In earlier times, the parents played a much larger role in the selection of spouses than they do in the current age. This was related to a number of factors but is primarily an artifact of the level of technology and content of morality at the time which affected the culture and the norms by which spouses were selected. Just as in the Frog King and in Hans My Hedgehog the father practically orders the daughter as to whom she should marry, the role of selecting a mate was out of the girls' hands. Instead of being given a choice, they were used as a form of bartering chip (for wealth or prestige or safety) because that was seen as their primary purpose and their role as daughter.
From a historical perspective, the concept of familial duty, long since forgotten in Western culture, was of utmost importance. Back then, the fourth commandment actually meant something to the culture as a whole.
From a psychoanalytic perspective, the parental figure(s) is necessary to the tale type because in order to successfully mate, the child must emancipate him/herself from the parents. This allows them to break the parental chains that bind them in order to enter into the bond of marriage.
From a religious perspective, God teaches that children must love honor and obey in their marriages, skills which are taught to them through the appropriate upbringing by their parents and a pious relation to the creator. Otherwise, the daughter is a slut… or something like that.
From a symbolic perspective, the daughter must be passed from one familial world into the next, a sort of handing off of the girl from the father to the husband. This is also why the father must walk down the aisle with his daughter in order to "give her away" at her wedding.
From a contextual perspective, the use of a family background as presented in the deportment and social standing of the parent(s) gives context to the action of the plot and, in at least one sense, justifies the actions of the character(s).
From the nihilist perspective, nothing matters, so why do we even care…
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I forgot to add the ever-important feminist perspective, so I will do so here in order to appease the goddess...
ReplyDeleteFrom the feminist perspective, in a patriarchic society, it is necessary for the male to be ever-present in order to assert his dominance over the female. Thus, it is only natural that, in order to disenfranchise the female character and assure that the patriarchy is not subverted, the female character must be dominated by a father-figure up until the point at which the husband replaces the father in the dominant role.