Villainous Women and Their Dangerous Ploys to Favor Patriarchy

Julia McGrath

Independent Study

Professor Schmermund

18 March 2020

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Women are always competing to not only look the best but also to have the most men. How far will women go in order to be deemed worthy enough for male attention? In the two fairy tales "Cinderella" and "Rapunzel," the actions of significant female characters are shown under the influence of a patriarchal society. The "evil" female characters self-sabotage themselves for male dominion. The tedious actions of the petty women are misinterpreted as villainous by the princesses in the story because of patriarchal competition.

Margaret R. Hunt's research on patriarchy elaborates on patriarchy from the 1500-1800s in Europe and the Middle East. Hunt explains what Patriarchy is and how women are affected by it. Hunt defines Patriarchy as, "the rule of fathers," (367). The term is used to distinguish the hierarchy against men and women in society. Hunt says that women had to make "bargains" (368) toward patriarchy. The bargains often "gave them power over women, and even, at times, men" (368). Hunt's quote is important because patriarchy affects both genders. The female villains in "Cinderella" and "Rapunzel" used patriarchy as the reproduction of their own subordination, but took account of change over time" (368). The female villains would use patriarchy as a way to make other women inferior to gain control and security of themselves. The female villains symbolize a lot of women today; most women feel that they have no voice in society, so rather than team up with women, they quarrel with the same gender and try to impress men. Having men respect a woman makes them feel equal to a man.

The tale, "Cinderella," is a classic story of an ill-treated girl who runs into her true love at a ball, and lives happily ever after. Cinderella portrays the influence of patriarchy through a competitive, paradigmatic sisterhood. The Grimm's tales details Cinderella's terrible treatment:

[The stepmother and stepsisters] took her pretty clothes away from her, put an old grey bedgown on her, and gave her wooden shoes [....] she had to do hard work from morning till night, get up before daybreak, carry water, light fires, cook and wash. Besides this, the sisters did her every imaginable duty --- they mocked her and emptied her peas and lentils into the ashes, so that she was forced to sit and pick them out again. (81).

Cinderella's status goes into the fact that she is good-looking, so being trapped in the house isolates her from seeing people. Forcing Cinderella to be withdrawn from society seems villainous, but the stepsisters fall under the pressure of being attractive enough to marry and survive under a man. Hiding the pretty sister gives the more mediocre ones a better chance of finding a husband.

Kay F. Stone's article centers around the feminist theory in fairy tales. Stone argues that the heroines are damaging toward young female readers through toxic stereotypes, and how feminist writers found strengths in the princesses. Stone writes, "Feminists agreed that earlier studies ignored the subtle inner strength of heroines. Cinderella, for example, emerged as resourceful rather than remorseful, but not aggressively opportunistic like her sisters. [...] Cinderella really gains freedom from the kitchen and fireside, and that her `Prince' is symbolic for inner strength" (231). Stone's argument is compelling because she gives a new perspective on Cinderella waiting on opportunities to be given to her --- like the ball. She is resourceful because she snuck out and went when she was not supposed to. Cinderella is bright in the way she handles her difficulties --- cleaning to ignore her sisters and for time to fly, but as soon as the prince wants to marry her, she goes with him.

The stepsisters show how women will alter their bodies to be beautiful to men. When the prince has the women in the village try on Cinderella's glass slipper, the stepsisters commit the unthinkable: "The eldest [...] cut [her big toe] off, forced the foot into the shoe, swallowed the pain, and went out to the King's son. [....] The other sister [...] cut a bit off her heel, forced her foot into the shoe, swallowed the pain, and went out to the King's son" (85). The shoe scene is crucial as it portrays the severe competition that women indulge in order to marry because, without the male breadwinners, the women could not survive. Women risk their health and bodies by trying to meet the male expectations of beauty, which the shoe scene does a great job showing.

Stone remarks on how men and women conflict with one another and how the female language struggles to be shown: "a new language must be learned fully by women and men if human culture is to continue growing [...] if the feminine voice continues to be silent, or unheard when spoken, then women will have to separate themselves from men in order to develop fully," (233). Men and women are affected by patriarchy in opposing ways, but both sides fail to understand each other's perspectives. The stepsisters might have thought that mutilating their feet would make the prince love them, but what the sisters fail to comprehend is that even though Cinderella is beautiful, she is also likable, which is why the prince went searching for her. The stepsisters knocked themselves out of the competition by trying to win over a man that had no interest in them.

