Fairy Tale Analysis Essay
The Fairy Tale of Sleeping Beauty shows that women are very disobedient and curious when it comes to finding their sexuality and inner women hood by exploring a dark hidden room on top of the tower.
A lot of fairy tales have numerous symbols that represent sex or sexuality and Sleeping Beauty is one great example. The curse that the thirteenth fairy gave her could represent menstruation when turning 15 years of age. The dark room on top of the tower could represent the curiosity of women hood and sexuality. The spindle when she pricks her finger could also relate to menstruation and losing her virginity.Lastly the hedge of thorns that only turn to flowers when the right guy comes along to marry could represent that sex should only be explored when in marriage with the right guy. All of these are sexual references or symbols made in the fairy tale the Sleeping Beauty.
At the beginning of the fairy tale the king and queen wanted a child and once they finally had a little girl they had a huge party where they invited 12 fairies to give her gives of beauty, wealth, happiness, etc. The 12 fairies would represent the twelve months in a year. The thirteenth fairy gave her a curse that she would fall into a deep sleep at 15 years of age.The age is very important because when a girl is 15 years old is normally when they being puberty and start menstruation.
Menstruation normally represents a girl coming into women hood, which then leads into the curiosity of their sexuality and the opposite sex as well. When sleeping beauty is 15 years of age her curiosity starts to rise which leads her to terrible things. Her parents tell her to not explore the castle because she might find herself in trouble, but when her parents are away she becomes disobedient and explores anyways. She finds this tower that has stairs leading up to a dark room.The dark room could represent the curiosity of sexuality and true women hood.
Going into this room shows that she is curious in finding out answers which because she is not ready for this step in her life she falls into a deep sleep. Upon entering this dark room she finds a spindle in the room which she then pricks her finger on and falls into a deep sleep. Again this room represents the coming of women hood and curiosity to sexuality which bad in this time was a bad thing for women to do. They were not allowed to be curious about sex until they were married.The spindle inside the room is also a symbol for sex but when she pricks her finger it could represent her losing her virginity or the true starting of menstruation. When she pricked her finger is drew blood which is why it could represent both the loss of her virginity which happens during sex or the menstruation cycle. Either way she ends up falling into a deep sleep because she is not yet ready to explore this subject because she is not married yet.
As I stated earlier back at this time it was bad for women to be curious and explore the world of sexuality until they were married.After sleeping beauty pricks her finger she falls into this deep sleep because she is not ready for this next step in her life so she is sent to sleep for a hundred years until she can mature and become ready. Along with her deep sleep there is a hedge of thorns which are surrounding the whole castle. These thorns grew there to symbolize that sleeping beauty is neither ready nor mature enough to explore the life of marriage but when she is ready the thorns will turn into beautiful flowers when the right guy comes along to save her.
It is very clear that only the right guy can come and save sleeping beauty because many guys would come and try to get past the hedge of thorns but all were unsuccessful because they were not the right guy for her. One day however the right guy comes along and the thorns turn into flowers with he is able to pass easily. The he explores the castle and comes to a tower which again is a passage way to curiosity of sexuality and found the beautiful sleeping beauty. He couldn’t help but kiss her which wakes her up out of her hundred year sleep.
It is known that in that time only the right man could marry the princess and he was the right guy for her because he was let through the thorns. The dark room on the top of the tower leads to endless curiosity about sexuality and womanhood in the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. The princess is cursed on her 15th birthday which represents menstruation and when the day comes she disobeys her parents and explores the castle which leads to this little room which represents women hood.She is then pricked by the spindle and sent into a deep sleep which is a symbol for her not being ready to explore women hood but until the right man comes along she is in a hundred year sleep. She can only be awakened by the right guy who she will marry and then be allowed to explore the world of sexuality once married to the right guy. Children’s Fairy tales are not only enjoyable but they are filled with many different symbols of sexuality and gender for both males and females.
