Sleeping Beauty Stereotypes
Cate Nowlan
Mr. Dils
Research Paper
1/24/15
Sleeping Beauty
The fairytale “Sleeping Beauty” is one of many popular fairy tales that have been altered for centuries. Generally, fairy tales are written for children although they will never understand the messages, morals and stereotypes within. The three most popular versions of “Sleeping
Beauty,” are The Grimm Brothers, Charles Perrault and Walt Disney. Each tale takes you on an enchanting journey of a young princess. The morals in this fairy tale are very important and are common in most fairy tales. Surprisingly, “Sleeping Beauty” is also a good example of bad parenting. Morally it is wrong to shelter a child because it only results in a curious and rebellious adolescent. One can not entirely …show more content…
avoid a bad future for their child. For most fairy tales and of course “Sleeping
Beauty,
” outer beauty is significantly more valuable than inner beauty. These three versions are all very similar in the fact that a princess is cursed and awaits her prince but each journey is slightly different.
“La Belle Au Bois Dormant,” by Charles Perrault is a french version Sleeping Beauty. The fairy tale begins with a desperate King and Queen wanting a child.
They eventually have a beautiful daughter. Seven fairies found in the realm were invited to be the child’s Godmothers.
Each fairy gives the princess a gift; beauty, angelic, temperament, grace, dancing and singing, sadly the seventh fairy was interrupted. At the christening, a old fairy, who was not invited, arrived at the feast and felt insulted. She placed a curse on the princess. The evil fairly declared,
“the princess should prick her hand with a spindle, and die of it,” (Perrault). The seventh fairy
could not reverse the spell because she did not have a sufficient amount of power, although she altered the curse by casting a spell, “Your daughter shall not die. My power, it is true, is not enough to undo all that my aged kinswoman has decreed. The princess will indeed prick her hand with a spindle. But instead of dying she shall merely fall into a profound slumber that will last a hundred years. At the end of that time a king 's son shall come to awaken her,” (Perrault).
To protect their daughter, the King and Queen banned all spindles. Interestingly the King and
Queen went away and so the princess was exploring the castle, she coincidentally finds a tower with a spindle.She wanted try but she pricked her hand and fainted. Apart from the King and
Queen, a fairy put all the other people and animals in the castle in a deep sleep. They kissed their daughter goodbye and exited the castle before a thick wood of brambles and thorns bounded the castles. Finally the one hundred years had passed. Out in the forest a prince was hunting and heard about the sleeping princess. He wandered to the tangled thorns and brambles and fortunately it opened up for him. The prince found the princess and knelt beside her and she instantly was awaken. Eventually the Prince goes back to his family and informs them he was lost, although his mother,an ogress, became wary. After two years passed, the original king had died and the prince took throne. They made their marriage public and he brought his family to the castle. They had two children, a daughter Aurora and a son, Day. The
King was called into war and left his family and kingdom in the care of his mother. One day, the ogress ordered a steward to cook Aurora for dinner but instead the steward killed a lamb and kept Aurora in the care of his wife. His mother was going to eat Aurora. Soon after the Ogress wanted the Steward to cook Day for dinner and although the Steward killed a goat instead. One day the Ogress heard the children’s voices. She ordered that they be thrown into a vat filled
with snakes, vipers and serpents. Before any harm was brought to the children and Queen, the
King arrived home unexpectedly so the ogress threw herself into the vat.
“Little Briar Rose,” by The Grimm Brothers begins similarly to Perrault’s version.
Like
Perrault, the King and Queen want a heir. Although they are told by a frog that they will bear a daughter. After the birth, the King invited twelve out of the thirteen total wise women in the kingdom because he only had 12 golden plates. In comparison to Perrault’s version there were seven fairies which play the same role as the wise women in this version. Briar Rose received virtue, beauty and wealth.. etc. The thirteenth wise women entered the hall as the last gift was about to be given, the curse she places on the princess is a direct parallel to Perrault’s version.
