ADSactly Literature - The Hidden Meaning of Sleeping Beauty

in #literature5 years ago



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With the markets as red as they are, I would say it's a good time to retreat into the comforting arms of a good book and just forget about the world for a little while. You might choose a spicy romance novel, a thrilling mystery or indeed, a classic fairy tale.

You remember fairy tales, don't you? Those stories most of us grew up with, always somewhere at the back of our childhood, have definitely left a mark on our development. And while most of them strike you as delightful and hopeful tales of humanity, you might find they're not quite so light-hearted, if you take a closer look.
Today, I've chosen to examine the classic tale of Sleeping Beauty, as some recent reading opened my eyes to a much darker underlayer in the beloved kids' story.

What is the Story of Sleeping Beauty?

Well, first things first. Let's assume you lived under a rock, or on planet Mars or somewhere equally remote up until this morning and you are just now hearing the name of Sleeping Beauty. You have no idea who this is or what's going on. Allow me.



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The story begins with the christening of a young princess, the much awaited child of a good king. He invites all sorts of good faeries (some say seven, some three) to the christening, but fails to invite one, Maleficient (a portmanteau of the words magnificent and malicious). The fairy godmothers begin to bestow their gifts upon the baby girl, but are interrupted by the arrival of Maleficient, who is furious at not having been invited to the christening. In her anger, she curses the girl, predicting that she will prick her finger on a spinning needle at the tender age of 16 and die.

However, the seventh fairy has not yet announced her gift. So, after Maleficient leaves, she tries to turn the spell around, saying that the young princess won't actually die when she pricks her finger, but fall into a hundred year sleep, only to be awakened from it by the kiss of true love.

The angry king orders all the spinning wheels and spindles in the kingdom to be destroy, in an attempt to save his daughter. But you can not fight fate, naturally, so the princess grows up and, on her sixteenth birthday discovers an old woman spinning with her spindle. She pricks her finger and falls asleep, only to have the curse ended, after 100 years, by the kiss of her one true love, Prince Philip.

Now, this seems like a fairly straight-forward story, simple and following all the “fairy tale rules” - it had the presence of a magic number, true love's kiss, the evil antagonist etc. We tend to go away with the thought that love conquers all and good always beats evil. But it has a much deeper, darker level that tends to be forgotten, once the joyful ending is shown.



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If we look at the story symbolically, we notice that the fact the king and queen did not invite Maleficent to the christening can be seen as an act of overprotecting their daughter. While some claim the old Maleficent had been forgotten and presumed dead, others clearly state that she is not invited out of fear. She is, after all, an evil witch, the Queen of the Underworld, essentially. She is the dark side of nature and the royal couple do not want her around their daughter.

They attempt to keep their daughter safe by not inviting Maleficent. But by doing that, they only make Sleeping Beauty weak. The avoidance of bad things does not stop bad things from happening and obviously, Maleficent arrives. Angry. And she curses Sleeping Beauty, which could have been avoided, had her parents exposed her to the “dark side of nature” in the first place.

Perhaps the most striking feature of the story is how heavily it focuses on death, on sleeping and not waking again, which in reality can easily be translated into a metaphorical wakening, a realization moment of sorts.
By cursing Sleeping Beauty to die (or to sleep for a really long time), Maleficient is cursing her to never wake. Because that's logical, isn't it?


You remain sleeping = you do not wake.

And notice the timing of the curse: on her sixteenth birthday. Sleeping Beauty will never reach adulthood. She will fall asleep, a tender child of 16 and remain so forever. Don't you see? Sleeping Beauty is a metaphor for the forever-child, the one who is overprotected by his/her parents and is doomed do remain underdeveloped throughout.

Next, let's look at how her curse is to unfold. She will prick her finger on a spinning needle. A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about symbolism in different mythologies in which I explained the image of the 3 Fates, the spinners of destiny. Get it?
Spinning wheel, destiny?



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The spinning wheel which will bring about the undoing of Sleeping Beauty is obviously a metaphor for destiny, for her fate (otherwise, why not just have her cut herself with a random knife?). And why the prick of the needle?

I read a fascinating theory that likens the needle itself shedding her blood to the loss of virginity, and thus her transitioning from child to woman. Sleeping Beauty will be destroyed by her becoming an adult, according to Maleficent's curse.

And she is destroyed, because she does indeed prick her finger, which strikes the reader as a choice, rather than an accident. I mean, if it were you and you'd heard about this awful curse, would you linger in a room with a spinning needle around your sweet 16? Yeah, that's what I thought.

In a way, Sleeping Beauty chooses to fall asleep, perhaps because of her naivety (also a trait of an overprotected child), and to stay blissful, but asleep, instead of awake and having to confront the sometimes harsh realities of adults life – such as an imminent marriage, motherhood, etc.

