1. What Fairy Tales Teach Us
English 9

2. Positives and Negatives
Fairy tales are more than just entertaining stories. They were originally meant to teach valuable life lessons and morals (rules for what is right and what is wrong).
Although hundreds of years have passed since many fairy tales were originally told, they still teach us positive and negative lessons.

3. Positives Fairy Tales teach what life is about.
Young children do not always understand complex issues or ideas about morals and fairy tales provide some basic lessons. Fairy tales also teach children strategies for dealing with scary concepts such as death and abandonment.
For example, “Cinderella” teaches children that sometimes a parent dies and the other parent remarries.

4. 2. Fairy Tales teach emotions.
Children have very strong emotions and often don’t know how to express them. Fairy tale heroes and heroines have strong feelings as well, but they are exaggerated for effect. The exaggeration makes the emotions funny, but also helps children recognize the emotions in themselves. For example, in “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” each dwarf has a distinctive personality trait.
2. Fairy Tales teach emotions.

5. 3. Fairy Tales Teach that actions have consequences.
Fairy tales teach children what good people and bad people are like. As well, fairy tales teach what happens when people are good or bad. Good actions are rewarded and bad actions are punished.
For example, in “Beauty and the Beast” the Beast is turned into a horrible creature as punishment for being vain and cruel.

6. 4. Fairy tales teach children how to be strong and resourceful.
The children in fairy tales often need to think of creative ways to save themselves from dangerous or emotionally upsetting situations. The stories teach these strategies to children. For example, in “Hansel and Gretel” the two children must find their way out of a forest and stop an evil witch.

7. 5. Fairy Tales teach ways of dealing with dark and disturbing fears.
Many fairy tales are allegorical, meaning there is a deeper lesson within the story. Most children do not pick up on the allegorical lesson until they are older. For example, “Little Red Riding Hood” on the surface is about a girl who outsmarts a wolf. However, the allegorical tale is about protecting yourself from strangers. For women there is an even deeper allegorical tale about the dangers of being independent.

8. The Negatives
Fairy Tales teach violence and violence is often rewarded.
The heroes and heroines of fairy tales often use violence to defeat the villains. Children learn that violence solves problems.
For example, in “Hansel and Gretel,” Gretel burns the witch alive and is rewarded by finding the witch’s jewels.

9. 2. Fairy tales teach dependence on magic.
Many of the heroes and heroines use magic or magical sidekicks to defeat evil. In the real world there are no magical powers or sidekicks. For example, in “Cinderella,” Cinderella gets to go to the ball because her fairy godmother rewards her.

10. 3. Fairy Tales teach questionable values.
This is mostly due the time they were written. They reflect the values of the time period. However, they are still full of questionable stereotypes. Fairy Tale characters are archetype characters. They are repetitive and fit into specific patterns and stereotypes. Ex. The villain is always ugly.
3. Fairy Tales teach questionable values.

11. The stereotypes we see when we read fairy tales are negative; however, when most fairy tales were written the stereotypes taught children how they were supposed to act.
The stories are often violent and gruesome to reflect the times the children would have lived in. The stories were published in the 1800s, but the stories are from as early as the 1300s.
From the 1300s to the 1800s there were often outbreaks of plague and famine and life was gruesome and violent.

12. Gender Stereotypes
Men were supposed to be strong, brave, and smart. They were to provide for their families and be in control of their wives and daughters. In fairy tales, whenever a man doesn’t control his wife there are horrible consequences.
Young boys were supposed to be brave and rambunctious, but had to learn to be a proper man at a young age.

13. Gender Stereotypes
Women were supposed to be virtuous, obedient, passive, and know their place. They are wicked and will do horrible things unless they have a husband or father to control them. Older women were often widows and were not to be trusted.
Young girls could intelligent and mature, but have to obey the men in their lives or else there are bad consequences. Young girls are often seen as pure and innocent, but can be wicked.

14. Common Stereotypes in Classic Fairy Tales
The Weak Husband: He gives into his wife’s nagging with disastrous results.
The Evil Stepmother: She attacks her step children out of jealousy or natural wickedness. She is often punished in horrific ways.
The Damsel in Distress: She is beautiful, innocent, and passive. Usually someone or something attacks her and her response is to wait until she is rescued. Despite her good behaviour, she is often accused of being wicked. She is usually rewarded for her good behaviour through marriage to a prince.

15. 4. The Handsome Prince: He is usually the hero who stumbles upon the Damsel in Distress and saves her. He is often a hunter and skilled with a sword. 5. The Animal Helper: An animal that can talk and helps or warns the hero or heroine. Sometimes the animal is magical and grants wishes. 6. The Old Woman: Usually magical, the woman may be good or evil. She may assist or punish the hero or heroine. 7. The Witch: An old and ugly woman who punishes the innocent and usually like to eat children.

16. Even today, fairy tales are constantly being changed to avoid stereotypes. However, fairy tales still contain many stereotypes.
For example, the Disney Princesses and heroes were always white and beautiful until the mid 90s when the movies Aladdin, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan, and Pocahontas came out.
Even then, racial stereotypes were applied.

17. As well, until recently the princesses were often rescued by a hero
As well, until recently the princesses were often rescued by a hero. It was not until new fairy tale adaptations like Once Upon a Time, Frozen and Snow White and the Huntsman that the princesses were not rescued by a hero.
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