The twelfth wise women could not undo the spell but decreed that the princess would not die but fall asleep for 100 years. All spindles in the kingdom were to be burned. The day princess turned fifteen, the king and queen were away. Again like Perrault’s the princess was exploring the palace and came across an old woman in the tower spinning flax. She take her turn at spinning flax and pricks her finger, quickly she falls into a deep sleep. Unlike Perrault’s, the deep sleep spread throughout the entire kingdom without the use of magic from the wise …show more content…
women.
The castle was hidden by the briar that grew higher each year. Princes from far and wide came and attempted to break through the hedge but all except one got stuck and died. After one hundred years passed and another prince came and heard about the beautiful princess “Briar
Rose”. When this prince arrived to the hedge, it turned into beautiful flowers and let him effortlessly enter the kingdom. He quickly found Briar Rose in the tower and awoke her with a true loves kiss. Instead of a kiss, Perrault modestly wrote the prince kneeling down to wake the princess. Like in most fairy tales, they lived happily ever after.
“Sleeping Beauty,” produced by Walt Disney is a entertaining film created for young innocent children. As a child there are many messages and themes they will not notice that an adult can analyze and understand. This version of “Sleeping Beauty” is again similar to both although takes different approaches in some scenes. First of all the King is known as “King
Stefan” and his wife “The Queen”. They have a daughter named Aurora. The princess is instantly betrothed to Prince Philip. In the above versions of “Sleeping Beauty”, a betrothal is never mentioned or appointed. King Stefan arranges a celebration for his daughter and invited three fairies; Flora, Fauna and Merryweather. The fairies present gifts to Aurora. Flora’s gift was beauty, Fauna’s gift was song and Merryweather’s gift was a spell to reverse the horrible curse put on the princess by Maleficent. The evil Maleficent was angry because she was not invited to the celebration. Maleficent is not a fairy but a horrid and evil witch. In Disney’s version spindles are referred to as spinning wheels, which must be burned. To fool Maleficent and protect
Aurora the three fairies raise her in a cottage deep in the forest as mortals. Perrault’s and the
Grimm Brother’s versions have the King and Queen away while in this film Aurora was sent away as a baby. They even renamed her “Briar Rose”. Maleficent had been searching for the princess for years so she sent her raven to look. The Fairies send Briar Rose into the forest to gather berries for a surprise birthday cake while they make her a new dress. Briar Rose meets a young man in the forest and they begin to dance and sing “Once Upon a Dream”. She runs away when he asks her name, but she tells him to meet her at the cottage later that evening. Of course the other versions are only a few short pages while Disney’s is a seventy-five minute film, so to lengthen the plot there needed to be extra scenes. Disney is also known for their musical scenes which sets this version apart from the other two. Fairies use magic to create the
most beautiful dress and cake. The raven notices the magic sparkling from the chimney. The fairies must tell Aurora that she is a princess and betrothed because they realize she is in love.
The raven hears all this and returns to Maleficent. Generally animals play a role in fairytales so the ravens character is not surprising, although no animals were used in the above two versions. Back at the kingdom, King Stefan and King Hubert (father of Prince Philip), discuss the marriage of their children when suddenly Prince Phillip returns confessing his love for a peasant in the forest. The fairies take Briar Rose to the castle, she is left alone for just a moment, but curiously follows a glow to the evil Maleficent and pricks her finger and falls into a deep sleep.
Prince Philip is tricked by Maleficent and locked up until the fairies come to the rescue and give him a shield and sword. Prince Philip fights through the briar bordering the castle and a beastly dragon. This is the only version that the rescuing prince must fight someone. He finds Aurora in the castle and wakes her up with a kiss. As usual, they live happily ever after.
