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Full-Text Articles in German Literature

What Makes A Woman "Pious And Good": The Function Of Several Grimm Brothers' Cautionary Fairy Tales, Hannah Montante May 2023

What Makes A Woman "Pious And Good": The Function Of Several Grimm Brothers' Cautionary Fairy Tales, Hannah Montante

English (MA) Theses

This thesis explores how several of the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales, “Little Snow-white and the seven dwarfs,” “The Juniper Tree,” and “Cinderella” exhibit patriarchal expectations of women that fairy tale protagonists strive to uphold, while female villains feel driven to violence and artifice because of their inability to fit into this role. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published these stories in nineteenth-century Germany, which was predominantly Protestant and held the belief that women should be nurturing homemakers who took care of their husbands and children. These cautionary tales instruct women on how to behave and appear physically, likely because these stories …


Frauen Und Geschlechter In Märchen: Von Der Gebrüder Grimm Zu Disney, Harrison W. Lawrence Apr 2015

Frauen Und Geschlechter In Märchen: Von Der Gebrüder Grimm Zu Disney, Harrison W. Lawrence

Senior Theses and Projects

This thesis explores the representation of gender in fairy tales. Gender is among the most fundamental social constructs. Every culture has unique gender roles, and these roles must be taught to members of a society from a very young age. One of the oldest, and most successful methods of teaching gender roles to people of all ages is through fairy tales. In this thesis I demonstrate many of the subtle ways in which fairy tales are able to communicate powerful lessons about gender. The Grimm Brother’s Kinder und Hausmärchen transformed the fairy tale from oral tradition to literary genre. As …