Character Analysis: The Pig King

The Beast character in Jeanne-Marie Leprince De Beaumont’s 1756 version of Beauty and the Beast is the most common and notable to an individual with general knowledge of fairy tales. He is depicted as a creature with an intimidating appearance, but a kind and gentle personality. Beaumont’s Beast is portrayed as a hero when he rescues Beauty’s father, a gentleman by actually taking the time to prepare a room for Beauty, and perhaps even a needy and clingy man in which Beauty’s departure of more than 2 weeks causes him to become ill to the point of being at the brink of death towards the end of the story. In contrast, we have an alternative version of the Beast known as the Pig Prince from Giovanni Francesco Straparola’s story The Pig King. This “Beast” takes the form of a pig and is actually born as one in the beginning of the story. Despite his appearance, the pig was overconfident, demanding, and mirrored a very witty and mischievous monarch. The Pig Prince became the protagonist of his own story and his “Beauty,” Meldina, only served as the woman who would appease his wishes of getting married.

One could argue that the Pig Prince could have gained his spoiled and arrogant mindset by the way he was raised. His mother never once gave up on him and, as a piglet, was raised like royalty. He grew accustomed to his pig-like self and was taught to not be ashamed of his outer appearance since he was still a prince on the inside. Despite the fact that he grew older, his nasty habits of wallowing in the mud or dirt and rubbing “his sides against [his parents’] garments” never once receded and seemed to accentuate the pig persona he had developed over the years of his life. In contrast to Beaumont’s Beast who seems to be ashamed of his appearance, the Pig Prince is raised to accept his appearance and perhaps lives in a delusional world that a prince with the appearance of a pig was actually considered normal.

Overlooking the pig related impulses the prince has in the story, he still acts like royalty and demands that he be wed to a beautiful girl of his choosing. When he gets the opportunity to meet his betrothed, his interactions with her may be interpreted as abnormal to the average person, but if one takes a closer look, his nuzzling and dirtying of his betrothed’s garments is a sign of affection. In his own way, the Pig Prince shows his affection through his pig-like persona which has been accepted by his parents. When this love is rejected and he overhears his betrothed planning to murder him, the prince is quick to murder the woman he had once loved. Although it may difficult to sympathize with a murderer, the Pig Prince is experiencing insecurity from a judgmental person for the first time and one cannot help but wonder the pain in his heart when he discovers that his betrothed is plotting to kill him. Coincidentally enough, he is judged again by the second sister and murders her as well. Could it be that the Pig Prince is so prideful that any sign of being judged will put him into a fit of murderous rage?

Now we all know the common routine of fairy tales such as “third time is a charm” and the moral of not judging a book by its cover, but what exactly can a reader call the Pig Prince in this story? Beaumont’s Beast asks Beauty to marry him and it is only until the third time that he gets his wish, on the other hand, the pig prince murders two sisters to get to the third and youngest sister, who willingly accepts his proposal. Moreover, judging a book by its cover should really be considered when discussing Straparola’s murderous pig prince. Towards the end of the story we discover a pivotal point in which he has apparently been wearing a pig skin the whole time. Now why would he wear a pig skin? One could assert that he was merely testing his wife candidates. Of course, we have to overlook the fact that he murdered two girls and tip our hats off to him for being so conniving to be able to come up with such a genius plan. What can we call this character? A villain, an anti-hero, perhaps even an evil genius! We do not encounter these kinds of protagonists that often in fairy tales and it is interesting to note that he may be symbolizing the reward a daughter gets when she accepts her husband for who they are… because if they do not, then death is the only option.

“Surely you jest!” you may interject, but I kid you not! Let us not forget the time period this was written in and how arranged marriages went accordingly. To the contemporary mind, a woman should choose the man she wishes to spend the rest of her life with, but back then it was not the woman’s decision. In fact, our lovable prince pig handpicked his ideal wife and demanded their hand in marriage. He was a jerk, but an intelligent and sneaky one at that. A woman who willingly accepts the man selected for them by their parents would most likely be rewarded, in this story’s case a handsome prince who has a bad habit of dressing up as a pig. The action of murdering the two sisters who rejected his love showed the consequences of going against their parents’ wishes. Undoubtedly, one should probably not take this literally as it can be inferred that murder and whatnot in fairy tales were meant to deter a child from doing something bad that was against their parents’ wishes.

