By provoking a more
medieval and mystical type theme, this Czech fairy tail is much different than the
well-known Disney version of Beauty and the Beast. For example, immediately
from the first sentence, the fairy tail has a traditional tone with the classic
words "once upon a time" hinting there would be charming and romantic
aspects to the story.
The exposition
presented background character information by introducing the two unnamed
sisters as greedy and not only requesting, but demanding "more than
enough" materialistic objects. This segways into introducing the third
daughter as the more selfless protagonist, only requesting three roses.
Considering the traditional gender roles at the time this story was written, I
was surprised how the plot used the mother (instead of the father) of the
daughters to take on a less domesticated work by journeying to the market.
Perhaps, this could be for two reasons. One, to reflect the increase in women
representation as Czech women in the 1920's were given the right to vote. Or
two, to develop the characters more by presenting a unique family dynamic of
women lacking a father-figure.
Continuing on,
by introducing the palace as unchartered territory, the reader is left with
suspense. This is interrupted, however, with beautiful imagery of a field of
roses, the object which ultimately holds the third daughter's affection.
Traditionally, roses symbolize passion, love, and strength (thornes). The
personification of the roses make it seem like they are luring the mother closer
towards the palace.
The basilisk
is then introduced as a gruesome creature (the beast) using graphic details
describing how he would kill the mother. The mother's character is developed as
a more detached and apathetic parental figure as she is not willing to
sacrifice her own body yet the body of her own daughter to satisfy the
blackmail of the basilisk. It is then where the third daughter's name (the
protagonism) is introduced: Mary. I assume the author delayed to reveal her
name to use it as a transition into the climax of the interactions between Mary
and the basilisk and to possibly introduce a parallel biblical name reference.
I found it very ironic how the beast was threatening to harm her if she did not
inflict harm to his own serpent-like features. The virtuous man was hidden and
consumed by the snake and basilisk before Mary terminated its life. This snake
has traditional symbolism corresponding with the devil. This story beautifully
exemplifies the transition of how evilness can consume a state of mind of an
individual. The notable metamorphosis of someone ugly into good, reflects the
power of what the roses all represent.
The basilisk beast, Wikimedia
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