Apart from the obvious difference in each of these three versions there are common themes and messages. An obvious theme in many of the princess fairytales is the concept of
“beauty”. Walt Disney’s film portrays “beauty” as having golden hair of sunshine and red lips that make the rose feel the shame. Maleficent (evil) is portrayed as the ugly character making children believe that if you don’t have sunshine hair or red lips you are not good unlike the innocent and beautiful people like Aurora. In these fairy tales, beauty is above honesty, intelligence, and integrity. Outer beauty is valued more than inner beauty. Women are portrayed as weak and helpless in this story because Aurora cries when there is a problem and dreams or waits for her prince to come save her. A message that girls take away from this fairy tale is they should remain passive and wait for their Prince Charming. Interestingly in nearly
every fairy tale the biological mother is barely present, so the queen not having a real name is not surprising. Biological mothers are either dead or seem to remain submissive to the events in the fairytale. There is always a female lead role who is evil and wicked who. The innocent and beautiful women are see as good while the ugly are evil. Aurora’s parents desperately wanted a child and after waiting so long they shelter her. Overly protected children become curious and rebellious teenagers. Especially in Walt Disney’s version, one should know that it is impossible to entirely avoid all the horrid things that could happen to a child. Auroras parents are far too protective of her. “The walls of thorns that arises as protection until the time is right...suitors who come to early perish in the thorn.” (Bettelheim). Women should await their Prince
Charming to rescue her. Most fairy tales center woman as the ones who struggle although
Bruno Bettelheim thought differently, “Selfhood: even when a girl is depicted as turning inward in her struggle to become herself, and a boy as aggressively dealing with the external world, these two together symbolize the two ways in which one has to gain selfhood… the male and female heroes are again projections onto two different figures of two separated aspects of one and the same process which everybody has to undergo in growing up… children know that, whatever the sex of the hero, the story pertains to their own problems.” (Bettelheim).
Bettelheim also believed that the deep sleep Aurora was destined to relates to, “The sleep of the adolescent as narcissism or shutting oneself of from the world, teenages dream of everlasting youth and perfection.
‘only relating positively to the others ‘awakens’ us from the danger of slipping away our life,”’ (Bettelheim). Hatefully woman are depicted as passive and have a lack of socialization in so many fairy tales. Thankfully a variety of the popular fairy tales are being recreated into today’s reality.
As sad as it is knowing how women have been treated and portrayed throughout history in these fairy tales, it is an excellent learning lesson for all. Women should aspire to have self-success and to be independent. Parents also learn from “Sleeping Beauty” by not sheltering their children. Letting them experience life through their eyes and learn from their own mistakes. On the other hand, one should beware of strangers and bizarre sharp objects such as spindles or spinning wheels. Little girls should feel confident and proud of their own unique qualities apart from the perfect princesses in fairy tales and movies. The old Disney princess films are all pale skinned, red lips, either dark or golden hair and perfect voices. Fortunately times have changed and there are a variety of princess movies, that are all captivating in their own way. Fairy tales have come a long way and taught the public so
much.
Works Cited
"A Critical Analysis of Disney 's Sleeping Beauty and Its Lack of Gender-Sensitivity."
Immovable.type
. Tumblr, 2011. Web. 20 Jan. 2015.
Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm. "Little Brier-Rose."
Grimm 050:
. N.p., 14 Nov. 2005. Web.
27 Jan. 2015.
Hogstad, Grace. "Archetypal Interpretation of "Sleeping Beauty": Awakening the Power of
Love."
Www.beforeitsnew.com
. N.p., 30 July 2012. Web. 15 Jan. 2015.
O 'Brien, Aillin. "Comparisons of Three Versions."
Www.latrobe.edu.au
. History of Children 's
Literature, 2 Sept. 2005. Web. 27 Jan. 2015.
Perrault, Charles. "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood."
Perrault:
. New York: Dover Publications,
Inc., 1969, 15 Sept. 2003. Web. 27 Jan. 2015.
Sleeping Beauty
. Prod. Walt Disney. 1959. Videocassette.