Finally, this character is very important to the story seeing as he is the protagonist of the story. Perhaps if we replaced him with Beaumont’s Beast here would be less “casualties” and more of Beast’s self-loathing and moping for being rejected by the first sister. I do not think Beaumont’s Beast would be able to handle rejection twice like the pig prince.

The Little Mermaid’s Character Quest for Immortality

In Hans Christian Anderson’s story The Little Mermaid, we are given a poignant portrayal of a young girl’s superficial search for love and freedom, juxtaposed with an intrinsic quest for an immortal soul. It is this quest, Anderson suggests, which is an internal need and hope for our heroine. On the surface, the story is an aching narrative of silent despair and unrequited love. The little mermaid sacrifices her family and the only home she has ever known, to obtain only the friendship of the prince and have to mutely watch him sign her death warrant as he marries someone else.

The little mermaid (it is taking serious restraint for me not to call her Ariel) is a character of conflicting traits. Largely, the girl beneath the sea is completely different than the girl above the sea. The implications of her actions down below tell us certain things about her character: For years she pines for her fifteenth birthday so that she can see the world above- passionate; she puts herself in substantial danger by saving the prince from the shipwreck- brave; she leaves her entire family and her home for an unknown land where her very existence hangs in the balance- daring, and perhaps a little foolish; she thinks nothing of how her departure will affect her family- not wrong by any means, but definitely a selfish characteristic . The picture that these details conjure in our heads, a modern heroine’s illustration to be sure, are proved time and time again to be wrong once she reaches the land. The little mermaid makes no gestures to win over the prince. She is devoted to him, but any traces of her passions are gone. She seems content to watch him look at her as simply a friend, and to marry someone else. Logic seems to suggest she would find another means to communicate with him yet no measures are taken. She is as thoughtful as she always was, yet now she is selfless and a figure of quiet suffering and pain. In the end, she sacrifices her own life and saves her prince who ignorantly ruined her life. The passionate daring child of the sea is gone, replaced by a young woman who has experienced great heartbreak.

This journey of character, and the very end of the Anderson’s story, suggests greatly that the little mermaid’s life has been a quest for an immortal soul.. The trials she experiences as a human—her tongue being cut out by the sea witch, the pain and mutilation of her tail into legs, that each steps she takes will feel as if she is walking on knife points—these experiences are the quintessential example of obstacles set before a hero on a quest. And it is these obstacles that prompt the question For what? The answer to this is not the humanly reward of love or earthly happiness, but instead the heavenly hope of an afterlife. She is given three hundred years to become pure, with the eventual pay off, if she works hard enough, being the obtainment of a soul. If she is virtuous, she can achieve a fate greater than becoming sea foam, thoughtlessly floating on the waves. This, I believe, is what Anderson is attempting to relay to children. That the little mermaid was a soulless creature who cast aside passion and selfishness to live a life of piety and quiet self-sacrifice so that she may gain entrance to the kingdom of heaven. And most importantly—she did not obtain this opportunity by snaring a husband, but instead by self-sacrifice and silent devotion to virtue. Attempting to find a happy motivation in this story is impossible and I am at a loss as to why Anderson would inflict the idea of such quiet suffering on children. But it is clear through his writing that the little mermaid’s journey from the sea to the land, and ultimately to the sky and heaven, is one of great depth and religious meaning.

The Tiger’s Bride

“He dragged himself closer and closer to me, until I felt the harsh velvet of his head against my hand, then a tongue, abrasive as sand paper. ‘He will lick the skin off me!’ And each stroke of his tongue ripped off skin after successive skin, all the skins of a life in the world, and left behind a nascent patina of shining hairs. My earrings turned back to water and trickled down my shoulders; I shrugged the drops off my beautiful fur,” (Carter, 66).

In the classic story of Beauty and the Beast, by Jeanne-Marie Leprince De Beaumont, the innocent and virtuous Beauty falls in love with the Beast for his kind nature, in spite of his beastly appearance. As a result, the beast’s curse is lifted and he transforms into a handsome prince. In the case of Angela Carter’s “The Tiger’s Bride”, however, the Beauty not only gives up her innocence, by showing her naked body to the Beast, but the Beast is not a kind man by nature, but a swindler who won the Beauty in a gamble with her father.
In the woods, when the main character sees the Beast, a tiger, shed his disguise and reveal his true form, she expresses feeling as if her chest ‘ripped apart,’ (Carter, 63).

