The Changing Meanings of Fairy Tales

In this study, I use content analysis to look at changes that have occurred over time in a selection of fairy tales. The tales I use for this study are Cinderella, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, and Rumpelstiltskin. In Chapter I, I define folklore and fairy tale. Then I look at the Grimms\u27 background and their collection of the fairy tales during the 19th century. I discuss their background, and motivations that they had to collect fairy tales. Then I look at controversy surrounding the Grimms\u27 methods. In Chapter II, I discuss rationalism, psychoanalysis, Marxism, functionalism, feminist theory, and structuralism, which have all been applied to fairy tales in many sources. In Chapter III, I discuss content analysis, and the categories that I created in order to conduct the analysis. The categories are based on oppositions that were repeated in all of the stories. In Chapter IV, I discuss the data that was presented in the previous chapter. In my discussion, I apply the theories discussed in Chapter II to the three versions of the stories. I look at historical aspects in the different time periods. For example, I look at changes in ideology, ideal types, and morals. What I find is that the categories are present in all of the versions. However, the importance of the categories, like beauty and wealth, have changed over time