Mr. Dils
Research Paper
1/24/15
Sleeping Beauty
The fairytale “Sleeping Beauty” is one of many popular fairy tales that have been altered for centuries. Generally, fairy tales are written for children although they will never understand the messages, morals and stereotypes within. The three most popular versions of “Sleeping
Beauty,” are The Grimm Brothers, Charles Perrault and Walt Disney. Each tale takes you on an enchanting journey of a young princess. The morals in this fairy tale are very important and are common in most fairy tales. Surprisingly, “Sleeping Beauty” is also a good example of bad parenting. Morally it is wrong to shelter a child because it only results in a curious and rebellious adolescent. One can not entirely …show more content…
avoid a bad future for their child. For most fairy tales and of course “Sleeping
Beauty,
” outer beauty is significantly more valuable than inner beauty. These three versions are all very similar in the fact that a princess is cursed and awaits her prince but each journey is slightly different.
“La Belle Au Bois Dormant,” by Charles Perrault is a french version Sleeping Beauty. The fairy tale begins with a desperate King and Queen wanting a child.
They eventually have a beautiful daughter. Seven fairies found in the realm were invited to be the child’s Godmothers.
Each fairy gives the princess a gift; beauty, angelic, temperament, grace, dancing and singing, sadly the seventh fairy was interrupted. At the christening, a old fairy, who was not invited, arrived at the feast and felt insulted. She placed a curse on the princess. The evil fairly declared,
“the princess should prick her hand with a spindle, and die of it,” (Perrault). The seventh fairy
could not reverse the spell because she did not have a sufficient amount of power, although she altered the curse by casting a spell, “Your daughter shall not die. My power, it is true, is not enough to undo all that my aged kinswoman has decreed. The princess will indeed prick her hand with a spindle. But instead of dying she shall merely fall into a profound slumber that will last a hundred years. At the end of that time a king 's son shall come to awaken her,” (Perrault).
To protect their daughter, the King and Queen banned all spindles. Interestingly the King and
Queen went away and so the princess was exploring the castle, she coincidentally finds a tower with a spindle.She wanted try but she pricked her hand and fainted. Apart from the King and
Queen, a fairy put all the other people and animals in the castle in a deep sleep. They kissed their daughter goodbye and exited the castle before a thick wood of brambles and thorns bounded the castles. Finally the one hundred years had passed. Out in the forest a prince was hunting and heard about the sleeping princess. He wandered to the tangled thorns and brambles and fortunately it opened up for him. The prince found the princess and knelt beside her and she instantly was awaken. Eventually the Prince goes back to his family and informs them he was lost, although his mother,an ogress, became wary. After two years passed, the original king had died and the prince took throne. They made their marriage public and he brought his family to the castle. They had two children, a daughter Aurora and a son, Day. The
King was called into war and left his family and kingdom in the care of his mother. One day, the ogress ordered a steward to cook Aurora for dinner but instead the steward killed a lamb and kept Aurora in the care of his wife. His mother was going to eat Aurora. Soon after the Ogress wanted the Steward to cook Day for dinner and although the Steward killed a goat instead. One day the Ogress heard the children’s voices. She ordered that they be thrown into a vat filled
with snakes, vipers and serpents. Before any harm was brought to the children and Queen, the
King arrived home unexpectedly so the ogress threw herself into the vat.
“Little Briar Rose,” by The Grimm Brothers begins similarly to Perrault’s version.
Like
Perrault, the King and Queen want a heir. Although they are told by a frog that they will bear a daughter. After the birth, the King invited twelve out of the thirteen total wise women in the kingdom because he only had 12 golden plates. In comparison to Perrault’s version there were seven fairies which play the same role as the wise women in this version. Briar Rose received virtue, beauty and wealth.. etc. The thirteenth wise women entered the hall as the last gift was about to be given, the curse she places on the princess is a direct parallel to Perrault’s version.