Here, for the first time, the Beauty appears to show sexual attraction to the Beast, rather than mere love for his character. She is attracted by his beastly form, not in spite of it. Upon shedding her clothes, and bearing her nakedness for the first time, the Beauty experiences a sense of freedom, the shedding of social constraint and expectation to clothe oneself and restrict oneself within a certain form. She essentially sheds the disguise that society forces one to wear, to be chaste and virtuous, to appear acceptable.

At the end of the tale, the girl is allowed to return to her father, having done her deed and paid her father’s debts. The girl decides to remain in the Beast’s estate, however, and sheds her clothes, walking naked into the Beast’s room. Here, instead of the Beast transforming into a human, the Beauty’s human flesh is shed for that of a fur coat, as she transforms into a beast, herself. At this moment, is it as if Angela Carter is expressing that humans are in fact the beasts, and the purity and innocence that we seek can only be found in the animal kingdom. Not only are there no social constraints in the animal kingdom, but the act of sexual attraction and action are simply natural, and necessary, rather than seen as something to restrict or deny, especially in the case of an unmarried young woman. By shedding the form of humanity, the Beauty and the Beast are able to be truly free, without any need for virtue, charm, or civility. They have instead returned to the purity and beauty that is nature.

Source: Carter, Angela. “The Tiger’s Bride.” The Classic Fairy Tales: Texts, Criticism. Tartar, Maria. New York: Norton, 1999. 63, 66. Print.

Fairy Tales: Symbolizing What’s Relevant

Fairy tale origins arguably display a clearer sense of a historical period and its ideological traits of highest importance better than any other texts.  The symbolism masked behind stories of regular, everyday individuals encountering unusual situations or magic can explain to a reader vividly the state of the specific society and its social structures.  It was stated throughout our text’s introduction at various points that fairy tales were often used as an oral tradition in which families and close-knit groups would gather round to alleviate the anxiety of a stressful work day while simultaneously entertaining each other and teaching valuable lessons to children about morals rooted in fantastic stories of similar characters encountering magical creatures and adventure.  Maria Tatar also warned readers to not become too preoccupied with uncovering symbolism seemingly blanketed across various generations as said symbolism could fluctuate in its relevance to a specific culture or time period due to differing interpretations and relevance.  This specific facet of the tales interested me in that many occurrences and resulting lessons may remain stable through various generations although readers will find that characters will symbolize the most important aspects of the specific time period from which the text was gathered.

Maria Tatar stated in her novel The Classic Fairy Tales, “Some versions of Little Red Riding Hood’s story or Snow White’s story may appear to reinforce stereotypes; others may have an emancipatory potential; still others may seem radically feminist.  All are of historical interest, revealing the ways in which a story has adapted to a culture and been shaped by its social practices.  The new story may be ideologically correct or ideologically suspect, but it can always serve as the point of departure for debate critique, and dialogue” (Tatar XIV).  The classic tale of “Snow White” by Brothers Grimm tells the story of a young, beautiful girl who falls victim to the jealousy of her father’s wife.  The evil queen plots to end the girl’s life so that she may remain as the most beautiful woman in the kingdom, but ends up falling victim to Snow White’s clever plan to punish her for her wrongdoings.  Despite this, Snow White seems to maintain her sense of beauty, dignity, and, most importantly, purity throughout the story, which was representative of the expectations of women, and more specifically, young girls, of the time.

Walt Disney’s interpretation of the classic Brothers Grimm character

In our contemporary society where issues of equality—whether it be gender, racial, sexual, etc.—reign supreme in the realm of social significance, we find that fairy tales are being recreated in the vision of authors who support the changing ideologies.  A more modern Snow White developed by Rupert Sanders in his film Snow White and the Huntsman displays a courageous young female who doesn’t necessarily adhere to societal rules or roles.  She wears armor rather than dresses as she fights monsters and beasts until she eventually returns to the kingdom to murder the Queen and reclaim her thrown.  This is obviously a result of a society shaped by feminist views and gender equality as the main character serves more as a strong and independent heroine rather than a damsel in distress.  I feel that this is one of the most crucial interpretations of Tatar’s novel that we can gather—fairy tales are classic tales passed on through generations but cannot remain unchanged as they gather cultural relevance and are shaped accordingly based on the need for certain lessons of morality incorporated into the upbringing of that society’s youth.