And then, waking up could also refer to the metaphor we are so fond of using today – as in wake up to the world around you, become a conscious, aware adult. In the Charles Perrault version of the story, there is a fascinating exchange between the king and the last fairy.

"When will my daughter waken?"
"I don't know," the fairy admitted sadly.
"In a year's time, ten years or twenty?" the Queen went on.
''Maybe in a hundred years' time. Who knows?" said the fairy.
"Love," replied the fairy. "If a man of pure heart was to fall in love with her that would bring her back to life!"

"How can a man fall in love with a sleeping girl?”

As I pointed out earlier, the fairy godmothers are the deciders of fate. But not even they know when her awakening will happen. Because that depends chiefly on the self, it's on Sleeping Beauty's shoulders to wake up and there is nothing they can do about that. Just like in life, you can't force someone to wake up, to open their eyes and see the world as it is. The last line of the dialogue – how can a man fall for a sleeping girl – is a metaphor for her level of consciousness. It's not about her actually sleeping, but about her being an unaware child, at least mentally.

The End

Sure, at the end she is woken up by true love's kiss and all and we're left with a happy ending. Or are we?



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Although the more modern versions of the story end with Sleeping Beauty waking up and falling in love, it didn't always use to be like this.
When you look at the story like that, it seems ideal, no harm done. But what we don't usually take into consideration is that after Sleeping Beauty wakes up, she has an actual life. Quite a horrible one, according to Charles Perrault. After she and the prince get married, they have children and the prince becomes king in his own kingdom, where they encounter his evil mother, who is half-ogre, quite crazy and has cannibalistic tendencies. She orders her cook to prepare both her grandchildren for her to eat, which the cook dodges by serving her some animal, swearing it's the meat of her grandkids. Quite terrible, isn't it?

So in the end, Sleeping Beauty wakes up and doesn't have an ideal life. Because see, the promise that we get (in the movie and the shorter versions) is false – they lead you to believe you can wake up and everything will be just great. It won't be. You probably won't have to deal with a cannibalistic mother-in-law, but your life won't always be pleasant either. It won't just be roses and kisses. But they make it, in the end, after Sleeping Beauty wakes up and after they defeat the mad old queen, they make it.
And to me, this ending is far more “real” than the one with the true love's kiss.


Anyway, hope you enjoyed this. Let me know what you think and what other “classic” stories interest you!

Authored by : @honeydue

References: 12 Rules for Life - Jordan Peterson
Wikipedia
Sleeping Beauty: The Meaning of Fate, Sleep and death

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Yah, not sure about this one... Your point at the end seemed quite interesting to me. What was she really waking up to and was that a good or bad thing?

As many people as there are opinions.
I know that in this fairy tale the deep erotic sense is beautifully camouflaged. I am not saying it is true, but as an option, it has a place to be.
The offended fairy declared that the Royal daughter would fall in love when the time comes, and in disobedience of parents will enter criminal communication with the person with whom the noble family cannot be related in any way. Of course, this prophecy plunged into depression ruling couple. The father began to take precautions, but, since he was used to solving all issues in an authoritarian way, he decided to apply the tactics of prohibition in this situation. Instead of informing your child, teach your daughter to cope with strangers and not to succumb to the impulses of love, parents just shut up the great mystery of life. In addition, life would still gave its sprout. There was an old lady pimp. Perhaps she was even conspiring with an evil sorceress. The old woman slipped her granddaughter-Lovelace to the Princess, who told the naive ignorant girl all sorts of beautiful words, seduced her, and was such. In addition, girl from chagrin fell into in unconsciousness. Alternatively, in a long swoon. Only the power of parental love and care of her relatives brought her back to life.
It also becomes clear why the beauty was destined to sleep a hundred years: it had to be replaced by three generations, to pass three times for thirty-three years, so that the popular rumor grew true and forgot about the shame of the king's daughter, about her unscheduled loss of innocence. This story is really overgrown with legends, and the castle itself - impassable forest.
This quite banal situation was shrouded in mystery, so it became so attractive for a passing knight. It was even said that an Ogre lives in the castle. Of course, all these mysterious interpretations only fueled the curiosity of the wandering Prince.

Wow, wonderful, extremely wonderful. I have watched this movie a countless number of times but still couldn't figure out what you just brought to my knowledge and understanding or should I say I was quite little then when I watched it that why I wasn't able to relate that much.
And this movie really teaches us something great just as you outlined, maybe if she had been exposed to evil, evil might not be able to overcome her. Indeed its a privilege to read and learning from you @honeydue, exactly adsactly has everything you're exactly looking for.

