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Author
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Comment
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Mahlerfan
Registered User
(5/8/03 3:26 am)
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A Question About Heroes
I recently read that the heroes of fairy tales are always either children, foolish/naive people, or poor people. Is this true without exception? Are there no fairy tales where the hero is actually a prince, a knight, a warrior, etc?
Thanks in advance to any who reply.
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Mahlerfan
Registered User
(5/8/03 3:37 am)
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Re: A Question About Heroes
Just to clarify:
By "hero"/"heroine" I mean the main protagonist. There is a brave prince in Sleeping Beauty, for example, but Briar Rose is the true star of the piece.
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denag
Registered User
(5/8/03 4:23 am)
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heroes
Do you think that is always the case though?
I haven't read enough retellings to know yet, but isn't it possible for the real hero of a tale to vary between versions, according to the perspective of the teller.
Or, might different audiences view the same version in different ways, picking out their own hero from the story based on their personal values?
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Jane Yolen
Unregistered User
(5/8/03 5:06 am)
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Rich folk
Sleeping Beauty IS a princess, Snow White IS a princess, Cinderella is a rich girl whose patrimony has been taken away, so already your thesis is called into question. Of COURSE there are stories--thousands of them--in which a prince or king or queen or princess or someone wealthy is the protagonist. And thousands of others in which the main character is poor or naive or foolish.
Folklore is protean and rich and many things/beings.characters can be found there.
Jane Yolen
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Mahlerfan
Registered User
(5/8/03 5:35 am)
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Re: Rich folk
Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Snow White may not qualify as poor but they probably all qualify as children. Snow White's age is even given as seven in the translation of the text I have.
Just to be clear: This isn't my "thesis". It is just something I read recently and I wondered if it was true.
Can anyone name a fairy tale where the central character is actually a prince or a knight?
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Mahlerfan
Registered User
(5/8/03 5:39 am)
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Re: Rich folk
I just checked and Sleeping Beauty's age is given as fifteen when she pricks her finger and falls asleep.
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Jane Yolen
Unregistered User
(5/8/03 4:25 pm)
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Princes/Knights as heroes
Okay--I will look at one international collection (my own, actually) and give you titles. There are thousands of such stories: The White Cat (prince, France); The Longwitton Dragon (knight); The King of Ireland's Son (prince, Ireland);Sister Alionushka, Brother Ivanushka (prince, Russia) And that's with one quick look.
Jane
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Mahlerfan
Registered User
(5/10/03 2:21 am)
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Re: A Question About Heroes
Thanks for your help, Jane. I appreciate it.
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Rose Deo
Unregistered User
(5/12/03 1:20 pm)
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heroes/heroines
the one thing that I have found is that often when the main protagonist is a Prince rather than a simpleton or poor man, he is nearly always the youngest son of 3, or the son least thought to be capable of taking on a task (e.g. The golden bird by Grimm). So perhaps while it is difficult to make a global statement about the characteristics of the main protagonists in terms of whether they are simple or poor or children, it might be in keeping to say that they are either vulnerable or perceived as lacking in some manner?
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Jess
Unregistered User
(5/12/03 6:18 pm)
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A different twist
In the Arabian Nights, one of the key characters (in some respects a protagonist, in others a the recipient of the tale) is the Caliph Harun al-Rashid, who was a real person. While these tales often involve commoners, the Caliph inevitabley uses the lessons learned to be a better ruler.
Jess
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Rosemary
Lake
Registered User
(5/18/03 5:14 pm)
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Re: heroes/heroines
I can think of two pretty strong exceptions. In “Old Rinkrank” (a very short story left out of later editions of Grimm), a princess much beloved by her widowed father confidently reaches out to help a prince who wants to marry her. (She is then kidnapped by an evil dwarf and escapes cleverly.)
In ‘El granzio’, a tale published by Bernoni around 1873 in FIABE POPOLARI VENEZIANE, again a princess spoiled by her widowed father reaches out bravely and confidently to help a prince. Calvino retold this a “The Crab Prince,” and I (working driectlly from Bernoni’s version) retold it as “The Enchanted Crab.”
I saw this sort of pattern all through ITALIAN FOLK TALES. The heroines whose parents ‘spoiled’ them went out and did brave generous deeds (or at least brave deeds.)
Still, these aren’t stories that got popularized in the Perrault-pretty canon....
Rosemary
www.rosemarylake.com
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Valkith
Registered User
(5/24/03 12:20 am)
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Re: heroes/heroines
You also forgot cat.
Regardless of the Miller's son becoming a prince at the end of the story; Puss in Boots was the hero of the story doing everything for his Master, who is namelss until Puss starts calling him the Marquis of Carabas
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