Rupert Sander’s vision of Snow White depicted by Kristen Stewart.

A “classic tale” with a “new twist” is certainly one way to describe the new movie Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. Unlike the Grimm fairy tale this modern day revival of the classic fable picks up right where the brother and sister left off, with a quite unexpected twist. Bounty hunters on a mission, Hansel and Gretel face a new journey that is a tad more extreme than forming a path of pebbles and breadcrumbs.

While the movie appears not to make any major changes regarding what happened to those children in the woods, it certainly spices up how they decided to continue their life after Gretel threw the witch into the oven. Rather than completely change the story’s premise, this film attempts to make this classic fable more applicable for an older generation. As a child, the story of Hansel and Gretel was something I heard before bedtime; however, now as I am about to graduate from college, reading this fable is not necessarily on my list of burning interest. The movie, however, is attempting to make their journey of life after the witch into something that is more relatable to the Twilight and Hunger Games generation that is yearning for vampires, death, and of course, some violence. In essence, I believe that movies and television have created a new form of fairy tales for the young adult generation. No longer do we await to hear a bedtime story, but now we become anxious with excitement at the thought of a midnight release.

While my thoughts on this spin of the classic tale range from interest to varying degrees of ridiculousness,  I admit while the premise of witch hunters is outlandish, modifying a tale to make it seem more current for an older generation is appealing. Movies such as this, among others, are giving an older generation a new way to enjoy their favorite stories, and if they add a couple twists like bounty hunting, then so be it.

And, for your viewing pleasure….

Bluebeard and Violence: This Folktale is Not Yet Rated

Bluebeard, a French literary folktale, the most famous version written down by Charles Perrault, tells the haunting story of a violent aristocrat whose new wife discovers actual skeletons in his closet – the murdered bodies of his previous wives.

Girl, I think the least of your problems is that his beard is blue.

Its classification of being a folktale shows that it was a story passed down by generations so it might not have been originally “marketed” towards children like other texts. The inclusion of a moral, and that it is classified alongside other fairytales, obviously leads to children reading or being exposed to the story. The discussion arose in class if a story where the protagonist finds a forbidden room where her new husband literally hangs the bloodied bodies of his previous wives is appropriate for children.  (It’s not!) One classmate cited that he had only heard of Bluebeard because he read Cracked.com’s “5 Grimm Fairytales You Should Only Read to Kids You Hate.”

Here’s the link: http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/5-grimm-fairy-tales-you-should-only-read-to-kids-you-hate/

So, if childhood is so sacred, why are we doing this to our kids? While parents probably would never read Bluebeard to their children as a bedtime story, they would read or allow their children to read equally violent stories. Children’s stories and fairytales are riddled with swordfights, bewitched hot iron shoes, and evil witches being thrown into ovens. A most recent young adult bestseller The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, has children as young as 12 fighting to their deaths in a televised contest.

If you didn’t cry during this scene you’re a monster.

The hypocrisy that arises to me, however, is how other adult themes are extremely off limits to children. In class, we discussed how sexually advanced storylines like incest are banned because they can get too real. Isn’t the prospect of a serial killer rounding up bodies in his house a little too real? It is intriguing to think of the lengths parents go to suppress sexuality and other adult themes but are open to exposing children to violence based solely on the hierarchy of what society deems important.

Fairy Tales for Twenty Somethings

Fairytalesfor20somethings.tumblr.com is a blog which takes fairy tales and modernizes them for the 21^st Century.  The author updates both the characters and the problems for the “Disney Generation;” that is, those who grew up in the 1980’s and 90’s watching the approximately twenty animated films released by Disney during that period. (which was when the highest concentration of animated films came out, as well as when they were the most popular). In “Fairy Tales for 20 Somethings” technology replaces magical assistance in fairy tales.

The blog plays on the common fears and anxieties of ‘twenty-something’ adults to create stories about fairy tale heroes in the modern age in a similar manner to the universal fears found in traditional tales.

