7/25/2019 Good Mothers vs. Bad Mothers

1/2

Good mothers vs. Bad mothers

Good mothers, in fairy tales, are usually presented like natural mothers. In my opinion, thereason is simple. We supposed that a flesh-and-blood mother, like Maria Tatar is allin! he

natural mothers in her book, is al"ays supportin! her hild, beause she loves him. #or us,

this is the normality. $ mother is al"ays sufferin! "hen her hild does, !ood mothers

sarifie themselves for their hild "ell-bein!. $ !ood mother, in fairy tales, is a "oman

"ho "ants "ith all her heart to !ive birth and sarifie her o"n life to have a baby. %uh a

mother "e met in tales like &uniper Tree or %no" White. In both stories, the future

mothers are dreamin! to have a beautiful hild and they are payin! "ith blood their "ishes.

In Brother Grimm's tales, the !ood mothers are al"ays dead, absent or transformed into

some entities suh as a bird, a o" or a tree (usually a symbol of nature).

Mothers, in !eneral, have a entral role in fairy tales ompiled by the Grimm's, in part

beause Wilhelm Grimm ould rarely resist the temptation to at as ensor by turnin! the

monstrously unnatural annibals and enhantresses of this tales into stepmothers, ooks,

"ithes, or mothers-in-la". $s the audiene for the tales han!ed, the need to shift the burden

of evil form a mother to a stepmother beame ever more ur!ent. The threaten is that, in our

times, the bi!!est audiene for the fairy tales are hildren and, ho" *ud"i! Behsteis said,

there is nothin! that hildren "ould rather read than fairy tales. $mon! the thousands of

hildren "ho every year !et their hands on books of fairy tales, there must be many so-alled

stephildren. When suh a hild, after readin! many a fairy tale in "ith stepmothers appear

(the stepmothers are all uniformly evil), feels that it has been someho" in+ured or insulted by its o"n stepmother, then that his !uardian. This aversion an that it disturbs the peae and

happiness of an entire family. Ima!ine if all that stepmothers, mothers-in-la", ooks or

"ithes "ere flesh-and-blood mothers. $ll the hildren "ill be terrified by their mothers. In

this ase, the tales "ill be ompromised. obody "ill allo" anymore that his little boy or !irl

read suh a story.

If the !ood mother are often dead, the father is usually not. ne of the reasons is that,

"ithout the father, it "ill be no stepmother to replae the real one. $l"ays the father's

remarria!e is the reason of soial perseution of a hild. But "hile the father's responsibility

for reatin! turmoil by hoosin! a monstrous marria!e partner reedes into the bak!round oris entirely suppressed as a motif even as the father himself is virtually eliminated as a

harater, the foul deeds of his "ife ome to oupy entre sta!e. $ !ood e/ample is

0inderella. %he lives +ust "ith her stepmother and her stepmother's dau!hter, and about his

father "e kno" +ust that he is !one. There are, also, fairy tales like &uniper Tree, "here the

father is present in the story, but he does not kno" anythin! about the murder of his little boy.

1e even eats him and, "ithout his kno"led!e, he is ommittin! annibalism. We an say that,

even his body is there, he is totally absent. But even they violate basi odes of morality and

deeny, like Maria Tatar said, fathers remain noble fi!ures "ho rarely ommit premeditated

ats of evil. %ome heroines make a point of returnin! home to their fathers and sharin! the

ne"-found "ealth "ith him and "ith him alone, like in 1ansel and Gretel. In one versionof %no" White, reorded by the Grimm's, it is the father and not the prine "ho disovers

7/25/2019 Good Mothers vs. Bad Mothers

2/2

his dau!hter's offin on his "ay throu!h the "ood and "ho mobili2es medial help to

reanimate her. But on the "hole, fathers in the Grimm's tales either absent themselves from

hone or are so passive as to be super fluous. This is the reason "hy "e not seem to invest

father fi!ure in the tales "ith muh emotion or attahment at all.

Bad mothers, like I said, are al"ays presented like stepmothers, ooks, "ithes or mothers-in-la".

$ very !ood e/ample of mother-in-la" is presented in ursery and 1ousehold Tales. In

this story there are three types of o!res. The first omprises beasts and monsters3 these

inlude "olves and bears, but also the man-eatin! !iants "ho threaten to devour the hero as

he makes his "ay throu!h the "orld. The seond !roup onsists of soial deviants3 amon!

them are robbers and hi!h"ay-men "ho "aylay innoent youn! "omen, murder them, hop

up their orpses, and ook the piees in a ste". The third (and this !roup easily outnumber the

members of both other ate!ories) is omposed by "omen. They are various ooks,

stepmothers, "ithes, and mothers-in-la" "ith voraious appetites for human fare,

sometimes even for the flesh and blood or for the liver and heart of their o"n relatives. %no"

White's stepmother, the "ith in 1ansel and Gretel and the ook in #led!lin! belon! to

this lass of annibalisti fiends. $s "e an see, the last type is presented like the "orst

("orst that the others t"o at the same time). In all this stories, a bad mother is more evil

than the beasts in the forest. We kno" that in %no" White, after the stepmother order %no"

White's murder, the little priness is runnin! into the forest, but the beasts do not hurt her.

4espite the bad ima!e that this evil mothers have in fairy tales, their role is an important one,

muh more important than that of a !ood mother, beause they are al"ays the reason "hy

the hildren are leavin! their ommodity spae and beome adults. It is true that almost all

the time they need help to pass all over the hallen!es, but in the end, they are prepared to

handle the situation by themselves. #or this reason, I a!ree the version that a bad mother

must not be a stepmother, it an also be a flesh-and-blood mother. It must not be even bad.

$ll this malie an be +ust in the hildren had. 1e must be upset beause his mother is forin!

him to !ro" up and for this reason he is seein! her like a bad mother. My opinion is

enfored by Maria's Tatar omments about %no" White's stepmother. %he says that %no"

White's stepmother is perhaps the most infamous stepmother of them all. But is she really a

stepmother5 In the first version of the ursery and 1ousehold Tales, %no" White's mother

never dies3 her vanity and pride turn her into an o!re "ho orders her dau!hter murdered3 she

then devours "hat she believe to be the !irl's lun!s and liver.

This is teahin! hildren to al"ays listen to the !ro"nups, to never trust stran!ers and toal"ays be !ood and humble. They also learn ho" to appreiate "hat they have6 a beautiful

family "ith parents that love and herish them.