Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Queen

We have so many interesting and varied stories about kings. The problem is that the queens don't seem to have as big of a reputation. You have your acceptations here and there. But the general rule within old fairy tales is that they are either portrayed as support characters... or as the antagonist in some way.

I'm not saying that kings cannot be evil as well. In my last blog, I pointed out that kings often become the bending point of the protagonist because of how sociopathic they can be about their own laws. So they can be evil; it's true. But they can also be good. In fact, many times they have been good. Queens just don't get that privilege as often.

Over my time reading the complete collection of Grimm, the pictures I got of the queens were ones of petty interests, jealousies, extreme vanity, and really nothing to do with the kingdom she ruled over. Everything was internalized rather than moving her sight towards the outlook of her kingdom. She would call for the execution of someone she didn't like or obsess over the dress of the protagonist.

In extreme situations the queen was often be placed as an evil antagonist. Snow White knew this better than anyone. It seems like the more evil, oppressive queens are without a king to suppress them, or that they are fairy in nature (such as the ogress queen in "Sleeping Beauty.") When married, they seem to balance a bit, but they can often plead to the hearts of their husbands and sway them to be evil as well. This is not unlike the whole Adam and Eve incident from the Bible.

Now, please understand... I am sure there were some stories about good queens. I just... don't... remember them. When you are reading that many stories out of a collection, you end up remembering the more common patterns. I'm pretty sure they existed, but there wasn't enough to really press upon me. I have strong memories of petty or nasty queens who cared nothing about anyone else but themselves.

I'm beginning to think that this may have been a problem in the real world. If I am to believe that ancient fairy tales reflect the world they were written in (and I do), then it only stands to reason that queens of old had certain hold-backs in their character that kings did not have as much of. And it seems to me to be a legitimate female issue rather than being one of royalty.

Remember my rather long blog about "The Fisherman and his Wife"? The wife in the story was not royalty at all until she obtained it. Her husband was not even king. Once she had the power, she could not help but get more and more of it. Whoever originally told this story must have seen some interesting things concerning women. Sadly, it's something we've seen since the Garden of Eden. It's not all women, mind you. But I would think very, very hard before allowing someone to become queen in this world. Find out what's inside. Look carefully. Listen to the way she talks. Listen to the way she laughs. There could be a witch somewhere inside. Best to just let her remain a fisherman's wife if you ask me.

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