After reading tale after tale encouraging female servitude and general obedience of men, I was wonderfully encouraged by the Twelve Brothers/Seven Ravens/Six Swans stories. These are my kind of stories. First, there are lots of brothers. I have brothers; I can relate. Second, the sister likes her brothers. I like my brothers. Third, the sister is both devoted and independent. She is my kind of role model.
In "The Twelve Brothers", the sister leaves her life of leisure in a kingdom fit for twelve princes to go save a group of boys whom she has never met. She is happy to live in the forest, as long as she can be with her brothers. She is independent with solid family values. She seems a little ahead of her time. Even when she accidentally the boys into ravens, she was only trying to bring them small gifts. After realizing her mistake, she is ready to continue her devotion to her brothers by initiating an almost decade-long Silent Treatment.
Now, as she is sitting thinking about how she can never talk or laugh because it's what's right for her brothers, a prince comes along offering kingdom number two. The sister, still not one to be swayed, continues to keep her mouth shut while still exuding the siren-esque sex appeal necessary to woo royalty. She endures years of blasphemy from a jealous mother-in-law, and on her death pyre is finally able to reveal to everyone how she has been perfect for the past seven years. Last but not least, she gets to stick it to the wretch and subject her to snakebites as she boils in oil.
The sister's independence, loyalty, romantic prowess, and sense of vengeance make her my kind of girl, and this is my kind of tale.
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I also found it refreshingly different to have a female protagonist in these tales who is not merely the perfect picture of obedient domesticity. The kind of independent woman described in these tales is rarely seen in 19th century society, where the woman's place was in the home subservient to men. The sisters in these tales make their own decisions and stoically stand by them even in the face of royal men persuading them to speak. I think that this type of fairy tale is one of the less common fairy tales.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I love the fact that these stories exhibited a strong female model. When her Prince Charming came, she did not immediately give into his whim. Instead, she followed through with her will, determined to single-handedly save her brothers. She actively remained silent, even when it meant certain death, only to be saved by the end. I like that her powerful determination, rather than her obedience, was rewarded.
ReplyDeleteWhile the independence and strength of the sister is certainly refreshing in a genre that is rather generally sexist, the stories almost seem to be sending mixed messages. The sister is independent, takes it upon herself to save her brothers, and perseveres through hardship to accomplish this goal, the "trials" that she undertakes are disturbingly chauvinistic. She is either forced into a solely domestic role for years at a time, or is completely silent for years. While the domestic tasks can be viewed as a heroic "labor" much like the Herculean Tasks, the forced silence is particularly disturbing to me. It almost seems to be reinforcing gender stereotypes, specifically that women should be seen and not heard (1 Corinthians 14:34).
ReplyDeleteRegardless, these tales are a definite step forward from the domestic princess who must wait for a male to come and rescue her. While I realize it is most likely NOT a step forward, and I have absolutely no evidence to support the belief that these tales are promoting a forward thinking feminist agenda, the strong heroines of these tales are nonetheless refreshing.
In contrast to The Three Spinners and The Frog Prince it was nice to read a story where the lead female character actually DID something to deserve her happy ending. I do agree with Ryan as well though, that the trials she had to endure were definitely indicative of how men viewed women's roles at the time. But over all I enjoyed this story much more because it required her to do something before she was rewarded, while in the other stories responsibility was evaded and then rewarded anyway.
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