Men Are The Problem
*Weo weo*,officer is this one right here. What do you get with lovely, gorgeous young women and trashy men? That’s right! A fairytale. They aren’t the first terrible male figure in a fairy tale. Rumpelstiltskin is a well-known character in the world of fairy tales. He is often portrayed as a little troll-like creature who can spin straw into gold, but this is just the surface of his story. The dark truth about Rumpelstiltskin lurks beneath the glittering promise of wealth and fame. This essay will delve deeper into the dark truth of Rumpelstiltskin. In Rumpelstiltskin it illustrates sexism plays a role where the women are mistreated and have no power.
Right off the bat, the miller’s daughter is introduced as beautiful but poor (typical fairy tale female character). And the miller (miraculously) had an interaction with the king. Where he told the king that his daughter can spin straw and make gold out of it. To where the king believed and took the miller’s daughter and locked her up in a room to spin straw into gold. (First of all, how did this poor miller get to meet the king, and why did the king believe the miller about his daughter being able to make gold? Like if she did they would be poor.)
Once the king took the girl to the castle and sent her to a room to make gold he told hers that if she didn’t make gold by tomorrow she would die. And himself locked up her inside the room, alone. All because of her father’s lie(father of the year), she now is crying about her situation. And who shows up to the crying dismay of the girl, Rumpelstiltskin. Rumpelstiltskin saves her 2 times, once where she traded her gold necklace for him to spin gold with his magic and then traded her gold ring (when she suddenly had gold jewelry, I thought she was poor). When the king sees what she has done after her first few times, he tells her that if she does it again, she will become his wife ( but I think it would be better to die than be his wife). Until the point on her 3rd cry for help, Rumplestiltskin demands for her first born child in return,and she agrees. As I see, because of the miller’s lie he lands his daughter in a dangerous situation, the King threatens to kill the miller’s daughter who’s a helpless girl, and even the miller’s daughter disregards her child when she promises him to Rumpelstiltskin. Yet they all live happily ever after, and readers ignore their transgressions. What would have happened if the miller’s daughter hadn’t found Rumpelstiltskin’s name? Her son would have been given to a madman, forced to grow up without his parents, probably unloved and neglected. And how women are portrayed, in this story the miller’s daughter is forced to be the king’s wife, showing that society depicts women to have no power, that getting married was actually a way to lose independence and freedom. Also, how she was just locked up, basically imprisoned by the king making her spin gold for him to later on to have her a child! “Identifying with the miller’s daughter imprisoned in the castle to spin straw into gold, the working women of the Spinnstube wove personal experiences with male impotence into successive iterations of the tale to humiliate and retaliate against powerful men. In turning Rumpelstiltskin into a hieroglyph for masculine impotence, they asserted their voices in a world where they went from their fathers’ property into their husbands’ hands to labor as spinners and wives”. At the end when she mentions his name, he gets so upset that he stomps the ground sooo hard that his right leg got sunk into the earth and because of his rage he tries to pull his leg out which leads to him splitting in half. (He definitely deserves to die).
Another example is that sexism or deception can be seen or heard in songs. Such as in the song “ Girls just wanna have fun” which demonstrated that women don’t need the approval of others, especially men, to have fun and be themselves. Also, in “Hey Mama” she will do the cooking and the cleaning, where he will be the boss and she will respect him. Showing how the men have all the power and the women do the stereotypical chores and is under him. And in the lyrics of the song “Devil by the window” shows similarity of the theme of temptation and . “A wolf in sheep clothes|His disguise|I met the devil by the window|Traded my life…Temptation touched my tongue|Spread the wings of desire”. Where in this fairytale men are the ones who are wolves (where wolves are known for being predators and hunters so men are awful and hurt women). This can also tie back to the Greek mythology of Medusa where this beautiful lady gets cursed by another woman because of a man who took advantage of her, illustrating that even before men are the ones who create issues and make women seem powerless and inferior.
Lastly, the sexual content of it where the men want to take advantage of them. For example in Little Red Cap we noticed the wolf says “ What a tender young creature!What a nice plumpful mouthful-she will be better to eat than the old woman. I must act craftly, so as to catch both.” and where later on he goes and swallows up Red Cap. The eating of the grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood is seen as a metaphor for rape. Showing how dark and cunning men can be seen to get young women. And in the other case of Rumpelstiltskin the beautiful daughter encounters this manikin that appears whenever she cries about her situation of not knowing to spin gold. ‘ What will you give me, said the manikin, if I do it for you?’ “My necklace, said the girl.” “ What will you give if I spin that straw into gold for you?‘The ring on my finger’, ” answered the girl.“ ” What will you give me if I spin that straw for you this time also? ‘I have nothing left that I could give’, answered the girl. “Then promise me, if you should become Queen, your first child.” The repetition shows how easy it is to persuade her and how he gets what he wants. And how he wanted a child in return (like is he crazy) but he didn’t get it in the end.It contains sexual overtones which changes the story. It centered around young girls losing their innocence to male predators. These 2 stories go along with the theme surrounding Jamaica Kincaid where she has followed societal expectations and rules of what a woman should and should not do.
