kingdom. The main characters are astonishingly beautiful, yet vain or obsessed over wealth and assets. For instance, the queen is first described as “so charming and so beautiful, with a disposition so sweet and generous” (109). However, on her deathbed, she could not stand the idea of her husband marrying someone even more beautiful or virtuous than she. She might not even be jealous of another marriage at all, but of the existence of another more perfect human being. The princess “loved to see herself” dolled up every Sunday and knew she was “more elegant than anyone else” (112). The prince had a “‘grand manner’” about him (113). The king’s heart “[burned] with a desire” (110) to make the princess his wife – he had to have her. The prince’s mother, the second queen, obsessed over having the best for her son. On an interesting note, the fairy godmother is the one who advises Donkeyskin to request magnificent belongings from her father. The godmother “inspires” (111) her to do so. In fact, the fairy godmother can symbolize society and Donkeyskin can represent people with low self-esteem. The fairy tells Donkeyskin to conform to what is culturally considered socially beautiful and can be blamed as the instigator for Donkeyskin’s materialistic ways. She teaches her “powerful logic is no defense against … a lover prepared to squander his rich treasures” (116). Basically, the godmother tells Donkeyskin to wait for a man that will do everything for her, and that women doing work is shameful. The ideal man would be someone who would willingly sacrifice his prized possession, like the king and his donkey, for his woman; she shouldn’t expect to be able to provide anything in return -- thus, contributing to the misogynistic stereotype. In this world, clothes and accessories define a person. Perault actually contradicts his moral lesson of beauty when explaining “pure water and brown bread are enough nourishment for young women, so long as they have beautiful clothes” (116). This emphasizes the importance of materialism and worthlessness of basic needs, like food. He, from time and time again, provides enough textual evidence. When Donkeyskin was disguised under the donkey hide, no one paid her any attention. Instead, the kingdom jeered at her and considered her one of the lowest members of society. In fact, the prince fell in love with Donkeyskin after he saw her all glamorous through the keyhole. Even then, he fell in love with the emerald ring before Donkeyskin. He was appalled by its beauty and automatically assumed that such a nice piece of jewelry could not belong to someone unappealing. Likewise, the kingdom and the prince’s parents did not approve of his marriage to Donkeyskin until after she changed her clothes to publicly meet the prince. On the contrary, readers can interpret the moral in which possessions actually enhance a person’s self-esteem, which in turn boosts a person’s confidence, making them feel and look beautiful. Because of Donkeyskin’s gowns and jewelry, she was able to “[keep] going from one Sunday to the next” (112). However, Donkeyskin found “sweet pleasure” in being the most elegant. Perault’s word choice undermines the argument of using one’s possessions to build confidence. It can also be argued that Donkeyskin uses her possessions as a medium to express her grief and tribulations of possibly marrying her father. One of the explicit morals is “virtue may sometimes seem ill-fated, but it is always crowned with success” (116), but this moral is also flawed. It teaches readers that there will always be a happy ending, which is not always the case. Charles Perault’s “Donkeyskin” attempts to break the misogynistic stigma associated with fairytales by teaching readers to find beauty in the least expected. However, further evidence shows that beauty leads to materialism and vanity. In fact, a person’s worth is measured by a person’s beauty. “Donkeyskin” perfectly captures the superficiality of society. Beautiful people always win in the end.

Work Cited

Perault, Charles. “Donkeyskin.” The Classic Fairy Tales. Ed. Maria Tatar. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1999. 110-116.