Skip to main content

The Frog King vs. The Swan Maiden

"The Beauty and The Beast"

“The Frog King” and “The Swan Maiden” are tales that are supposed to resemble the plot of beauty and the beast. In “The Frog King”, the frog was the special prince at the ending of the tale. However, at the end of “the Swan Maiden” the swan was the special princess. These two tales both have a similar background and story, but they put emphasis on the gender of the hero/heroine.

In the original beauty and the beast, beauty loved beast for he was and overlooked the physical aspect of  him. She made sure she took advantage of the time they had together and did not miss out on any opportunity to cherish the moment.

In “The Frog King”(aka tale one), the princess is the one in search of a man. She comes into contact with a frog who she throws around. However, when she throw him around one good time, he hits the wall and turns into this handsome prince. This prince tells beauty that he has a spell against him so he need to head to the kingdom so the witch can reverse it. In this version, there is another vital character named Heinrich. This Heinrich had hoops around his neck that were there because of the frog spell. Once they set voyage to the kingdom the hoops were breaking because the prince was free from bondage.

In “The Swan Maiden”(aka tale two), there is a peasant who saw some swans sworn past while he was hunting one day. He found one of them to be the most attractive and he could not get the thought out of his head. The swan that he liked the most had taken off her feathers and placed then in her daily spot. The peasant was hiding out so he was able to track her down. She went looking for her clothes and found the man instead. They made wedding arrangements and got married not to long after.

In tale one, the “beast” was a frog and was transformed into a handsome prince, while in tale two the “beast” was a swan who was transformed into a beautiful princess. This difference was surprising because it could potentially reveal the ideas and feminist viewpoints of the authors. One had the woman portray the “manly” figure, while the other had an actual man. This could give the idea that a “beast” does not always have to be a man, but good things could come from the gift and surprise of a woman.

I liked both of the tales equally. They had their own spin on it, but I would have to choose “The Swan Maiden” as the ultimate favorite. I really liked the addition of a woman versus a man. I also liked how they story remained positive. It had a romantic twist while also being able to keep the beauty and the beast theme. The swan tale also involved more relaxing and calm characters. it provided a softer tone to the original harsh "beast-like" interpretation.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cinderella- Blog 6

CINDERELLA In the Disney’s Cinderella, the main character is a girl who is under the care of her evil stepmother. She resides with her step mother and two ugly and jealous step sisters. Cinderella was supposed to be enslaved and wear here ready clothes. She did a lot of work around the house and always had to do the dirty work for her sisters. It isn’t until Cinderella’s fairy godmother comes up that she starts to transform and eve have a chance at attending the royal ball. The fairy godmother is Cinderella’s token to becoming royalty. Without her Cinderella may not have been a beautiful princess to the prince by the end of the story. From this version it is possible that one can reach success or riches with magic. The fairy godmother had lost of magic tricks up her sleeve that helped Cinderella get to where she ended. I do not think there is any other way Cinderella would have been able to get to the prince if she did not have the few hours of royalty. When the magic was su...
Post a Comment
Read more

Blog 11

LECTURE ANALYSIS  In India, there is this idea of possession. Women are far more affected by this idea than anyone else. However, in Folklore, there are some key points that are shared between the Indian culture and the Americans. The genres and expressions are the main concepts being explored by both. But we still have, the beliefs and the beliefs statements, supernatural experiences, and religion. Religion is tied closely to american folk and fairy tales. A lot of the stories have different ways of incorporating the bible, quran, and other works into the make of the tale. Most times, these inclusions are the main motifs and falcons. But, their religion is a little different. First, they say that “Jesus is the new chicken.” They have strong religious beliefs that one shouldn't marry or have babies until marriage. This is very similar to christianity. However, if the Indian community gets word of this they have to be excommunicated.   Being possessed is a large pheno...
Post a Comment
Read more

Blog 9

Jocelyn's Blog Review I read Jocelyn Hill’s blogs and found out some interesting information about her. In her most recent blog she shared an anecdote about a personal experience that related to the presentation given by K’Olewe’s. Not only did she do that, but she also slowly progressed into the “answer” to the question. She spoke about what stuck out to her the most and what she enjoyed. She was also very descriptive in her language about the lady who came to visit. She said how she wore a "detailed beaded anklet". I felt as if I was present. Most times when I did my blog I just spoke about the topic at hand, so it was interesting to read her blog and see the difference in style. Moving on to her other two blogs I really like the pictures and the short video she incorporated. She added the picture that correlated to what she was discussing in the blog. In blog 6 she again found a way to tie the fairytale to a scenario in reality. Jocelyn played and argued both ...
Post a Comment
Read more