In this post,the author places Cinderella in the modern age, even saying that she has a Facebook. The author relates Cinderella to the reader by saying “sometimes she just had to write a Facebook status about how shitty her day was.”  This turns Cinderella into a twenty-something everyman—a figure instantly relatable to an audience member. This also makes the audience member relatable to Cinderella, fairy godmother, prince(ss), castle and all.  This idea of “I am just like a character in a fairy tale” is prevalent throughout the entire blog, but the blog expresses that by showing fairy tale characters attempting to deal with their problems without the aid of any magical assistance.  The idea that even fairy tale characters have the same or similar problems that we ourselves have seems to make our struggles less personal and more universal.

In this post, the iPhone feature “Siri” becomes a fairy godmother of sorts and gives Beauty advice on how to introduce Beast to her family. In this blog, technology replaces magical assistance as the third party which helps the protagonist accomplish dreams, or at least feel better.  The replacement of the magical figure with everyday technology shows that in the same way that the fairy tale figures have the same problems what we do, they also have the same resources for dealing with those problems, and reinforces the concept that they are relatable to the audience member, and makes the struggles less personal and more universal.

In the same way that the tales themselves have been modernized, the medium through which they are being conveyed has been modernized as well.  Throughout history, fairy tales were passed down through the oral tradition.  In the modern day, however, the closest thing that we have to the oral tradition is blogging—with the advent of the internet, people began writing and telling stories, and most of these people wrote the same way that they spoke. The oral tradition, then, lives on via the internet, even if the light of the campfire has been replaced by the light of the computer monitor.

“The Swan Maiden”: Not So Happily Ever After

In her introduction to the “Beauty and the Beast” tales, Maria Tatar notes that these stories are unique because they intertwine “two developmental trajectories” (25), Beauty’s struggles and Beast’s transformation. The dual nature of these tales results in a variety of interpretations, many of which are significantly different from the popular story we know today. The tale “The Swan Maiden” (72-73) grabbed my attention precisely for this reason.

In “The Swan Maiden,” a young man discovers three swans who, when they remove their “feathery attire” (72), transform into beautiful young women. The man falls in love with the youngest and is advised by his mother to steal her swan feathers while she is bathing. The woman is unable to transform back into a swan and must marry the man. They live “lovingly and contentedly” (73) until one evening the young man reveals the swan feathers. His wife immediately transforms back into a swan and escapes through an open window, and the young man dies of grief within a year.

Perhaps the most striking difference between this tale and many of the others in the Beauty and the Beast category is that while the others serve to reassure young girls about married life, particularly in arranged marriages, this tale accomplishes almost the exact opposite. The couple in the story is married for seven supposedly happy years, yet the young woman escapes from married life without any hesitation as soon as an opportunity presents itself. This tale hints at the “secretly oppressive nature of marriage” (31), painting a portrait that was likely more realistic than the ones presented in other versions of the tale.

While reading this tale, I was also reminded of the animated film The Swan Princess which is based on the ballet Swan Lake. However, after re-familiarizing myself with the plot of the ballet, I realized that the main similarity to “The Swan Maiden” is really only in the animal into which the woman transforms. In fact, the plot of Swan Lake seems to have more in common with the familiar “Beauty and the Beast” story: the man falls in love with a women cursed to live as an animal, they fight to overcome the curse, and they are united by love in the end (albeit with varying degrees of success—in the ballet they usually die together, but in the film they are happily married). I did some searching for the origins of the Swan Lake story, and according to this page its most likely origins are in a German tale called “The Stolen Veil” and a Russian folktale called “The White Duck.” I was not able to find anything tying the tale of “The Swan Maiden” to the plot of Swan Lake, but I find it fascinating that the link of the swan led me to a different story that nevertheless falls into the same basic tale type, thus emphasizing the variety that is possible within a single basic story.

A Modern Day Cinderella Story

To be considered a traditional Cinderella story, unlike the Catskin or Donkeyskin fatherly incestual drama, it must meet a few important qualities.