The twelfth wise women could not undo the spell but decreed that the princess would not die but fall asleep for 100 years. All spindles in the kingdom were to be burned. The day princess turned fifteen, the king and queen were away. Again like Perrault’s the princess was exploring the palace and came across an old woman in the tower spinning flax. She take her turn at spinning flax and pricks her finger, quickly she falls into a deep sleep. Unlike Perrault’s, the deep sleep spread throughout the entire kingdom without the use of magic from the wise …show more content…
women.
The castle was hidden by the briar that grew higher each year. Princes from far and wide came and attempted to break through the hedge but all except one got stuck and died. After one hundred years passed and another prince came and heard about the beautiful princess “Briar
Rose”. When this prince arrived to the hedge, it turned into beautiful flowers and let him effortlessly enter the kingdom. He quickly found Briar Rose in the tower and awoke her with a true loves kiss. Instead of a kiss, Perrault modestly wrote the prince kneeling down to wake the princess. Like in most fairy tales, they lived happily ever after.
“Sleeping Beauty,” produced by Walt Disney is a entertaining film created for young innocent children. As a child there are many messages and themes they will not notice that an adult can analyze and understand. This version of “Sleeping Beauty” is again similar to both although takes different approaches in some scenes. First of all the King is known as “King
Stefan” and his wife “The Queen”. They have a daughter named Aurora. The princess is instantly betrothed to Prince Philip. In the above versions of “Sleeping Beauty”, a betrothal is never mentioned or appointed. King Stefan arranges a celebration for his daughter and invited three fairies; Flora, Fauna and Merryweather. The fairies present gifts to Aurora. Flora’s gift was beauty, Fauna’s gift was song and Merryweather’s gift was a spell to reverse the horrible curse put on the princess by Maleficent. The evil Maleficent was angry because she was not invited to the celebration. Maleficent is not a fairy but a horrid and evil witch. In Disney’s version spindles are referred to as spinning wheels, which must be burned. To fool Maleficent and protect
Aurora the three fairies raise her in a cottage deep in the forest as mortals. Perrault’s and the
Grimm Brother’s versions have the King and Queen away while in this film Aurora was sent away as a baby. They even renamed her “Briar Rose”. Maleficent had been searching for the princess for years so she sent her raven to look. The Fairies send Briar Rose into the forest to gather berries for a surprise birthday cake while they make her a new dress. Briar Rose meets a young man in the forest and they begin to dance and sing “Once Upon a Dream”. She runs away when he asks her name, but she tells him to meet her at the cottage later that evening. Of course the other versions are only a few short pages while Disney’s is a seventy-five minute film, so to lengthen the plot there needed to be extra scenes. Disney is also known for their musical scenes which sets this version apart from the other two. Fairies use magic to create the
most beautiful dress and cake. The raven notices the magic sparkling from the chimney. The fairies must tell Aurora that she is a princess and betrothed because they realize she is in love.
The raven hears all this and returns to Maleficent. Generally animals play a role in fairytales so the ravens character is not surprising, although no animals were used in the above two versions. Back at the kingdom, King Stefan and King Hubert (father of Prince Philip), discuss the marriage of their children when suddenly Prince Phillip returns confessing his love for a peasant in the forest. The fairies take Briar Rose to the castle, she is left alone for just a moment, but curiously follows a glow to the evil Maleficent and pricks her finger and falls into a deep sleep.
Prince Philip is tricked by Maleficent and locked up until the fairies come to the rescue and give him a shield and sword. Prince Philip fights through the briar bordering the castle and a beastly dragon. This is the only version that the rescuing prince must fight someone. He finds Aurora in the castle and wakes her up with a kiss. As usual, they live happily ever after.
