For generations, children have delighted in the enchanted world of fairy tales — the timeless kingdom of giants and dwarfs, princes and princesses, fairies and witches. Fairy tales seem to be a favorite, intimate, indispensable companion of children. Why can they remain so popular among children for hundreds of years without being forgotten and lost? Fairy tales have a unique importance and impact on children’s development. They have significant effects on children, as well as adults, who are the main source of fairy tales for children. As adults are current members of the society and children are its future architects, fairy tales exert an influence on society as well. The effect of classic fairy tales on readers and society can be explored by studying their styles, characters and themes.
Firstly, the effect of classic fairy tales on readers and society can be explored by studying their styles. One peculiar feature of their styles is their inevitable happy endings in which good is rewarded and evil is punished. For example, in the well-known fairy tale "Snow White", Snow White comes back to life again and marries her handsome prince, while her wicked stepmother, the Queen, dies. In "Little Red Riding Hood", both Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother, who have been devoured by a cunning wolf, are rescued by a huntsman, while the wolf is killed. These happy endings are a source of "light": they compensate for the sad, anxious and painful feelings of readers, as well as create confidence and hope for them. Apart from this, many people have their own wishes and dreams, for instance, a girl hopes that she can marry Tom Cruise; a street vendor wishes to be a second Bill Gates. In reality, these wishes and dreams are rarely fulfilled. Nevertheless, the happy endings of fairy tales serve as a substitute of the wishes and dreams of readers. In other words, they satisfy readers’ spiritual wants.
Another characteristic of fairy tale style is the popular, classic opening words "Once upon a time". For example, the first sentence of "Little Red Riding Hood" is "Once upon a time there was a sweet little maiden", while that of "Snow White" is, "Once upon a time, in the middle of winter, when snowflakes were falling like feathers from the sky…". This classic opening can also be found in many other fairy tales, such as "Faithful Johannes", "The Marvelous Minstrel", "The Twelve Brothers", "Rapunzel" and "The Riddle". In The Uses of Enchantment, Bruno Bettelheim, the authority on fairy tale research, points out, "This deliberate vagueness in the beginnings of fairy tales symbolizes that we are leaving the concrete world of ordinary reality" (P.62). This quotation clearly shows that this classic opening sets the fantasy world of fairy tales apart from the real world. The reader can thus release his spirit from the materialistic real world to the happy, vivid and innocent world of the fairy tale. This alleviates serious material-orientation in society. However, if the reader relies too much on fairy tales for spirit relief, he may become too passive and optimistic and his initiative may be lost as a result.
A final point about fairy tale style is the common use of the number "three" in many classic fairy tales. It is usual that a fairy tale has three main characters, three incidents or three tasks. In "The Three Little Pigs", there are three main characters — the three lovely pigs. In "Cinderella", Cinderella’s father has three daughters, namely Cinderella and her two stepsisters. Besides, in "Snow White", the Queen tries three times to kill Snow White. In practice, the number "three" symbolizes perfection and completeness. For instance, the Holy Trinity is made up of three members: God, Christ and the Holy Spirit. In Geometry, a figure cannot be formed without three distinct points. Also, "three" is broadly considered as the basic unit of a family — father, mother and child. Max Lüthi states the function of this interesting number in The Fairytale as Act Form and Portrait of Man, "The number gives security not only to the narrator, who relies on it and takes pleasure in making use of it, but to the listener, as well" (P.44). The number "three" gives readers a sense of security because of its perfect and complete feature.
Secondly, the effect of classic fairy tales on readers and society can be explored by studying their characters. One important kind of characters in fairy tales is the heroes and heroines. They seem to be a vital element in every fairy tale. It is common that they must strive and overcome many difficulties, challenges and obstacles in order to get triumph. For example, in "Sleeping Beauty", the prince has to pass through many thorns before he can save the beautiful princess. Furthermore, in "Cinderella", Cinderella has been commanded to do a lot of hard housework before she marries the prince and lives happily ever after. Those heroes and heroines convey to children an important message: success and victory are unable to be achieved without any endeavor. Moreover, they act as model characters for young readers to imitate. Children can learn the courage, diligence, resolve and other merits of the heroes and heroines. This is very helpful to them as a training course before they get into society.
Another indispensable type of characters in classic fairy tales is the evils. A controversial topic about them is the impact of their violent, brutal deeds and terrible, inhuman punishments on children’s psyche. Examples of those cruel deeds are numerous. In "Hansel and Gretel", the witch intends to cook Hansel and Gretel and eat them, but finally she is burned to death. In "Little Red Riding Hood", the vicious wolf swallows Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother, while his belly is then cut by a huntsman. Tyranny and cannibalism seem to be inevitable in fairy tales. Do these violent scenes really have negative effects on children? Apparently, many interpretations of fairy tales nowadays have discarded or abbreviated those original violent scenes. In the old Brothers Grimm’s version of "Cinderella", the ultimate fate of the two stepsisters is that their eyes are picked out by white doves. On the contrary, in the Walt Disney film "Cinderella", they are not mentioned in the ending and seem to escape without punishment. In Off with their Heads!, Maria Tatar points out the neglect of violence in fairy tales today in the following passage:
Although revenge can be as sweet as love for the heroes and heroines of fairy tales, today it is almost always brief in its interpretation, with the punishment occupying only a single moment in time and a single point in space. We are far removed from the festive violence…The phenomenon mentioned above clearly reveals that today’s people recognize the negative effects of the evils on children. They are afraid that the evils may hurt children’s fragile hearts and hinder childhood development. Nonetheless, does this mean that the evils are absolutely harmful to children? Do they have any advantage?
