Wednesday, February 24, 2010
How Important is the Parent's Role anyway?
I think an interesting parent relationship in these types of tales can be seen in the Straparola version, "The Pig King." In this case the parents in which the parents truly love their child. They wanted a child so much, that they were so happy when the wife finally conceived thanks to the mischievous fairies. They love the child or at least the mother does unconditionally, even though it is born a pig and willingly put up with his antics. ("defiling them with all manner of dirt, but because he was indeed their own son they bore it all" pg. 43) The mother ends up finding him three wives to please him and they all eventually live happily ever after. This is in sharp contrast with the parents from Hans My Hedgehog. Here the parents do not show the beast the same type of love and affection. Their lack of care even pushes him to leave home. Interestingly, both these beasts go through similar trials (multiple wives) and are eventually turned into princes thanks to the virtuous women. So my question is this, if both of these stories have similar obstacles with two very different types of parents, but still reach the SAME outcome, then does it really matter what role the parents play in their lives?
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I think you are discussing an interesting topic in your blog. First, I would have to disagree with you about the mother in the "Pig king," I do not believe she is as good and virtuous as you make her out to be. She, i believe evilly, took advantage of the poor woman and almost forced her to let 2 of her daughters be killed by her son. And they did not live happily ever after, the pig wanted the most beautiful daughter and killed the first two. In 'Hanz My Hedgehog" the parents are responsible for exiling the beast, something that didnt happen in the Pig King. However, the beasts parents were not responsible for the marriage- it was the Beast's idea, and the kings acceptance of the deal which forced the daughters to marry the hedgehog. I believe in most of these roles the parents (of Belle, the Beast, or both) play a pivotal role in the continuation and flow of the story. Without the parents, the protagonists would most likely not be able to meet one another. Usually, Belle's parents play a role in surrendering her to the beast- and it is Belle's close relationship with her father that almost guilts her into leaving and taking his place.
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