Basically, once upon a time this wonderful young girl gets stuck in this miserable life because of men. The tale of Rumplestiltskin revolves around a miller’s daughter who is promised to the king if she can spin straw into gold. Rumplestiltskin appears and offers to do the job for her in exchange for something of great value to her. The girl agrees, and he spins straw into gold for her three times. In the end, he demands her first-born child as payment. The girl agrees but later decides to change her mind on the deal, leading Rumplestiltskin to demand her child once he is born. The only way out for her is to guess his name, which she does, saving her child.The stories depict the essential role of women in the society, which subordinates their social importance compared to men. The portrayal of women as powerless and submissive reinforces gender stereotypes and discrimination against women.
3
Annotated Bibliography
Grimm, Wilhelm and Jacob. The Complete Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. (20 December 1812). The Complete Folk Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm – The Complete and Authoritative Edition (Wilhelm Grimm Jacob Grimm).pdf
This Fairy Tale book is full of stories that many children grew up learning about. It is a German collection.
Guetta, David. Hey Mama. 29 November 2014.
The song is about how a woman allows herself to pretend to be controlled by her man he, she describes the work she does for him, where she mocks about the woman’s role.
Kincaid, Jamaica. “Girl.” The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories, edited by Tobias Wolff, Vintage, 1994, pp. 306-07.
Short story upon the life of a little girl who faces expectations set for women on what she should do and cannot do.
Lauper, Cyndi. Girls Just Want To Have Fun. 1983.
In its catchy tone and lyrics it is about how girls want to enjoy themselves and be free to do what they want.
Meyertholen. (2021). Rumpelstiltskin’s (Queer) Secret: Nonbinary Bodies Buried between the Lines of the Brothers Grimm. Marvels & Tales, 35(1), 36–61. https://doi.org/10.13110/marvelstales.35.1.0036
Argues on the societal expectations on women and how Rumpelstiltskin is gendered.
Tomorrow x Together, Devil by the Window. (27 January 2023).
The song is about the temptations from a devil and their reactions towards it.
Men Are The Problem
*Weo weo*,officer is this one right here. What do you get with lovely, gorgeous young women and trashy men? That’s right! A fairytale. They aren’t the first terrible male figure in a fairy tale. Rumpelstiltskin is a well-known character in the world of fairy tales. He is often portrayed as a little troll-like creature who can spin straw into gold, but this is just the surface of his story. The dark truth about Rumpelstiltskin lurks beneath the glittering promise of wealth and fame. This essay will delve deeper into the dark truth of Rumpelstiltskin. In Rumpelstiltskin it illustrates sexism plays a role where the women are mistreated and have no power.
Right off the bat, the miller’s daughter is introduced as beautiful but poor (typical fairy tale female character). And the miller (miraculously) had an interaction with the king. Where he told the king that his daughter can spin straw and make gold out of it. To where the king believed and took the miller’s daughter and locked her up in a room to spin straw into gold. (First of all, how did this poor miller get to meet the king, and why did the king believe the miller about his daughter being able to make gold? Like if she did they would be poor.)
Once the king took the girl to the castle and sent her to a room to make gold he told hers that if she didn’t make gold by tomorrow she would die. And himself locked up her inside the room, alone. All because of her father’s lie(father of the year), she now is crying about her situation. And who shows up to the crying dismay of the girl, Rumpelstiltskin. Rumpelstiltskin saves her 2 times, once where she traded her gold necklace for him to spin gold with his magic and then traded her gold ring (when she suddenly had gold jewelry, I thought she was poor). When the king sees what she has done after her first few times, he tells her that if she does it again, she will become his wife ( but I think it would be better to die than be his wife). Until the point on her 3rd cry for help, Rumplestiltskin demands for her first born child in return,and she agrees. As I see, because of the miller’s lie he lands his daughter in a dangerous situation, the King threatens to kill the miller’s daughter who’s a helpless girl, and even the miller’s daughter disregards her child when she promises him to Rumpelstiltskin. Yet they all live happily ever after, and readers ignore their transgressions. What would have happened if the miller’s daughter hadn’t found Rumpelstiltskin’s name? Her son would have been given to a madman, forced to grow up without his parents, probably unloved and neglected. And how women are portrayed, in this story the miller’s daughter is forced to be the king’s wife, showing that society depicts women to have no power, that getting married was actually a way to lose independence and freedom. Also, how she was just locked up, basically imprisoned by the king making her spin gold for him to later on to have her a child! “Identifying with the miller’s daughter imprisoned in the castle to spin straw into gold, the working women of the Spinnstube wove personal experiences with male impotence into successive iterations of the tale to humiliate and retaliate against powerful men. In turning Rumpelstiltskin into a hieroglyph for masculine impotence, they asserted their voices in a world where they went from their fathers’ property into their husbands’ hands to labor as spinners and wives”. At the end when she mentions his name, he gets so upset that he stomps the ground sooo hard that his right leg got sunk into the earth and because of his rage he tries to pull his leg out which leads to him splitting in half. (He definitely deserves to die).
