Iron Hans begins with the story of a king who sends a huntsman into the forest who never returns. The next day he sends two huntsmen who never return. What does he do the following day? Sends more huntsmen who meet the same fate. It is only after failing three times that the king can learn not to send anymore into the forest. This in itself says a great deal about the male educational process.
The same educational process happens with the boy. He has a simple task: keep things out of the water, yet he fails three times. Only then can he move on to another task. It takes the boy three requests of Iron Hans before he can win the war. Iron Hans also must have his name called three times before he can respond. All of this repetition, while required my male stubbornness or stupidity, is nevertheless rewarded by riches, weddings, or spells breaking.
Funny how females never get a second chance. They drop the key once and they deserve to die.
This whole 3 mistakes thing absolutely falls along the same lines as "boys will be boys". The idea that boys will make mistakes and must be forgiven for them to grow into me pervades into our society today. Boys make mistakes and cross all kinds of lines, and girls sit peacefully and observe without ever making mistakes. Fair? Probably not, but it does scientifically prove that boys are slow learners.
ReplyDeletelol I agree with your analysis. In comparing Iron Hans to the other stories, females have less amount of room for error. Maybe this signifies that women are expected and brought up to be successful instead of error prone. All I can say is opposites attract lol. The accuracy of the woman is meant to nullify the failure of the man.
ReplyDeleteAlthough clearly misogynist, this difference illustrate an important insight into the beliefs and customs of the period. The males are allowed, even expected, a symbolic three errors, whereas the woman is punished after a single error. Males are expected to grow, learn, and mature, whereas females are expected to automatically fulfill their expected role. That is, men must learn and grow into their myriad of roles, but women are given no such leeway for mistakes in their own expected undertakings. Even tho the queen's task is to safeguard the key, it is still a "domestic" task that pertains to the management of the household.
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