John Doe
Mr. Pierce
Essentials
17 November 2011
Annotation #1: “Feminism and Fairy Tales”
Citation: Rowe, Karen E. "Feminism And Fairy Tales." Women's Studies 6.3 (1979): 237.
Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Nov. 2011.
Topic: Beauty and the Beast
Author Credibility: Karen E. Rowe is an American literary critic and a specialist in Renaissance
literature. Earning her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College and her Ph. D. from Indiana
University, she is now a professor of English at UCLA.
Argument: Analyzing a number of the most well-known fairy tales, Rowe argues that for the
modern woman, and for modern societies in general, fairy tales have lost their instructive value,
their “mythic validations of desirable female behavior.” Instead, she states, they serve only as
mere escapism or nostalgia. She explain that these tales that showcase submissiveness, selfsacrifice, and dependency as a “heroine’s cardinal virtues can no longer speak to a society where
the social practice of the modern, liberated woman defies these qualities” (241). However, Rowe
does acknowledge the modern contradiction between the immense popularity of fairy tale-like
Hollywood romances and the independent, male-defying heroines of modern novels. She
proposes, finally, that by examining these few popular folktales from the viewpoint of modern
feminism, we can better understand the power romantic fantasy (either in the form of traditional
fairy tales or modern Hollywood romance) and its ability to continue to confuse women’s views
toward men and relationships.
Supporting Ideas & Evidence (specifically concerning Rowe’s analysis of “Beauty and the
Beast”):
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Rowe points out right away that Beaumont focuses on the intimate bonds between the
father and the daughter, which impede (submissiveness, obedience) the heroine’s rite of
passage (241). But Rowe suggests that this adoration between daughter and father is more
than “filial love” but is “latent incest.” The childish clinging to the father, Rowe claims,
can be looked at as “oedipal,” but the eventual “transference” of the affection to the
Prince “round(s) out the saga of maturation” (242).
Rowe also implies that this dependency of the father’s affection in Beauty is preferable to
the “maternal persecutions” of any rival female figure. In this story, the mother figure is
absent, but the ugly, vain older sisters take her place. It seems suggested that females are
destined to vie for male attention with other females.
Rowe states that in Beaumont’s tale, “Beauty acts with unusual decisiveness in
consigning herself to a passive waiting and in prolonging her allegiance to the father”
(244). Beauty is willing to give up happiness to stay with the Beast instead of allowing
her father being captured. In fact, as an ideal daughter and female, she sees it as her duty.
Rowe quotes a sentence from Beaumont’s story when Beauty was pursued by suitors,
pointing out that Beauty “civilly thanked them that courted her, and told them she was
too young yet to marry, but chose to stay with her father for a few years longer” (244).
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Rowe states that Beauty sacrifices individual happiness to die in her father’s stead to
satisfy the offended Beast (244).
Rowe also says that Beauty clings childishly to her father (244).
Ultimately, the submissive role she learns in her father’s house leads her to sacrifice her
own desires to be with the Beast. Rowe explains, “Beauty’s apprenticeship in her
father’s house reveals an early conformity to domestic roles; but, her subsequent palatial
captivity by Beast symbolizes a further stage in her maturation” (244). Still, she is the
submissive “captive” in one house, only to become the same in another.
The final transformation of the Beast to the Prince, says Rowe, “rewards Beauty for
embracing traditional female virtues. She has obligingly reformed sexual reluctance into
self-sacrifice to redeem Beast from death. She trades her independent selfhood for
subordination…still the female remains childlike—subjected to masculine supervision
and denied any true independence” (245).
Key terms and Unknown Words:
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Decisiveness: settling something, able to make definite decisions (244).
Apprenticeship: system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill (244).
Palatial: luxurious, fit for palace (244).
Relinquishing: cede something, or abandon something, let something go (244).
Grotesque: distorted, incongruous, blending realistic and fantastic (245).
Acquiescing: agree to something passively (245).
Questions for Discussion:
 Can we find modern versions of Beauty (as Beaumont’s ideal feminine type) in today’s
society (movies, popular books, etc.)
 Do women still gravitate toward the romanticized comfort of male dominance?
 Or, is Rowe right that in today’s society, these romantic fairy tales are only relevant in
providing escapism or nostalgia? But, on the other hand, why don’t modern female
readers/viewers reject submissive female role models like Beauty?
 Can I or do I need to bring in Disney’s version of the tale for comparison when
discussing this tale through the feminine perspective?
Connections:
This article looks at Beaumont’s tale through a feminist lens, asking what it has to say about
gender roles, particularly female types. The analysis of many of the characters allows me
to explore some of the other females in the story as they work as foils to Beauty. It still is
interesting that the males in the story appear to have no significant characteristics and
never serve as sources of conflict (barely even Beast). It is the other women who appear
or do evil—the horrible, jealous older sisters, the evil fairy, and maybe even the absent
mother figure.