Although there is the occasional “trickster” tale or feminist female character, the mainstay is that a woman must lose her voice and/or her identity in order to retain her place in society. There are specific gender roles in the classic fairy tales that state that the men have the voice and the women are to be subservient.
In the classic fairy tale, “The Little Mermaid,” the character of the seventh daughter is being taught what it is to be a woman. When she complains about grooming for her first trip above water, her grandmother tells her, “Yes, one can’t have beauty for nothing.” (Tatar, 220) A woman must be beautiful and must suffer the cost in silence. Silence is reiterated throughout the tale as being a virtue. The mermaid suffers the pain and blood of her feet and the cutting out of her tongue to be with her love, even though he does not want her in return. The Disney version of this tale also shows Ariel learning about the importance of outward beauty and......

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Title: Classic Fairy Tale Stereotype Vs. Disney Version
Approximate Word Count: 420
Approximate Pages: 2 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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