Anika Reza

Carleton University
Rob Holton
ENGL 3002
03 December, 2007

Binary Opposition in Fairy Tales: Insight into the Working of

Ideology

Claude Lvi-Strauss would say binary oppositions, rather than any intrinsic
connotation, is what creates meaning. Lvi-Strauss realized that the way society
understood certain words depends not so much on any meaning the words themselves
directly contain, but much more by our understanding of the difference between the word
and its 'opposite'. He came to the conclusion that words merely act as symbols for
society's ideas and that the meaning of words were based on a relationship rather than a
fixed thing; a relationship between opposing ideas (Campsall). Therefore as meaning is
dependent on a relationship between opposing ideas, and these ideas are not fixed but are
a cultural construct, exploring binary oppositions and the meanings they convey reveals
the ideology it stemmed from. Our literature is full of binary oppositions such as
good/evil, men/women, light/dark, and royalty/commoners, which can all be found in one
form or another in our stories. Levi-Strauss argues, "that mythical thought always works
from the awareness of oppositions towards their progressive mediation" (Dundes 1)
therefore the binary opposites found in fairy tales have a purpose; to promote a certain

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ideology. By looking at the fairy tales produced by the Walt Disney Corporation and the
binary oppositions that structures it an insight may be found into the ideologies found in
the Western culture. Disney feature length cartoons such as Snow White, Cinderella, and
Sleeping Beauty contain binary oppositions such as good/evil, beauty/ugly, and
royalty/commoners. These binary oppositions stand for ideologies on goodness, beauty,
and class. D.M Buss, the author of The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating,
states, that mens preference for beautiful women, and womens preference for highstatus men are culturally universal (Kanazawa 7). Evidence of this can be found in
Disney fairy tales where the Princes fall in love with the female characters because of
their beauty and they in turn dream of their prince charming that can provide for them. As
the characters of Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and the various Princes
embody kindness, attractiveness and high status the opposite is true for the evil characters
in fairy tales who are represented by their ugliness, cruelty and lack of proper status.
These binary oppositions in Disney fairy tales reveal the western ideologies that value
female beauty and status in men therefore it is associated with goodness.
Beauty is the primary adjective with which a heroine in a fairy tale is described by
thus it is their defining characteristic. In Disneys Princess Treasury, the book version of
the Disney motion picture fairy tales, Snow White is described as lovely and beautiful
throughout the tale; second in number only to the adjective kind. In Sleeping Beauty,
apart from the obvious reference to beauty in the title, Aurora is also mainly defined by
her physical attributes. The very first blessing she receives as a baby from the good
fairies is the gift of beauty. Cinderella too is described as having charm and beauty
(Lewis 199) along with kindness and patience. The frequent references to beauty reveal

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the extent to which western culture gives importance to such an attribute. Beauty is given
further importance when it has the power to insight jealousy in the evil characters who
then attempt to harm the beautiful maidens. Beauty is also the agent which orchestrates
their rescue as it inspires admiration in the good and love in the nobles. In Snow White
the queen is very jealous of Snow Whites beauty (Razzi 11) and so she orders the
huntsman to kill Snow White and bring back her heart. It is also the factor which makes
the Prince fall in love with her as he thought she was the most beautiful girl he had ever
seen (14). It is Snow Whites beauty which leads the Prince to later to seek out the
beautiful maiden who slept in the glass coffin (101) as he was curious to see if she was
indeed the same princess he had met previously. Unsurprisingly the same pattern is
found in Cinderella where the stepmother is bitterly jealous of Cinderellas charm and
beauty (Lewis 199) thus forces her into a life of menial labour. As beauty is the attribute
which not only causes the misfortunes the good female characters go through but it is
also which rescues them, we find that the Prince is transfixed[and finds Cinderella]
the most beautiful girl he had ever seen (256) which then leads him to choose her as his
bride. The Prince in Sleeping Beauty also falls in love with Aurora because of her beauty
and he is willing to marry what he believes to be a peasant girl despite his bethroal to a
princess as he speculates the unknown princess couldnt be lovelier and sweeter than
the girl hed met. Just as beauty is attributed to the good characters in the fairy tales and
sees them first persecuted and then rescued because of it ugliness is reserved for the evil
ones who at first lead a satisfied existence and later meet with an unhappy ending. The
Queen in Snow White is described as being beautiful but inside she is as evil as an ugly
old witch (Razzi 11) and at the beginning of the story she enjoys the title of being the

