Sleeping Beauty

I believe that some stereotypes on gender in the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty" do shape society's attitude towards women. For example, Sleeping Beauty in the story is described as a female who has been coddled since she is born. Her royal family provides her with all the jewels and fancy clothes and tries to protect her from all undesirable things. Sleeping Beauty also lives in a grandiose palace but rarely goes out the door and experiences the outside world. These descriptions are parallel to the stereotypes of the contemporary society on young women. The patriarchal society believed that women are unable to handle problems by themselves and need to be sheltered from unpleasant things, and the best way to do it is to stay at home.

Moreover, in the fist version of Sleeping beauty, the queen envies the king's love towards Talia and seeks to retaliate by killing Talia, making a meal with the flesh of Talia's sons, and letting the king eat it. This also reflects the stereotypical view towards women at the time which holds that women often envy and fight each other for men's favor.

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