Madness # 3

Just a note that Week 1 Discussion will be included at the end of this Madness # 3 blog, with an additional thought or two. Apologies could be made as to why new information has not been shared, but when regular duty calls, that work must be done, too.  The work days this week have been fairly long 6:30 A.M. until well after midnight.  Unfortunately, with grades being due, AR tests to be given, student essays to be proofed, and softball practices to be organized, field maintenance requirements, etc., much of the reading has been done late.  That being said selected readings from class and analysis of tales have continued.  Thoughts, but probably not full-fledged ideas yet, are currently being gathered for the prezi presentation.


Unlike Robert Frost where one path might be taken, I have a tendency to take both paths at the same time.  While reading the required and suggested readings, I am surveying variations of fairy tales to select for the written projects.  Clearly, I am interested in how women are often portrayed in fairy tales, but I continue to be interested in maintaining a legacy, so to speak, of fairy tales and other pieces of classic literature to be passed to future generations.  Having worked in the male dominated coaching circle for many years, I have had a close up look at how women can be perceived, and I also have grandchildren that I want to experience the world of classical literature.

Week 1 Discussion
The voice of a woman in literature can be overshadowed by the way an author chooses to depict her throughout a written tale.  Close examination is required in order to see how the author wants readers to perceive women. 

Women in classical fairy tales are often projected as damsels as seen in Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s Tale, when a young knight rapes a maiden, with such synonyms for women projecting a possible connotation of weakness.  The story goes…the knight must go on a journey to question women on what women most desire.  At one point, a hag, yet another word used for a woman, is introduced.  The hag gives the answer (only after demanding that for her answer the knight must grant her anything she wishes) that most women want to have sovereignty over both husbands and lovers, finally showing a possible female strength.  While the thought of women having the opportunity to control the fate of a rapist is quite appealing (almost like being able to make the punishment fit the crime), some readers of this particular tale may still have reservations about the ending as the queen insists that the knight must marry the hag in order to fulfill his promise for the hag revealing the answer to his question.  In the end, the hag does receive her wish, but a man must satisfy the wish through marriage, and they supposedly live happily ever after.  But one troubling point still remains, as the wife is faithful and good, she is also OBEDIENT to her husband, once again with Chaucer slipping in the weakness of a women. 

In Lanval, once more, a man approaches two beautiful damsels (indicating connotation of possible distress), with the weakness of women being brought into the thought process.  The damsels bring him to a fine lady, exactly how a man might describe a beautiful woman.  Lanval is quickly love-struck, and they are joined in love with him agreeing to tell no one about her, showing that the man is yet, again, the protector, as he agrees to keep the promise of not revealing her existence.


If a major flaw exists in earlier written fairy tales concerning the way authors portray women, that same problem may also exist in more recently penned tales.  Though the pretense for strength in a woman may appear in the early part of a fairy tale, often before the happily ever after, the woman may appear weak in some way.  Pursuing this avenue and thought process about women being made to appear weak or in need of a man to find them or protect them will surely pique interest as more fairy tales are read.    

Additional thought (not included on the Discussion Forum 1....

A reader, of a fairy tale or maybe a poem by Keats, must be willing to look at reoccurring themes and at words used to portray women in order to understand a moment, a voice of a woman, etc.  In one of Keat's poems, The Eve of St. Agnes, he talks about the fragility of the moment, pointing out that nothing is forever, strongly contrasting a fairy tale which tends to suggest living happily ever after.  Even though an author may know how a woman feels, he may choose to stifle her voice snuggly between the lines.