Sinful Storybooks: The Seven Deadly Sins In Fairy Tales
Fairy tales have been around for centuries. Often, they are some
of the first stories we are introduced to during our childhood. While at the
age of a child, we found these stories to be entertaining due to something
magical being featured in them such as an enchanted castle, a mermaid or fairy
godmothers that could make a person’s wishes come true, these stories actually
contained very important morals and lessons such as being wary of talking to
strangers or the importance of working hard and staying humble. However, did
you ever realize that many old fairy tales contain themes of the seven deadly
sins in them? While many fairy tales contain multiple sins, I am going to focus
on seven fairy tales that focus on each of the seven deadly sins in a major way
and the lessons it taught in the story through featuring those sins.
Little Red Riding Hood (Lust):
Little Red Riding Hood is a story that contains undertones of
lust, especially through the symbolism of what the red hooded cape is meant to
represent in regards to Red’s maturity as a young woman and what the wolf is
supposed to represent symbolically as the predator in this tale. When Red is
told by her mother to go visit her ill grandmother and bring her food to help
ail her, she is informed to stay on the path. On her way to her grandmother’s
home in the forest, she is approached by a wolf, who inquires to where she is
headed. Innocently assuming that the wolf means no harm, she tells him she is
headed to her grandmother’s home in the forest. The wolf, who lusts after Red
as a meal tells her she should pick some flowers for her grandmother, which
causes Red to stray from the path her mother urged her to stay on.
While Red picks flowers, the wolf rushes to Red’s grandmother’s
home and gobbles the grandmother up. He then puts on Red’s grandmother’s clothing
and gets into the grandmother’s bed in order to trick Red into thinking he is
her grandmother upon Red’s arrival to the home. Once Red arrives, the wolf
lures Red into the bed with him. Red notices how strange her “grandmother”
looks citing how deep the wolf’s voice is and how big the wolf’s ears, eyes,
hands and mouth are. The wolf then eats
Red.
Eventually, a huntsman comes along and cuts the wolf open with an
axe, saving Red and her grandmother who are miraculously still alive and
unharmed inside of the wolf. They then fill the wolf’s stomach with heavy stones.
When the wolf awakens and attempts to escape, he falls over from the heavy
stones inside his body and perishes.
Cinderella (Envy):
Envy is featured in the tale of
Cinderella. Cinderella is a kind and hardworking girl who lives with her
stepmother and stepsisters. Jealous of Cinderella’s natural beauty, good heart
and charm, the stepmother and stepsisters are often very cruel and mean to
Cinderella, treating her as a servant than as a family member. Cinderella is
forced to do all of the housework and sleep by the fireplace. Her stepmother
and stepsisters even make Cinderella dress in rags to try and diminish some of
her natural beauty from shining through.
Despite the way her stepfamily
tortures her, Cinderella remains kindhearted and even goes to her mother’s
grave daily to pray that her life would improve. One day, the king decides to
host a royal ball in honor of his son. Cinderella wants to attend but her stepmother
forbids her, out of fear that Cinderella will ruin her daughter’s prospects of ending
up married to the prince who is looking for a bride. On the night of the ball,
she goes to her mother’s grave and prays she could still go to the ball. Her
prayers are answered when she is granted with a beautiful dress and shoes.
Cinderella goes to the ball and wins the
prince’s heart but leaves her shoe behind at the ball before leaving. The
prince becomes determined to find the maiden who fits the slipper. He searches
throughout the kingdom and eventually arrives at Cinderella’s home. Determined
to fit into the slipper, Cinderella’s stepsisters cut off part of the heels of
their foot but it is to no avail as the blood on their feet gives away their
wicked scheme.
Cinderella asks to try the slipper on
but is ridiculed by her stepfamily for asking. Nonetheless, she tries the shoe
on and it fits her perfectly and she ends up marrying the prince. As for Cinderella’s
stepsisters, they try to win over Cinderella’s favor but as punishment for how
they have mistreated and abused Cinderella over the years, they become blind
when their eyes are pecked at by birds.
Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (Vanity):
While envy could be featured in this fairy tale to an extent,
this story focuses also a lot on vanity. The Evil Queen is the stepmother of
Snow White. The Evil Queen is known for being very superficial particularly
regarding her physical appearance as she desires to be the most beautiful
woman, or as it is worded in the story, “The Fairest Of Them All.” The Evil
Queen constantly is gazing into her magic mirror asking it if she is indeed “
The Fairest Of Them All”. Usually, she gets just the reply she typically wants,
confirming her outer beauty.