(P.169)
Many experts of fairy tale research deny the negative effects of the evils. One of the evils’ features is that they must be punished at the end. Their tragic consequence warns children not to do bad things, otherwise they will also be punished. Also, their punishments satisfy children’s needs for justice. As Bruno Bettelheim comments in The Uses of Enchantment, "In the traditional fairy tale, the hero is rewarded and the evil person meets his well-deserved fate, thus satisfying the child’s deep need for justice to prevail" (P.144). Ingrid Riedel, a popular fairy tale researcher, experienced the Second World War when she was a child. In the air-raid shelter, fear arose in her heart as the bombs were exploding all around. Nevertheless, she found that she could restrain her fear after reading fairy tales, especially the gruesome ones. In Witches, Ogres, and the Devil’s Daughter, she gives the following remark:
Fairy tales seemed to me at that time to be personal adepts for dealing with evil. I experienced them as protective powers, allied with me against chaos. They helped me to get through my fear, to keep my composure even when external danger and human panic prevailed around me.From the above quotation, it is obvious that the evils and violent scenes in fairy tales can actually help readers to deal with the evils and overcome fear.
(P.viii)
A final point about characters in fairy tales deals with female figures. In many classic fairy tales, female figures dominate the most important roles. Snow White, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Gretel are all major characters in their stories. In our modern world, sexual discrimination still exists. Many women are still treated badly by their husbands and unjustly by the society. Nonetheless, for many women, those female figures in fairy tales can compensate for their discontentment. Another significant effect of the female figures is that they enhance feminism in society. They cause women to realize that they are capable of playing an important role in society just like them in fairy tales, and this thought initiates feminism. In addition, in the contemporary society, many feminists have criticized fairy tales since feminine rights are ignored in the stories. For instance, in "Snow White", it is the prince who chooses Snow White as his lover, but not vice versa. This certainly arouses the tumultuous emotions of feminists and hence stimulates feminism.
Thirdly, the effect of classic fairy tales on readers and society can be explored by studying their themes. Three well-known fairy tales are going to be used as examples. The first one is "Cinderella", which describes Cinderella who is degraded and abused by her stepsisters. She has to obey them and do all the housework for them. This is actually an example of "sibling rivalry" — the competition between brothers and sisters — which is a very common problem that children may encounter. This story helps children to accept sibling rivalry as a rather common fact of life, as well as encourages them not to fear it. It also explains to those children who are facing this problem that, although they are considered "dirty" and in a low position like Cinderella, this only happens temporarily and does not mean that their future is also "dirty". They may have a brilliant future like Cinderella who marries her beloved prince at last. From this theme, it is clear that some fairy tales such as "Cinderella" function as the psychotherapists of children. They arouse the problems and anxieties within children’s minds and teach children how to deal with them.
The second fairy tale to be discussed is "Little Red Riding Hood". In this story, Little Red Riding Hood, a charming girl, encounters a cunning wolf on the way to her grandmother’s house. The wolf asks her where her grandmother lives, and she listens to him and answers his question precisely. Consequently, he finds her grandmother’s house and eats them both. The theme of this story is manifest: children ought not trust and listen to all sorts of people in the outside world, including the gentle ones. As Bruno Bettelheim states in The Uses of Enchantment, "As for wolves, these come in all variations; and among them the gentle wolves are the most dangerous of all, particularly those who follow young girls into the streets, even into their homes" (P.168). This lesson seems to be simple, but it is a very important one. As the News frequently reports, many girls who have just entered society are deceived. From this theme, one can see that some fairy tales like "Little Red Riding Hood" speak of the essential qualities and skills that children should possess before they enter society. In other words, they act as children’s coaches and train them to become more mature so that they can deal with any problem when they enter society.
The last fairy tale to be analyzed is "The Frog King". In this story, though the princess has promised an ugly frog that she would be with him forever in order to earn his favor, she breaks her promise later. Her father, the king, forces her to keep the promise and she is compelled to obey the order. She hates and is disgusted by the frog so much that she throws him at the door. A miracle abruptly happens then. The frog changes back to a handsome prince again and he finally marries the princess. The lessons behind this story are apparent: one should not evaluate others by appearance, and one should keep his or her promise. Apart from the above lessons, this story has another theme that is worth learning. If the king does not "push" his princess daughter out and force her to be with the frog, that is, to deal with the problem herself, can there be a happy sequel in this story? The answer is: "No!" Therefore, this story teaches parents that they cannot just treat their children like "pets"; they should not spoil their children and ought to encourage them to deal with their problems themselves so as to foster their ability of independence. From this theme, it is evident that fairy tales also serve as guides for parents on how to teach their children.
In conclusion, the effect of classic fairy tales on readers and society has been explored by studying their styles, characters and themes. Generally speaking, fairy tales train and develop young readers to become mature, independent adults. They also teach adult readers to adopt the correct methods of teaching children, release their spirits from the problems they face in reality, and heal their emotional wounds as well. Besides, they alleviate serious material-orientation and enhance feminism in society. Most of all, they educate children about the meaning of life. As Bruno Bettelheim mentions in The Uses of Enchantment, "…of the entire ‘children’s literature’ — with rare exceptions — nothing can be as enriching and satisfying to child and adult alike as the folk fairy tale" (P.5). Fairy tales are really a masterpiece of literature. They are valuable and rich in knowledge and thus they should be cherished.