Characters in Fairy Tales

THE IMPORTANCE OF CHARACTERS IN FAIRY TALES

According to Bruno Bettleheim all fairy tales reflect the
physical, psychological and social evolution of children.
Children feel identified with heroes and heroines.
Bettleheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment: The
Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales, 1976.
PSYCHOANALYSIS OF FAIRY TALES (BY BETTLEHEIM)
The Three Little Pigs teaches children that it is
important to work hard to enjoy a more solid future.
In Hansel and Gretel children learn to become
independent and to be able to earn their lives.
Red Riding Hood is a story to warn girls not to trust on
strangers.
Stock Characters
Prince Charming
A man who fulfills all the romantic expectations of a woman.
Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella
(The Free Dictionary.com)
Princess
A young woman who is the daughter of the king and the
queen and is generally described in fairy tales as innocent
and beautiful. In more modern stories the princess has
more power and is not as passive as it used to be in old
stories
Fairy Godmother
A character in certain fairy stories who brings unexpected
benefits to the hero or heroine.

 Perrault's Cinderella

Big Bad Wolf

The Big Bad Wolf is a fictional wolf appearing in several
precautionary folkloric stories, including some of Aesop's
Fables and Grimm's Fairy Tales. Versions of this character
have appeared in numerous works, and has become a
generic archetype of a menacing predatory antagonist,
sometimes referred to as the Big Bad
. Little Red Riding Hood, Three Little Pigs, The Wolf
and the Seven Young Kids, the Russian talePeter and
the Wolf,

FAIRY TALES CHARACTERS

Bluebeard
The tale tells the story of a violent nobleman in the habit of
murdering his wives and the attempts of one wife to avoid
the fate of her predecessors.Gilles de Rais, a 15th-century
aristocrat and prolific serial killer, has been suggested as
the source for the character of Bluebeard
Puss in Boots
Puss in Boots", is a French literary fairy tale about a cat
who uses trickery and deceit to gain power
The tale was written by Charles Perrault
Rapunzel
"Rapunzel" (/rpnzl/; German pronunciation: [a
pnttsl]) is a German fairy tale in the collection assembled
by the Brothers Grimm, and first published in 1812 as part
of Children's and Household Tales.[1] The Grimm Brothers'
story is an adaptation of the fairy tale Persinette by

Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force originally published

in 1698.[2] Its plot has been used and parodied in
various media and its best known line ("Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
let down your hair") is an idiom of popular culture.
Conclusion
Characters change from one culture to another. In Nordic
fairy tales there are trolls who are the guardians of the
forest.
In Native myths we find coyotes and in North American
stories we find buffalos. It is interesting to study the
symbolism of the characters in fairy tales to choose the
appropriate story for a child or a teenager.