Women in Fairy Tales
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Fairy tales have been around for hundreds of years. In 1697, the work appeared of pioneer fairy tale writer Charles Perrault, then came Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm whose work appeared in 1812, and later Hans Christian Andersen whose collections appeared in 1837 (Oates). These fairy tales have since inspired many revisions in literature, theater, and in television and movies. Many fairy tale-like movies such as Pretty Woman, Ever After, Maid in Manhattan, and Bridget Jones Diary, have become just as well known and appealing as the original fairy tales they derived from. Within the tales, women are beautiful daughters, evil stepmothers and stepsisters, trusted servants, and even fairies. Women are at the center of action in most fairy tales, and their actions and relationships with each other and the world around tell a lot about how women are expected to be (Hoffman). Women in fairy tales are portrayed as being beautiful, in competition with other women, and valued by men for their moral goodness.
Women in fairy tales, mainly the main woman character, possess many ideal qualities. One of those qualities, which is a necessity in ending up with the prince, is physical beauty. "In the great majority of the tales, to be a heroine, in even a limited sense requires extreme youth and extreme physical beauty; it would not be sufficient to be merely beautiful, one must be "the greatest beauty in the kingdom"-"the fairest in the land" (Oates)...