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most beautiful woman of the land. In latter part of the story not only does she transform
into a ugly old peddler woman but her evil ways sees her meet with an untimely death.
The evil witch Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty with her gray skin, long nails and black and
purple robe and horns (Singer 113) also enjoys a sense of power of the kingdom with her
black magic. However she too dies an untimely death which is the fruit of her evil doings.
The cruel and homely stepsisters in Cinderella with sickly pale skin and wiry hair reside
in the lap of luxury as they force Cinderella to do all the chores. Alas as fairy tales are
constructed the ugly evil characters are punished while the beautiful good characters are
rewarded therefore the stepsister are left lonely as Cinderella marries her prince charming
and live happily ever after. The binary oppositions of beauty and ugliness in fairy tales
reflect the western ideology that beauty is highly desirable attribute in females. Thus all
beautiful female characters in the tales are sweet and kind and endure any injustice with a
forbearance of character and eventually attract the attention of a prince while the ugly
female characters are cruel and evil therefore they either meet with a gruesome end or are
left dejected.
As beauty attracts the Princes to the good female characters in fairy tales it is the
high social statuses of these men which attract the females to them. Satoshi

Kanazawa and Jody L. Kovars paper suggests that all men prefer to
marry beautiful women while women prefer to marry men with high status (7). This
cultural preference and class ideology which holds royalty above commoners can be
found in fairy tales. Each male lead in Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella is a
prince with the wealth and status that comes with such a position. Even without knowing
the Princes identities both Snow White and Aurora were able to clearly tell their statuses

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by their clothing. Snow White saw a handsome man in the fine dress of a prince (Razzi
14) while Aurora observed that the young man she had been dancing with in the woods
was dressed like a prince (Singer 136). Cinderella too notices the dress of the
handsome young man with whom she danced with at the royal ball and was clear that he
was well to do. Each girl then promptly falls in love and their eventual marriage and
subsequent happiness reflects the class ideology that status will bring happiness. Few
women in modern day honestly expect to become a princess and have a royal wedding,
though they subconsciously assimilate these cultural values and apply them to modern
time. They transfer from fairy tales into real life those fantasies which state that wealth
and status will lead to happiness (Rowe). Emphasis on royalty in fairy tales finds its
modern counterpart in the way western society now puts an emphasis on famous and
wealthy individuals. Where Snow White yearned for her prince, modern women yearn for
their rich and famous future husbands. The commoners in these tales are primarily side
characters such as the good fairies in Sleeping Beauty along with the dwarfs in Snow
White and the stepmother and stepsisters in Cinderella. Thus by creating central
characters that are prince and princesses and emphasizing their beauty and goodness fairy
tales reflect the western class ideology that individuals of high status are beautiful, kind
and happy. Therefore fairy tales are not just entertaining fantasies, but powerful
transmitters of class ideologies which encourage women to internalize the value of status
and wealth and seek men who can provide them with such. It also encourages men to
attain high status in order to marry beautiful women.
The common wisdom that the world is not black and white does not apply to the
world found in fairy tales where the good is clearly distinguished from the bad as black is