However, when the magic mirror tells the Evil Queen that Snow
White has surpassed her in beauty and fairness, the Evil Queen lets her vanity
get to her head and becomes jealous of Snow White, ordering the Huntsman to
kill the young and innocent princess. The huntsman cannot bring himself
to kill Snow White and tells her to run away. Snow White runs away to a cottage
in the forest where seven dwarfs live. Eventually, the Evil Queen discovers
through her magic mirror that Snow White is still alive, meaning the Evil Queen
is still not “The Fairest Of Them All”. Desperate to be the most beautiful in
all of the land, the Evil Queen attempts to kill Snow White herself three times
by the use of a very tightly laced bodice, a poisoned comb and a poisoned
apple.
Snow White miraculously survives all of these attempts on her
life and ends up marrying a prince. When The Evil Queen asks her mirror who the
fairest of the land is again, the mirror tells her the prince’s bride to be. The
Evil Queen investigates and discovers Snow White is alive and engaged to the
prince. The Evil Queen lets her vanity overpower her again as she attempts to
sabotage the prince and Snow White’s wedding. However, as punishment, the Evil
Queen is forced to dance in red-hot iron shoes until she dies.
Hansel And Gretel (Gluttony):
The sin of gluttony can be found in the tale of Hansel and
Gretel. When Hansel and Gretel end up abandoned by their stepmother and become
lost in the woods, they come across a sugary sweet cottage made of gingerbread,
cakes and candy. Starving, the two children begin to eat away at the cottage
until an old hag opens the door and invites them in, promising them comfort and
warmth. The children are unaware that the hag is actually a cannabilistic witch
with a desire to cook the children and eat them. The witch throws Hansel into a
cage and makes Gretel her servant, ordering her to fatten her brother up with
sweets.
Hansel tricks the blind witch by using a stick to make her think
he is not gaining any weight. Eventually, the witch grows restless and
overwhelmed with hunger and decides she is going to eat Hansel and Gretel
regardless if they had become fatter. In an effort to save her brother, Gretel
tricks the gluttonous witch and ends up pushing her into the oven. She unlocks
Hansel from his cage, take treasures from the witch’s cottage and return home
to their father who is rejoiced to see them.
The Tortoise And The Hare (Sloth):
You might be wondering exactly how sloth is featured in this
fairy tale. Sloth is featured when the very egotistical hare challenges the
tortoise to a race. Thinking he is the fastest and that the tortoise will never
catch up to him, the hare decides to get a bit lazy, hence where the sloth
comes into play.
The hare lets his conceitedness get to his head as he
chooses to take a nap. However, when he awakens, he discovers the tortoise has
already passed by him. As he struggles to catch up to the tortoise, it is far
too late as the tortoise ultimately wins the race, proving hard work and
dedication pays off as opposed to sloth and egotism, which does not.
King Midas And The Golden Touch (Greed):
King Midas shows how greed gets the better of him when he is
granted with the power to have anything he touches be transformed into gold.
This new ability begins to make him power-hungry, even to the point where he
makes all of the furniture in his palace and all of the roses in his garden
turn into gold. However, this power soon becomes a curse when he is unable to
eat or drink anything without it turning into gold and when he ends up turning
his own daughter into gold when he goes to hug her. Remorseful and regretful of
his wish, he prays to be rid of his golden power, realizing there are things
far more important than gold.
King Midas is commanded to go to a river to wash his hands. Once
doing so, he is rid of his power and upon returning home, discovers everything
that was once gold is back to normal, including his daughter who he is
overjoyed to see. Having learned that riches are not everything, King Midas,
now humbled generously shares his fortunes with the people of his kingdom.
Bluebeard (Wrath):
This fairy tale tells the story of a wealthy yet violent man who
becomes a serial killer after murdering every woman he chooses to wed. However,
when he chooses to marry once more, he fails to murder his new bride, who was
ultimately forced to marry him. When Bluebeard has to depart from their home,
he gives his wife a key to all of the doors in the house except for an underground
chamber he forbids her from entering unless she wants to suffer his wrath.
During a party with her family at the house, she sneaks into the chamber,
curious as to why she was forbidden from entering it. Horrifed, she discovers
the corpses of Bluebeard’s former wives.
She drops the key and unfortunately is unable to wash the blood
off of it due to the key being magical. When Bluebeard returns and
discovers she went into the chamber, he has a fit of anger and attempts to kill
his wife. However, before Bluebeard can kill her, the wife’s family save her,
killing Bluebeard in the process. The wife inherits the castle and all of
Bluebeard’s fortunes. She has all of Bluebeard’s former wives buried, ends up
getting remarried herself and helps her family with the fortunes she has
acquired.
