Grim Fairy Tales: the Role of Rhetoric
in Gender Roles and Sexuality
Sara Ward

            "If...what we call 'society,' or even more grandly, 'reality' itself, is largely constructed and represented to ourselves and others through language, then language and discourse are paramount" (Romaine xi). Suzanne Romaine accepts the argument that our reality is formed by the ways in which we can interpret and understand language. Language is the ultimate medium through which knowledge--culture, norms, mores, ideas--is distributed. If we accept the notion that reality is subjective, an assumption that Romaine makes, then each individual begins to fashion his or her own reality based on the information gathered through language. Depending upon how that language is filtered, (i.e., What rhetorical techniques are employed? What is the specific frame of reference that colors the delivery of the information? What schema has the audience applied?) an absolute idea is molded into some subjective interpretation--it takes on a personal meaning for the individual of an audience, and ultimately, a whole society. A closer look at the rhetoric that comes into play during the formative years of childhood, then, will do much to elucidate some culturally-enforced gender-appropriate roles as well as reveal attitudes towards sexuality.

From the standpoint of evaluating gender roles, I have looked at three popular fairy tales: Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella. Immediately, there are striking similarities among the three stories. Beautiful princess-like young women are the stories’ protagonists, the leading ladies meet a challenge in trying to court some regal young man (an event around which all other action in the story is oriented), the stories remove the woman’s biological mother (instead a “surrogate mother” is elected), and the protagonists are antithesized in the form of some wicked old woman. There is a significant consequence of the similarities found between these three stories, not to mention most other fairy tales. The central idea in most of these tales, though it is not necessarily explicit, is that a “good,” innocent and pure, beautiful and youthful woman must conquer the “bad,” wicked and deceitful, ugly and old witch in order to win the prize that is being with a man.

The time in which these tales originated was not a medically advanced time--it was not uncommon for mothers to die in childbirth. The replacement of the biological mother with a surrogate mother-figure reflects this circumstance, but it also reflects a significant tradition in terms of gender roles. Nursery rhymes and fairy tales were manifestations of a mother’s tending to her children, a task men of this time felt a woman’s role should be limited to. Traditionally, women were in charge of domestic duties, to include rearing the children. This frame of understanding is implicit in the literature of the day, and more specifically, in fairy tales. Because these tales were often explicitly didactic, teaching values and other important life lessons, children were (and still are) especially receptive to those messages communicated. Children operate within the schema that “mother knows best.” They might not have the critical skills necessary to challenge the way things are, even if they can recognize that these tales establish strong lines of dissension between what it is to be male and what it is to be female. Subtleties are conveyed that reveal to young children what their specific role in life should be. The woman’s role was limited not only to breeder, but also to caretaker. This is evident in the tradition to introduce a mother-replacement (caretaker) for an absent biological mother (breeder).

Not only do young boys and girls learn that the woman’s role is in the house, but young girls also learn what it means to be a proper woman. It is not coincidental that physically beautiful characters are paired with outstanding virtues. Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella are all portrayed as the innocent and pure objects of some evil plot initialized by the wicked old witch, a stock character that pairs unsightliness with “evil” qualities such as aggression, power, and even intelligence. Young girls are quick to see that physical beauty, grace, innocence (which can be translated to ignorance), and even silence (in Sleeping Beauty, for example) are all ways in which women can conquer the forces of evil, and by so doing, achieve the ultimate life victory--getting the guy.

Fairy tales, however, do more than establish traditional gender roles. Views towards sexuality also intercede the core plot of the tales. One interesting example of underlying attitudes towards sexuality is The Little Mermaid. The young mermaid, Ariel, has a chance meeting with young Prince Eric, a meeting that instantly instigates her growing obsession to be with him. The challenge, unfortunately for Ariel, is that she, being the sea-dwelling creature she is, cannot survive on land. She ultimately sacrifices her voice for a pair of legs to allow her and Eric to be together. This one sacrifice has many implications. Sheldon Cashdan points out the symbolism involved in trading her fins for a pair of legs. “Aside from allowing those who possess them to walk about, legs part to reveal the female genitalia. As long as she has a tail, the Little Mermaid's chances of attracting the prince...are virtually nonexistent” (Cashdan 165).

Ariel is willing to undergo any sacrifice to permit her union with the prince. She forges a deal with the sea-witch, Ursula, to surrender her voice for a pair of legs. Ariel will sacrifice it all simply to engage in sexual intercourse. Here, too, lies some interesting symbolism. Ariel gives up her voice, the medium of her intellect, in order to attract Eric. This implies that a man’s attraction to a woman is based on her physical appearance alone--it has nothing to do with how she is able to verbally represent herself. It also insinuates that all a woman wants is sex--at any cost.

Ursula, herself, is really sex in disguise. She "oozes sexuality from every pore: gigantic breasts threaten to spill over the edge of the screen, lascivious eyes peer out from beneath arched eyebrows, sensual lips promise pleasure" (Cashdan 170). Marina Warner, author of From the Beast to the Blond calls her a “uterus on the loose.” As Cashdan points out, during the time these tales were written, members of society were "forced to adhere to prevailing social codes and the need to appear 'proper,'” and as a result, many “led double lives, maintaining high moral standards for public consumption while indulging private desires by means of fantasy or clandestine behavior" (Cashdan 160). In a time when sexuality was suppressed, traditional views towards sexuality managed to make public appearances via children’s fairy tales.

By so supplanting stories targeted towards children, fairy tale authors have ultimately fashioned their fantasies into the reality of the children and mothers reading their stories. The heroines of the tales and their explicit attitudes towards men and the “evil” virtues of wicked old women, as well as their implicit attitudes regarding their station in life, all contribute in an important way in terms of how children learn to understand gender. Boys and girls learn what it means to be classified as a boy or girl and what they must do to properly maintain that distinction. Boys must be valiant and regal; girls must be beautiful and pure and must also look to the boy for a sense of self-actualization--true happiness is apparently directly linked to being with a man. However strongly we may challenge this frame of understanding, it still exists in fairy tales, and I believe it contributes to the perpetuation of those gender ideals.

Works Cited

Cashdan, Sheldon. The Witch Must Die: How Fairy Tales Shape Our Lives. New York: Basic Books, 1999.

Romaine, Suzanne. Communicating Gender. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1999.