Apart from the obvious difference in each of these three versions there are common themes and messages. An obvious theme in many of the princess fairytales is the concept of
“beauty”. Walt Disney’s film portrays “beauty” as having golden hair of sunshine and red lips that make the rose feel the shame. Maleficent (evil) is portrayed as the ugly character making children believe that if you don’t have sunshine hair or red lips you are not good unlike the innocent and beautiful people like Aurora. In these fairy tales, beauty is above honesty, intelligence, and integrity. Outer beauty is valued more than inner beauty. Women are portrayed as weak and helpless in this story because Aurora cries when there is a problem and dreams or waits for her prince to come save her. A message that girls take away from this fairy tale is they should remain passive and wait for their Prince Charming. Interestingly in nearly
every fairy tale the biological mother is barely present, so the queen not having a real name is not surprising. Biological mothers are either dead or seem to remain submissive to the events in the fairytale. There is always a female lead role who is evil and wicked who. The innocent and beautiful women are see as good while the ugly are evil. Aurora’s parents desperately wanted a child and after waiting so long they shelter her. Overly protected children become curious and rebellious teenagers. Especially in Walt Disney’s version, one should know that it is impossible to entirely avoid all the horrid things that could happen to a child. Auroras parents are far too protective of her. “The walls of thorns that arises as protection until the time is right...suitors who come to early perish in the thorn.” (Bettelheim). Women should await their Prince
Charming to rescue her. Most fairy tales center woman as the ones who struggle although
Bruno Bettelheim thought differently, “Selfhood: even when a girl is depicted as turning inward in her struggle to become herself, and a boy as aggressively dealing with the external world, these two together symbolize the two ways in which one has to gain selfhood… the male and female heroes are again projections onto two different figures of two separated aspects of one and the same process which everybody has to undergo in growing up… children know that, whatever the sex of the hero, the story pertains to their own problems.” (Bettelheim).
Bettelheim also believed that the deep sleep Aurora was destined to relates to, “The sleep of the adolescent as narcissism or shutting oneself of from the world, teenages dream of everlasting youth and perfection.
‘only relating positively to the others ‘awakens’ us from the danger of slipping away our life,”’ (Bettelheim). Hatefully woman are depicted as passive and have a lack of socialization in so many fairy tales. Thankfully a variety of the popular fairy tales are being recreated into today’s reality.
As sad as it is knowing how women have been treated and portrayed throughout history in these fairy tales, it is an excellent learning lesson for all. Women should aspire to have self-success and to be independent. Parents also learn from “Sleeping Beauty” by not sheltering their children. Letting them experience life through their eyes and learn from their own mistakes. On the other hand, one should beware of strangers and bizarre sharp objects such as spindles or spinning wheels. Little girls should feel confident and proud of their own unique qualities apart from the perfect princesses in fairy tales and movies. The old Disney princess films are all pale skinned, red lips, either dark or golden hair and perfect voices. Fortunately times have changed and there are a variety of princess movies, that are all captivating in their own way. Fairy tales have come a long way and taught the public so
much.
Works Cited
"A Critical Analysis of Disney 's Sleeping Beauty and Its Lack of Gender-Sensitivity."
Immovable.type
. Tumblr, 2011. Web. 20 Jan. 2015.
Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm. "Little Brier-Rose."
Grimm 050:
. N.p., 14 Nov. 2005. Web.
27 Jan. 2015.
Hogstad, Grace. "Archetypal Interpretation of "Sleeping Beauty": Awakening the Power of
Love."
Www.beforeitsnew.com
. N.p., 30 July 2012. Web. 15 Jan. 2015.
O 'Brien, Aillin. "Comparisons of Three Versions."
Www.latrobe.edu.au
. History of Children 's
Literature, 2 Sept. 2005. Web. 27 Jan. 2015.
Perrault, Charles. "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood."
Perrault:
. New York: Dover Publications,
Inc., 1969, 15 Sept. 2003. Web. 27 Jan. 2015.
Sleeping Beauty
. Prod. Walt Disney. 1959. Videocassette.