To install StudyMoose App tap and then “Add to Home Screen”
Save to my list
Remove from my list
I recently was asked to recall one memory from when I was a child. The first thing that came to mind was when I was younger my family made it almost a tradition to have each one of the children choose a bedtime story, my eyes were always drawn to the beautiful princesses and I likely more times than not chose Cinderella. When you are little you don’t really comprehend that these books were teaching you important life lessons about overall human morals.
Along with these morals, these fairy tales truly serve a purpose and have lasting effects on the readers and those being read to. For instance the very first thing that we are usually introduced to in these stories is “Once upon a time” which in my opinion is used as a small stepping stone to begin the process of your imagining what is still to come. Usually these stories have a likeable character and a villain, someone with evil intentions who is out to hurt the main character and someone who is a good, sweet, and innocent person.
Verified writer
Proficient in: My Favourite Character
4.7 (348)
“ Amazing as always, gave her a week to finish a big assignment and came through way ahead of time. ”
These fairytales are serving the sole purpose of providing imaginary scenarios to children and causing their minds to really make up the rest. Like all stories, fairytales are meant to entertain and teach valuable life lessons such as gratitude, virtue, kindness, and being a person of good morals (Kennedy, 2012). One effect fairy tales have is that the story is told in a way to allow the child to really make up their own minds in regards to how they personally view the good guy or the bad guy, as well as many other things throughout the course of the tale.
The child is being allowed to feel these feelings towards these characters in a safe manner. Fairy tales also model behavior for children such as problem solving or emotional intelligence, and teaching children about class and culture, in eras where these things have been viewed in a multitude of ways, usually negatively. Although, the benefit of teaching children about fairy tales is not just to broaden their imaginations and teach them about good guys and bad guys, they also serve an important educational value to the child being read to. From the educational perspective, young future readers are learning the basics of the story in a thematic and consistent way and help to orient children’s minds around the elements of writing (The Importance of Fairy Tales, 2016). As Albert Einstein states, “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tale. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”
Going back to my own personal experience when my dad would sit down and read these books to me he never explained to me that my favorite Disney princess books were actually being sexist, feminist, etc. In almost every fairytale there is a female figure (often weak, poor, and hopeless) that is relying on a man to swoop in and save them from their living situations or other problems. These books really emphasize that women can’t be anything without the help of a male figure by their side. In these fairytales women were looked down upon and consistently being compared to the manly/hero figures. It is shocking to realize how much we really don’t know about fairytales. When we think of fairytales we are mainly focused on the feelings of nostalgia and those stories in which we were told when we were younger, the ones past down from generation to generation we don’t think that these tales are in any way gruesome and negative.
The story I want to analyze for the remainder of this paper is Sleeping Beauty. I chose this specific story because from my research there are many people who believe that this story includes darkness and evil and I wanted to see for myself. There are many versions of the tale “Sleeping Beauty” as she was even was known by many different names such as Sleeping Beauty, Talia, Little Briar Rose, Rosamond, or Aurora (“A Summary and Analysis”, 2020).
As learned during my research “the central conflict in Sleeping Beauty is not the romance between her and the prince or the conflict between Maleficent and Aurora’s parents rather the sole conflict of the whole story is really focused on the Good Fairies and their battle with Maleficent. These Fairies are also really the only characters who are changing from the beginning to the end of this story” (Butler, et al.). Joseph Alexander states the following in his analysis of the story that “Sleeping Beauty is a fairy-tale that has enchanted the hearts of children and adults since time immemorial. One reason for its longevity rests on the spiritual intent, which seems to be far greater than the literary content. The story is actually build on the universal theme of the psyche’s search for self-realization or the souls path toward self-knowledge. The story also makes many connections to the concept of reincarnation and how the shadow side of the psyche if too dominant, can cause a person to fear their life”.
Common elements of fairy tales in the Sleeping Beauty tale are magic, human weakness explored, sleep or death-like trances, talking animals, guardians, human strengths glorified, themes such as true loves conquers all and pure good will vanquish pure evil, using magical powers, the fairies help the prince to escape the antagonist character, Maleficient’s dungeon and fight in a battle with her for the good of the kingdom and the life of the Princess. (SparkNotes: Sleeping Beauty: Key Facts, 2013). Some other themes in this tale are dreams and animation.
Sleeping Beauty serves to teach all of its reader’s a few lessons, such as be cautious with strangers, excluding others can cause bigger problems and trouble, keeping secrets might cause problems, patience is virtue, take the warnings of your elders seriously, love takes time, and family is our greatest support and many more (10 Lessons, 2012).
In conclusion, although there are many hidden darker themes and elements that are masked within our fairy tales we were told when younger, there are many benefits to reading these stories and continuing to share them from generation to generation. These stories teach children many important life lessons from a young age and give them the ability to make their minds up in regards to how they want to personally view the characters and situations, whether good or bad. In my opinion, giving children the ability to utilize their imagination is like giving a person a blank canvas, brushes, and no instructions. It allows them to freely express themselves and choose their own interpretation of many themes.
It gives them the ability to make up their mind about things and not be corrected or told that they are wrong. It is important at a young age to allow children to utilize their vivid imaginations and exercise it as well. As stated by Katherine Paterson, “it is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading. Something that will stretch their imaginations- something that will help them make sense of their own lives and encourage them to reach out toward people whose lives are quite difference from their own (Top 25, 2020).
Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand, another great quote from Albert Einstein.
Fairytales: The Good Versus The Bad. (2022, Mar 26). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/fairytales-the-good-versus-the-bad-essay
👋 Hi! I’m your smart assistant Amy!
Don’t know where to start? Type your requirements and I’ll connect you to an academic expert within 3 minutes.
get help with your assignment