Another example is that sexism or deception can be seen or heard in songs. Such as in the song “ Girls just wanna have fun” which demonstrated that women don’t need the approval of others, especially men, to have fun and be themselves. Also, in “Hey Mama” she will do the cooking and the cleaning, where he will be the boss and she will respect him. Showing how the men have all the power and the women do the stereotypical chores and is under him. And in the lyrics of the song “Devil by the window” shows similarity of the theme of temptation and . “A wolf in sheep clothes|His disguise|I met the devil by the window|Traded my life…Temptation touched my tongue|Spread the wings of desire”. Where in this fairytale men are the ones who are wolves (where wolves are known for being predators and hunters so men are awful and hurt women). This can also tie back to the Greek mythology of Medusa where this beautiful lady gets cursed by another woman because of a man who took advantage of her, illustrating that even before men are the ones who create issues and make women seem powerless and inferior.
Lastly, the sexual content of it where the men want to take advantage of them. For example in Little Red Cap we noticed the wolf says “ What a tender young creature!What a nice plumpful mouthful-she will be better to eat than the old woman. I must act craftly, so as to catch both.” and where later on he goes and swallows up Red Cap. The eating of the grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood is seen as a metaphor for rape. Showing how dark and cunning men can be seen to get young women. And in the other case of Rumpelstiltskin the beautiful daughter encounters this manikin that appears whenever she cries about her situation of not knowing to spin gold. ‘ What will you give me, said the manikin, if I do it for you?’ “My necklace, said the girl.” “ What will you give if I spin that straw into gold for you?‘The ring on my finger’, ” answered the girl.“ ” What will you give me if I spin that straw for you this time also? ‘I have nothing left that I could give’, answered the girl. “Then promise me, if you should become Queen, your first child.” The repetition shows how easy it is to persuade her and how he gets what he wants. And how he wanted a child in return (like is he crazy) but he didn’t get it in the end.It contains sexual overtones which changes the story. It centered around young girls losing their innocence to male predators. These 2 stories go along with the theme surrounding Jamaica Kincaid where she has followed societal expectations and rules of what a woman should and should not do.
Basically, once upon a time this wonderful young girl gets stuck in this miserable life because of men. The tale of Rumplestiltskin revolves around a miller’s daughter who is promised to the king if she can spin straw into gold. Rumplestiltskin appears and offers to do the job for her in exchange for something of great value to her. The girl agrees, and he spins straw into gold for her three times. In the end, he demands her first-born child as payment. The girl agrees but later decides to change her mind on the deal, leading Rumplestiltskin to demand her child once he is born. The only way out for her is to guess his name, which she does, saving her child.The stories depict the essential role of women in the society, which subordinates their social importance compared to men. The portrayal of women as powerless and submissive reinforces gender stereotypes and discrimination against women.
3
Annotated Bibliography
Grimm, Wilhelm and Jacob. The Complete Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. (20 December 1812). The Complete Folk Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm – The Complete and Authoritative Edition (Wilhelm Grimm Jacob Grimm).pdf
This Fairy Tale book is full of stories that many children grew up learning about. It is a German collection.
Guetta, David. Hey Mama. 29 November 2014.
The song is about how a woman allows herself to pretend to be controlled by her man he, she describes the work she does for him, where she mocks about the woman’s role.
Kincaid, Jamaica. “Girl.” The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories, edited by Tobias Wolff, Vintage, 1994, pp. 306-07.
Short story upon the life of a little girl who faces expectations set for women on what she should do and cannot do.
Lauper, Cyndi. Girls Just Want To Have Fun. 1983.
In its catchy tone and lyrics it is about how girls want to enjoy themselves and be free to do what they want.
Meyertholen. (2021). Rumpelstiltskin’s (Queer) Secret: Nonbinary Bodies Buried between the Lines of the Brothers Grimm. Marvels & Tales, 35(1), 36–61. https://doi.org/10.13110/marvelstales.35.1.0036
Argues on the societal expectations on women and how Rumpelstiltskin is gendered.
Tomorrow x Together, Devil by the Window. (27 January 2023).
The song is about the temptations from a devil and their reactions towards it.
