King Thrushbeard and Lessons Behind Fairytales Essay examples -- essay

To Be a Domestic Woman†¦   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Grimm’s Fairytales,† although never intended to be in text form, are some of the most influential methods in teaching young children morals and to be productive citizens of society. While children enjoy the mere esthetics of fairytales and interpret them at their face value, s are aware of the didacticism hidden beneath the appealing plots and characters of the stories. Unlike s, children would not be able to extract any metaphorical meaning out of fairytales even if fairytales were intended to have distinct messages. For this very reason, fairytales have been studied along with a branch of child psychology to determine whether or not a message that is ual is actually retained in the subconscious of the child. Grimm’s fairytale, â€Å"King Thrushbeard† enforces the importance of modesty in s, teaches them to be less concerned with their own needs, and instead, to be concerned with the needs of others. It keeps us aware of the costs of this teaching. The first evidence of this underlying, didactic theme in â€Å"King Thrushbeard† comes in the second paragraph. The princess’ father, the Old King, reveals being aware of his daughter’s tendency to ridicule and be unappreciative of those to whom he offers her. He is angered by her behavior. What the King doesn’t seem to realize is that his daughter has probably not reached puberty. We can assume that she’s around ten to twelve years old and that her understanding of males is different of that of a sixteen or seventeen year old . As pre- , a she does not yet understand or even know of qualities in men that are pleasing. At this stage she would not have the ability to look for qualities in a man that are ually satisfying for a woman who is ready to marry. The only traits the princess takes note of and relates to are the immediate physical characteristics of the men, which are common things for pre-teens to focus on. There was never an initial attracti on or subsequent attractions to follow with any of the men because of the fact that she was not aware of her own ual nature. At the middle school level it is common for s of this age to still have an ill understanding of men because of their inexperience as ual beings. They often have difficulties in dealing with males because of this lack of understanding. Because the princess has yet to even reach the transition period o... ...love for the princess despite her lack of domestic skills. This teaches s to make individuals out of themselves, and that there is no standard of being â€Å"domestic.† That means that there also wouldn’t be a standard for men in choosing their wives. This fairytale moves s ahead a step in overcoming men’s expectations in a wife. In conclusion, it is interesting to note that this fairytale, â€Å"King Thrushbeard,† does not teach s to conform to a standard way of life. What it does teach is that s should not be discouraged by the disapproval of men who prefer to view a standard way of life. It teaches s to be confident and assertive in making decisions, and to be appreciative of those who are appreciative of them. However, I do not feel as though each and every feature of the fairytale could be yzed to produce a solid, coherent idea. There are many occasions in which features of the story are assumed to be a specific teaching, when, on the other hand, after being yzed do not hold together in producing a second or third didactic theme. This is my reasoning for not including many features of the fairytale. I found some to be misleading and often time irrelevant to the issue being discussed.