Female Gender Roles in Brothers Grimm’s “Snow White”
張貼日期：Oct 19, 2010 1:42:40 PM
Female Gender Roles in Brothers Grimm’s “Snow White”
Celine Chiu 邱昭綺
Advisor: Dr. Hsian-li Chou 周先俐 老師
Dr. Chia-Yin Huang 黃嘉音 老師
Abstract
One of the main themes of Brothers Grimm’s fairy tales is the proper conducts of the lady and the gentleman. Among these tales, “Snow White” especially emphasized the female gender roles. This paper attempts to discuss the female gender roles represented by the Queen and Snow White and analyze the rivalry between the stepmother and the daughter as demonstrated in their conflicting relationship. The Queen, a bad woman with proud, jealous and aggressive characters, desires to control people. Snow White on the other hand, converges good qualities of a good woman who are simple, considerate, trusting, kind and generally powerless. In this rivalry between good and bad women, beauty is the goal that they compete for and it becomes the main reason for the stepmother to slay the stepdaughter. Hence, beauty is the only standard for a woman to identify who she is and the major goal of pursuit for her entire life. However, the principle of beauty is not decided by women themselves but by men; the male perspective is represented by the mirror. The mirror “decides” who the most beautiful woman is; its voice control the queen’s every deed. The mirror is no longer a reminder of being good but a voice to arouse killing. Moreover, beauty becomes the major source of power for women in the patriarchal system. Beauty enables women to dominate others, to earn sympathy and to get love and marriage. The consequences of excessive desires for beauty and evil conducts are clearly declared in “Snow White”.
Key Words: Snow White, Brothers Grimm, queen, gender role, stepmother, beauty, power, rivalry, mirror