Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Dimino, Andrea

Area of Concentration

English

Abstract

This thesis develops the idea that the bodily fluid shown in fairy tales displays extraordinary powers in direct correlation to the gender of the character from which they come as a means of presenting cultural ideas and stereotypes of masculinity and femininity. Often ignored by folklore researchers in favor of better known topics like color symbolism, this motif offers readers a deeper understanding of not only the tales themselves, but the societies from which they come. Based on the scholarly-asserted principle that fairy tales are meant to be used as teaching devices, analyses of both history and religion in specific times and places play a large role in constructing the understanding of this subject. Borrowing from existing research on gender in folkloric scholarship, the thesis outlines different cultural adaptations of the motif. Beginning with a study of male and female bodily fluid in early Northern African and Chinese civilizations, the influence of religion—both institutionalized and locally specific—and patriarchal systems are examined. The tales selected represent some of the most popular tales from these regions that depict this concept. The second section of the thesis looks at the introduction and usage of the trope in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe. Despite a clear distinction in time, place, and religion from the earlier African and Asian civilizations, the motif still displays many of the same characteristics. Within this chapter, the role of the female is analyzed more deeply, shifting from a more singular stereotype into a dichotomy of good and evil, or chaste and sexual. The final chapter is significant in its relation to today’s society. Analyzing not only modern fairy tale adaptations but other literature as well, this thesis will address the transformation of the bodily fluid motif. This addresses the subject’s reflection of culture because it demonstrates slight shifts as it works to fit in to changing times, place, and ideals.

Download

Share

COinS