Rapunzel's tragedy to happily ever after with a prince is another story that turns women against one another. Rapunzel's mother would steal rampion from the garden of her next-door neighbor. The enchantress that owned the garden told the father, "I will allow you to take [...] as much [...] as you will, only I make one condition. You must give me the child which your wife will bring into the world; it shall be well treated, and I will care for it like a mother" (45). The beginning dialogue is crucial to how women were treated back in the day as families would sell their daughters for survival (money, food, e.g.). The conversation fits into patriarchy because Rapunzel was kept away from the world, and her parents never thought about her; but if Rapunzel were a boy, the enchantress might have taken care of Rapunzel. Women have always been a second option.

Jerilyn Fisher and Ellen S. Silber both explain the daughter vs. mother dynamic perfectly. They both state, "Early in the plot of "Rapunzel," a mother must choose between her sensual appetite or keeping the long-awaited she is carrying. Her choice of lettuce over infant [...] expresses Desire: [....] Desire in this sense is a kind of truth-telling forbidden to women because such assertiveness of lenges that feminine ideal that insists on a woman's inhibition of her impulses" (128). What Fisher and Silber might be indicating is that perhaps Rapunzel's mother did not want to have a child, but had to because of the time—swapping the baby for food fuels the mother's Desire to overcome patriarchy by avoiding motherly duties. Fisher and Silber give a more feminist outlook on Rapunzel's mother because she defy's patriarchy by having sex and giving her child away --- showing that being active does not mean that she needs to be a mother, no matter how much the decision makes her look bad.

Rapunzel was locked in a tower at the age of twelve and had long golden hair. The King's son would hear her sing, and she and the prince fell in love. The enchantress found out and, "in her anger she clutched Rapunzel's beautiful tresses [...] seized a pair of scissors [...] and snip, snap, [the hair] was cut off…[the enchantress] was so pitiless that she took poor Rapunzel into a desert where she had to live in great grief and misery" (46). The scene above is important because long golden hair was considered beautiful. Rapunzel's hair gave her access to the outside world, which the enchantress did not want her to have access to out of jealousy. Cutting off the majority of Rapunzel's hair fits into patriarchy because Rapunzel's hair made her noticeable and beautiful, so without the hair, she would have less of a chance in finding a man.

Fisher and Silber analyze Rapunzel and the vague ending of all fairy tales: "Rapunzel, at her most wretched moment cast out by the witch into the desert, has only the company of her newborn twin babies. All three fairy tales reach a proper patriarchal conclusion, [...show that...] the [...] exclusion of adult female characters [...] signifies a "happy" return to male dominion" (130). Fisher and Silber point out that at the princesses, most vulnerable moments are when the princes come to the rescue. The evidence is crucial because it shows that women are helpless until men come along to save them. The fairy tales provide that the princesses are naive because they have no access to the outside world, and the caretakers are evil by isolating them. Stone, Fisher, and Silber prove that the princesses are made helpless by envious women that hate their beauty, and confine them in unescapable areas because men are what proves a female's purpose. Women are in dire competition with another to get the best man.

Women that are brainwashed by the unrealistic views of patriarchy suffer from petty games and self-mutilation. In the two fairy tales, "Cinderella" and "Rapunzel," the actions of significant female characters are given a clear explanation for their revolting actions. The villains are not "evil," but hurt women who not only want a man so that they can survive, but feel subordinate and are desperate for security and power. In return, the princesses are the women that are locked away because other women fear their beauty. Grimm's Fairy Tales prove how women will always compete for men until they realize that patriarchy is a way to control how they feel about themselves.

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Works Cited

Fisher, Jerilyn, and Ellen S. Silber. "Good and Bad Beyond Belief: Teaching Gender Lessons through Fairy Tales and Feminist Theory." Women's Studies Quarterly, vol. 28, no. 3/4, 2000, pp. 121–136. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40005478.

Grimm, Jacob, Wilhelm Grimm, and Ken Mondschein. Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales. Canterbury Classics, 2011. Print.

Hunt, Margaret R. "Relations of Domination and Subordination in Early Modern Europe and the

Middle East." Gender & History, vol. 30, no. 2, July 2018, pp. 366–376. EBSCOHOST, doi:10.1111/1468-0424.12367.

Stone, Kay F. "Feminist Approaches to the Interpretation of Fairy Tales." Fairy Tales and Society: Illusion, Allusion, and Paradigm, edited by Ruth B. Bottigheimer, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1986, pp. 229–236. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt13x1nhz.18.