I'm glad you enjoyed reading this! I know, it was quite an unexpected discovery for me too :)

Back then when i was still a little child, i always love to listen to stories and i always love to read short stories tales because it always give me joy. This will actually be the first time i will hear about sleeping beauty. You know there are just many short stories tales in this world that you can not know everything all

Exactly, there's always a new story to read! I'm glad I helped you discover this one :)

Wow. Interesting to read about. Hmmm i have always hear about iy but i have not read it before so i guess you have just given me the opportuninty to read about this tale today. I always love to read fairly tale a lot most especially the romantic fairly tales. I pefer the romantic tales

Well, it is romantic, at least the Disney version is. I'm glad I helped you discover something :)

I always loved the old un-Disney versions of fairy tales, such as the little mermaid DOESN'T get the prince but turns to sea foam.

I love those too, they're much more interesting and believable. And I think they'd be better for kids too - because how often do you get the prince and get to live happily ever after?
They need stories that are true to life, you know? :)

Wowww..fantastic read and great way to put all your perception put forward. Never aware about the hidden fairy story behind the sleeping beauty....but reading the version simply implies that no one can can walk around with the destiny. But it is so unpredictable that a curse or a good wish can occur in such way very realistically.....how can it be possible.....or may be fairytale can make anything possible.

You put a great insight on each happening of the storry teller and mi utelly examine the whole event....good observation...👍

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Greetings, @honeydue, the story of Sleeping Beauty is one of those childhood stories almost obligatory reading for all girls and that at that age only allows you to get to understand the beautiful and romantic story that is told. The arrival of a Prince Charming who comes with a kiss of love to undo the spell is the idea that persists and so many women go through life thinking and looking for that Prince Charming. The analysis that you have done is precise and deepens the meaning of some elements that appear in the plot and that have to do with the overprotection of parents, initiation to sexuality, among others. I have also read that feminist critics approach the character of Sleeping Beauty as a symbol of that beautiful and passive woman who is attentive to a man finding her and waking her up and for this reason feels his owner, thus undermining the rights he has as an independent human being. Analyzing these fairy stories gives for many interpretations, your exercise has been very interesting and I liked it. Thanks to you @honeydue and @adsactly for sharing this publication. Happy day!

As always, I enjoyed reading your text, @honeydue. I think you're reaching an interesting high point in fairy tales: the real symbolism behind each of them. We know that these stories, although they were not originally created for children, eventually became children's literature and hence the sweetened tone of many of them and the sobering of their endings. It always catches the attention how, from some characters, we start to create the children's environment, their referent, their first concepts: good over evil, the bad stepmother, the witch, the fairies, the prince (an idea that I don't know to what extent he has hurt women), and so on. Most of them justify these stories because they supposedly want children to be creative, to have imagination, although many of them promote magical solutions to the problems. I am particularly struck by some esoteric and karmatic features that play a fundamental role in some of these stories, as well as some psychoanalytic studies that have been done about them. I find the studies of Little Red Riding Hood and Alice in Wonderland fascinating. Many thanks to you for offering us this work and to @adsactly for sharing!

Estimated, @honeydue, lo mean it by reading your previous posts. You do a work of high informative and reflective level. On the tema "Fairy Tales" and its pragmatic relationship there is much to say. You approach it with a lot of professionalism and coherence, in particular the Sleeping Beauty story. Although it's not my area of literature, I read about it several years ago. One of the authors I knew then (but not in depth) was the Austrian psychologist (I think) Bruno Bettelheim, who was already accusing the sexist and classist conditions of most such stories. In the ethnological and feminist line, perhaps there are many others. I don't think that this is why we should stop reading the so-called "fairy tales", which are nothing more than the marvellous and marvellous versions of peoples, originally expressed orally.
The story of Sleeping Beauty, as you well point out, can give rise to various considerations, depending on the point of view from which you see it. One of the aspects of the ones pointed out by you that most interested me is the one related to "the dark side of things", and that would be linked to the experience of reality and the psyche. How to understand sleep and awakening? Any interpretation, as long as it is based on serious criteria, will have validity. What will never disappear will be the magical and free sense of our consciousness and our reading. For the good of humanity!
Thank you for your excellent post, @honeydue, and @adsactly for spreading it.

story well outlined except for that the Princess life was made short at age 16 because her parents were trying to protect her and ended up exposing her to whom they thought they were protecting from. thank goodness that there was remaining who changed her death to sleep and gave reassurance that she would be awaken by a kiss from a true lover.

That life line is good, but to some extent her achievements she could have made was cut short and that brings the question who will falling in love with who has been sleeping for years.

But you know that thing they say about love? That love is blind, yes! She was finally kissed by her true love which redeemed her.