Traditional Fairy Tales, Class Two

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Monday, January 15, Period 2

The table in the center of the room was filled with breakfast pastries and hot drinks, there were stacks of books close at hand for the students to borrow for their readings assignments, and Aziraphale looked quite cheerful as he sat in his armchair and waited for the class to arrived.

"Good morning, everyone! I hope you all enjoyed your first week of classes. Today we'll begin our discussion of the basic character archetypes found in fairy tales. Your assigned reading was Jack the Giant Killer and Molly Whuppie. Following the lecture, we'll discuss the central characters in these two stories, and how they fit into the roles of hero and villain."

LECTURE: "With a few exceptions, every fairy tale contains two central figures: the hero or heroine, and the villain. These characters can take many forms, from innocent child to clever thief, from evil stepmother to hungry wolf, but the central conflict of a fairy tale often evolves around the idea of the hero outwitting the villain. The hero may have a quest to fulfill, a puzzle to solve, or a difficult situation to escape. They may act out of self-defense, altruism, love, or necessity -- sometimes even out of greed or fear. Heros display a common set of characteristics -- in general, they are quick-witted, creative, and bold. Villains are not always evil, but are in general selfish and greedy, and usually act out of a desire to fulfill personal needs or an often baseless dislike of the hero."

DISCUSSION: "Take a look at the two stories from your assigned reading. Identify the hero and villain in each one, and then explain what motivates their actions. In your opinion, why is the villain villainous, and why does the hero act heroically?

"I would also like you to take a little time at the end of class to meet with the members of your project groups. I'll be expecting proposals for your final project in a few weeks, and I'll try to give you time during each class to meet with one another."

ASSIGNMENT: "For next week, read Mr Fox and John the True."


[ooc: For those who are new to Aziraphale's classes, there is always a spread of breakfast pastries and hot drinks, which you are free to mod. Also, the room is always arranged with comfortable chairs and couches for seating, rather than desks. Please wait for the OCD threads are now up, and class is in session.]


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Comments

Re: Discussion

[iftheseshadows.livejournal.com]

Neil squirmed a bit in his chair, drawing his pencil through his fingers in a nervous twitch while he formulated his thoughts.

"Well, given the time in which these were written I rather imagine that the giants were an allegory for the nobility and the monarchy. As you say, these stories were told among the lower classes originally and in that position being subject to the capricious whims of a larger than life figure, whom it would be rare if you saw them on anything other than a horse, where they towered over you, well...a giant isn't that much a stretch."

Shifting a little in his chair, Neil gesticulated gracefully with his hands.

"I'm not saying that the story isn't meant to show the protagonists in anything other than a heroic light. Get the better of the oppressors, depower them as they depower us and make your fortune at their expense, it's a fairly common theme when you get into a society where the classes are so widely seperated by social economic status. It's just that from here from my stand point, not as a whatever century peasant, I don't find the story as clear cut, black and white as all that."

Neil tapped his pencil and looked a bit bemused.

"I guess, Sir that I don't see the story as a way to pass on a social standard, more I see it as a way to express discontent of many being controlled by few. But if there is a moral in the story, both Molly and Jack are written as clever, honest, always working folk and perhaps that's the moral. Make your fortune but do it through your mind and your worth ethic rather than by the circumstances of your birth."

Re: Discussion

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Nodding, Aziraphale replied, "Excellent, Mr Perry. And you may well be right -- it's not possible, really, for us to know exactly what goal the originators of these stories had in mind when they began telling them. But you raise a very good point, about the differences between how the tales are received by modern readers. When we get a bit further along, we'll look a little more closely at how class might play into characterization, but the idea of the heros being portrayed as 'working folk' is an extremely common one. Especially in the English fairy tale tradition, and in the earlier versions of the stories before they became dressed up for literary publication."

He paused for a moment, thinking on the issues Neil had raised. "As I mentioned to Miss Lang, the idea of an ordinary hero or heroine overcoming great odds, and especially overpowering an enemy that's depicted as frightening or monstrous, is a well-used device. It isn't always 'morals' as we think of them that the stories are passing along. It's also very often encouragement or hope, the idea that a person can better himself. But also in a way that maintains a certain social structure -- the peasant hero might become wealthy, but as you say, it's through the use of his brain and skills, not by virtue of birth or a sudden windfall. And if a peasant tricks or usurps the power of an authority figure, it's because that authority figure was unworthy, corrupt, or evil."