Fairy Tale Dramaturgy

  Focusing in on Sleeping Beauty, I want to actually take a step back, to before the Brothers Grimm came into the picture. Medievalist Danièle Cybulskie explains that the origins of the Sleeping Beauty story actually date back to a medieval romance story within a collection called Perceforest, that features a princess who falls in love with a knight. One day she falls asleep while spinning at her wheel, and has not awoken. Alarmed, the knight goes to rescue her, praying to the goddesses that he will be able to awaken her. He ultimately fails to wake her, despite kissing her multiple times. The goddess Venus appears to him, encouraging him to sleep with her. He does so, but she still does not wake up. 8 months later, she gives birth, and wakes up when the baby sucks her finger. It is revealed that she was cursed by a goddess who had not been included in a ceremony that was held by the mother of the princess. The rest of the story focuses on her conflicting feelings around her rape, and the fallout from being violated while uncouncious. 

  It is pretty clear from reading this that the Grimm brothers took inspiration from this story while writing their version of the Sleeping Beauty narrative. Their story got rid of the rape aspect, turning it into just a kiss. This got watered down even further within the Disney version, as in their version she had already met her true love and it was his kiss that awoke her. These different variations of the Sleeping Beauty narrative show how the approach to women being violated has changed over time, with the rape being changed to be a violation with a kiss. This violation also gets changed over time by showing that this is her true love, instead of just being a stranger who is violating her.

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Sources: 

• “The Medieval Podcast: Medieval Princesses, with Kelcey Wilson-Lee.” Created by Danièle Cybulskie. 

• Medievalists.net. “The Medieval Sleeping Beauty.” Medievalists.net, 15 June 2019, www.medievalists.net/2015/06/the-medieval-sleeping-beauty/.

• “Fairy Tales and Other Traditional Stories by FCIT.” "Sleeping Beauty" | Fairy Tales and Other Traditional Stories | Grimm Brothers | Lit2Go ETC, etc.usf.edu/lit2go/68/fairy-tales-and-other-traditional-stories/5102/sleeping-beauty/.

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