On Thu, 11 Dec 1997, AnnyMiddon wrote:
> I was a bit appalled to see that you can now buy Angel Princess Barbie.
> Without getting into the "angel" part, I found myself wondering about the
> "princess" designation.
>
> I imagine this is partly due to the public's fixation on Princess Di. (Come
> to think of it, maybe the "angel" part is due to that too.) But I also
> realized that Barbie will always be termed a princess, and never a queen.
>
> When I look at the role of princesses in fairy tales, I see women who are
> virginal and powerless. Often their role in the story seems to be to get into
> peril (often caused by a woman, jealous of the princess's youth or beauty) and
> then be saved by Prince Charming.
>
> Queens in fairy tales are sexual and powerful. And, it seems to me,
> invariably evil. A king may be good or bad, but if a queen is present in the
> story, she's wicked.
>
> Or is this too sweeping a generalization? Are there fairy tales in which the
> queen is good or at least neutral?
>
> Anny
Many fairytales include Queens who are "good or at least neutral" but
most of them function merely as wives to their kings, silent and without
impact on the tale except for their value as symbols of national
and marital stability. Active good queens are relatively rare, although
you see some figures obviously descended from Queen Elizabeth I who take
a more active role. See, for example, Spenser's The Faerie Queen.
Mike Levy
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