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from white. By exploring what is considered good or evil an insight may be achieved into
the cultural ideology the fairy tale stems from. In Snow White for example the evil Queen
suffers from jealousy and vanity because of\ which she dresses Snow White in rags and
forces her to do menial labour in order to hide her beauty. Jealousy and vanity is also a
trait in the stepmother and stepsisters in Cinderella. Lady Tremaine is jealous of
Cinderellas beauty and so she too forces Cinderella to wear rags and do menial work
while her own daughters receive undeserved compliments and lived lavishly. Her
daughters develop a sense of vanity and their jealousy towards Cinderella is revealed by
their reaction in seeing Cinderella in the beautiful gown she had made for the royal ball.
They tear the dress apart (Lewis 245). In Sleeping Beauty Maleficent is jealous of the
attention baby Aurora receives as in contrast she wasnt even invited to the celebration
since she wasnt wanted. Maleficent, in her jealousy, curses the child to die by her
sixteenth birthday upon pricking her finger on a spindle. Thus jealousy and vanity is
considered a trait of the evil ones as it leads to hurting the innocents. In contrast those
who are good enjoy seeing and appreciating others beauty such as the dwarfs in Snow
White, the three good fairies in Sleeping Beauty and the fairy godmother in Cinderella
who all recognize and appreciate the beauties of the good female characters. Also those
who are good and beautiful are not vain in their beauty and they seek to aid the helpless
not harm them as seen in characters of the leading female characters. The binary
opposition which illustrates what is good and evil in fairy tales reflects the western
ideology that kindness, beauty and humility is good while cruelty towards innocents
along with jealousy and vanity are traits of evilness.

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Binary oppositions, which are a cultural construct, not only create meaning but
they represent ideologies as well. By exploring the binary oppositions found in Disney
fairy tales it is possible to find the ideology it stemmed from. Binary opposition in
Disneys stories reveals western ideologies such as those on beauty, class and goodness.
The great emphasis on female beauty in the Disney fairy tales Snow White, Sleeping
Beauty and Cinderella points towards the importance it has in western culture.
Furthermore beauty is almost the sole attribute given to these leading female characters
which points to the western ideology that holds female beauty as almost the sole attribute
by which to judge a females worthiness. As women are judged by their beauty men are
judged by their social status. Class ideology is revealed in fairy tales by the
overwhelming presence of royalties in these stories and the implicit desires in the female
leads to be princesses. The binary opposition of good/evil is also a common pair in fairy
tales and they too reflect the ideologies of the culture the tale stemmed from. In Snow
White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella good is embodied by the leading females and the
Princes, thus tying beauty and status with goodness, and also by the dwarfs, good fairies
and the fairy godmother which ties kindness and selflessness with good. Just as beauty,
high status, kindness and selflessness is associated with goodness their binary opposites,
ugliness, low status, cruelty and selfishness, is tied with evil. And evil is embodied by the
Queen, Maleficent and the cruel stepmother and stepsisters. Thus the binary opposites
found in Disney fairy tales reveal the western ideologies on goodness, beauty and class.

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Work Cited

Campsall, Steve. "Binary Opposition." English Biz. 2 Dec.-Jan. 2007. 10 Nov. 2007
<http://www.englishbiz.co.uk/popups/opposition.htm>.

Dundes, Alan. "Binary Opposition in Myth: the Propp/Levi-Strauss Debate in

Retrospect." Western Folklore os (1997): 1-10. 2 Dec. 2007
<http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3732/is_199701/ai_n8752224>.

Hurley, Dorothy L. Seeing White: Children of Color and the Disney Fairy Tale Princess
The Journal of Negro Education (2005): 1-15. 19 Nov. 2007
<http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3626/is_200507/ai_n15743663/pg_1>.

Kanazawa, Satoshi, and Jody L. Kovar. "Why Beautiful People are More Intelligent."
Intelligence os 32 (2004): 227-243. 2 Dec. 2007
<http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/MES/pdf/I2004.pdf>.

Lewis, Zoe. "Walt Disney's Cinderella." Disney's Princess Treasury. New York: Disney
Press, 1995. 197-290.

Lukens, Rebecca J. A Critical Handbook of Children's Literature. 6th ed. New York:
Addison-Wesley Educational, 1999.

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Panttaja, Elisabeth. "Going Up in the World: Class in Cinderella" Western Folklore 52

(1993): 85-104. 18 Nov. 2007 <http://www.jstor.org.proxy.library.carleton.ca
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Razzi, Jim. "Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." Disney's Princess
Treasury. New York : Disney Press, 1993. 9-102.

Rowe, Karen E. Feminism and Fairy Tales Folk and Fairy Tales 3rd ed 2002. 20 Nov.
2007 <http://www.broadviewpress.com/tales/feminism.htm>.

Singer, A. L. "Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty." Disney's Princess Treasury. New York:
Disney Press, 1993. 103-196.