There are so many fairytales about an evil stepmother. Why?
Please, nice comments only.
2007-05-19 07:24:59 · 6 answers · asked by ? 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Mythology & Folklore
This has been the hardest question I have had to choose a best answer for. I learned so much from the answers. I wish I could pick more than one answer.
2007-05-19 14:30:32 · update #1
I got one for ya! Labyrinth of the fawn.
2007-05-19 07:37:34 · answer #1 · answered by kujiiiro 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are no fairytales about stepfathers at all near as I can discover. There's a reason for this. These types of stories were created in a day and age when medicine could not save mothers from childbirth. Many more women died than men because of this, thus the "average" family consisted of the father, a stepmother (and probably more than one), and several children from various marriages. This is to say, stepfathers were actually "rare" during the times when fairytales first became popular, but stepmothers were the "norm." All myths are a reflection of their culture... this should be obvious, because myths are told as a way to preserve the cultural life.
A slight shift in focus is in order then... if we look at the fairytales we have, we see many instances of "evil fathers" rather than looking for stepfathers... In Western society, for longer than we can keep count of, males have always been perceived as "authoritarian," and thus always "knowing best." Women, on the other hand, have been perceived as "temptations," and thus "a little dangerous." So, we do hear about "evil fathers," but the phenomenon is indirect.
Hansel and Gretel's story is a real obvious one...
Think about this... Cinderella, in the Brother's Grimm original version, has a father that leaves Cinderella at the mercy of a cruel stepmother. That's not a very protective father... there are many more stories like that.
2007-05-19 14:50:08 · answer #2 · answered by 'llysa 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hm...I don't ever remember there being fairytales about stepfathers. I think they made them about stepmothers because the mother was always supposed to be the caring and nurturing figure.
2007-05-19 14:27:34 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I agree with the thoughtful answer above mine. Stepfathers are hardly mentioned, probably because few people (besides Hamlet) had difficulties with them but fathers certainly got the bad rap. H&G were abandoned by their dad;Snow White, Goldilocks and Cinderella had absent dads; Sleeping Beauty's dad gave her away without much of a protest (couldn't he have simply killed the evil fairy?); The Beauty's dad offered her to the Beast in his stead; Rapunzel was taken because Dad stole from the witch's garden; and I believe the damsel in Rumplestilskin got shut in with the straw because of her dad's boasting. Come to think of it, men had bad reps in all the fairy tales.
2007-05-19 14:58:39 · answer #4 · answered by Jess 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because Evil Stepfathers tend to be a tad real!
2007-05-19 14:32:43 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because we never seen in the arts the man is keeping
a baby on
Because we havent seen in the arts a man is keeping a
baby on his "heart."
2007-05-19 14:59:56 · answer #6 · answered by Cserke 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