Gender Stereotypes In Grimm's Fairy Tales

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As a children we have all come to familiarity with the cliché plotlines of princess fairytale stories depicted in Disney classics and in novels, a true love’s kiss, magical creatures, and most importantly the role of females. These “harmless” stories established normality to domination of males and lower hierarchy characteristics present to females during childhood. Social conventions are placed in fairy tale characters, so at a young age, they can relate their behaviors, attitudes, and goals being placed in their minds. Fairy tales establish appropriate desire as well as appropriate behavior. As the reader’s or listener’s attention is drawn to individual characters desires and values, young children, especially young girls, recognize them …show more content…
You that have no dress and no shoes! You want to dance!” In other words, the stepmother believes that Cinderella’s appearance is to ridiculous to attend the festival to begin with. Her speech implies that society doesn’t accept an unkempt woman, that all women should be clean and sophisticated. Cinderella could waltz out of her home in her rags and bare feet to the ball but of course that is just an embarrassing move in her part. Arriving in such a high class event dressed in rags would not only bring a bad name to herself but also her family decrementing the chances of the sisters being one of the chosen maidens to become the Prince’s bride. The mother-in-law, introduced in the third stanza of “The Little Glass Slipper”, again ridicules Cinderella’s physical appearance “it would make the people laugh to see a Cinderwench at a ball.”(pg.66) This idea of what is acquired in society introduces the idea to young girls that if their physical appearance is not up to scale with what is appropriate and “trendy” today society will never welcome them for whom they are. This brings in the relationship between vanity and necessities; it is not a necessity to have lavish materialistic objects to live a successful life but becomes one’s desire to obtain these things to be able to feel as one with what everyone else desires to
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