1. There must be a wicked stepmother and two wicked stepsisters
2. There must be a ball
3. Cinderella must leave something behind for the prince to find and
4. The prince must not know who she is until the missing object is restored to its owner

I give you, Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray

In this modern spin-off, there is a significant cellphone, left behind by Hilary Duff at the Halloween dance (ball?) and which it falls on Chad Michael Murray, to return.  He searches in vain for his Cinderella while every girl in the high school stakes a claim to cellphone, including Hilary’s two evil stepsisters.  Meanwhile, Hilary toils away in her step-mother’s diner, dreaming of her prince but refusing to reveal herself to him.

In this retelling, like many other Cinderella tales, the prince is conflicted.  In the classic tales, the prince is lovesick over his future bride, refusing to eat, refusing to see anybody, and driving his poor mother, the queen, insane with worry.  In this tale, Chad’s father wants him to be a big football star, but all the unlikely prince wants is to run off to Princeton with his girl.  He’s portrayed a sensitive guy who just wants to be understood by his family and his classmates, but is constantly pestered by shallow, vain girls who all want his hand in a committed relationship– the high school equivalent of ‘happily ever after’.

Hilary, in her portrayal of the classic Cinderella, plays one of the more shrewd and careful princesses.  She works hard in the diner, but all her money is stolen by her stepmother and stepsisters.  She’s sarcastic and witty and holds her own in conversations with the queen bee of the school.  However, in her online conversations with Chad, she shows herself as a sensitive and introspective princess as well.  When all is said and done, it is through Hilary’s strong sense of self and pride that she discovers her late father’s will and is able to restore the power to herself, and consequently deal with her wicked step family.  While the sister’s eyes weren’t plucked out by birds, they were put in their place and made to work off all the money they stole in the diner while the evil stepmother found herself in jail for denying ever having seen the will which she herself had witnessed for.

While this movie is teeny and a little bit ridiculous, it really does have all the elements of a traditional Cinderella story.  Working at a diner is not really on the same level as picking up lentils out of ashes, but neither does Hilary have the help of some magical birds.  This modern day Cinderella story doesn’t rely so much on the idea of magic as it does on the ingenuity of the characters and the harsh realities of life.

Fille Fatale: From Little Red to Locked and Loaded

Most people in American culture are familiar with the phrase “Femme Fatale.” Whether you are a Brittany Spears fan or are knowledgeable in the European literature where the term originated, the French phrase for “deadly woman” has become synonymous with the growing Feminist culture that has come to redefine modern day society.

You say seductive? I say sizing up ways to kill me.

This trend has been chronicled most notably in pop culture: and even more specifically with the rise of the vampire phenomenon that strikes fear into the hearts of boyfriends all across the nation: Twilight. However, this gradual rise in feminine independence, and even superiority over men, has been detailed in the historic changes of the classic school age fairy tale of “Little Red Riding Hood.”

This is right before she turns into a green, hulking monster.

The earliest examples of  “Little Red Riding Hood” portray the protagonist as the atypical female character. In his version of the tale Charles Perrault describes Little Red as “Pretty, well-bred, and genteel,” which is hardly comparable to the Little Red Riding Hood we see in a feminist conscious modern day society (13). Nonetheless, the legendary storyteller uses his moralistic tale as a metaphor: not to warn women of the dangers of wolves, but more so the dangers of men. He relates wolves to men by describing some wolves as, “perfectly charming,
Not loud, brutal, or angry,
But tame, pleasant, and gentle…But watch out if you haven’t learned that tame wolves Are the most dangerous of all.” While his tale does serve as a moral for women to be cautious of the devious duplicity of men, the protagonist still acts as only a cautionary character and must submit to her fate as an example.

The original poster girl for “Child Neglect”

Fast forward 285 years later to Roald Dahl’s depiction of this “damsel in distress” and the reader finds a much different tale. Rather than being eaten by the wolf as an example for her gender, Little Red empowers herself as she “whips a pistol from her knickers.
She aims it at the creature’s head
And bang bang bang, she shoots him dead” (22). Therefore, if Dahl is adhering to the tale’s usual depiction of the wolf representing man, then in this instance the tables have turned. By the end of the 20^th century the literary progression of the so called “classic” tale of “Little Red Riding Hood” acts as a literal “mirror mirror on the wall” for the society in which it is interpreted. The modern Little Red is a younger version of the deadly woman, a “fille fatale,” and this textual shift directly correlates to the societal shifts that define this time period.

Come at me bro.