Saturday, April 19, 2008

The image of Russian brides in Russian folk tales

To understand the source of the nature of Russian bride it is better to appeal to Russian fairy tales. If you know the Russian woman you will know Russian Bride. A careful reading of Russian folk tales shows that the main figure of almost all fairy tales is a clever woman. There are fairy tales, calling the heroine directly to mind, for example: "Wise wife", "Elena The Sage" or "Vasilisa The Sage", "Czarevna (daughter of a Czar) The Guess Riddles." There are only 1-2 fairy tales per 1000, where a woman named "silly". But with careful consideration it turns out that the woman is simply of another kind, she is not consonant with the standards of everyday existence and firmly ignores them, and due to this she is believed silly by other people.


Ivan-goose (analogue of English Simple Simon) is very often found hero of Russian tales, but try to find Maria Little Fool! Not found! A woman in the Russian fairy tales may be quarrelsome, greedy, lazy, but stupid - very rarely. Starting from Vasilisa and Elena (the mind for the good) and ending Baba Yaga (the mind of evil), there is always mind.

Let us consider a typical fairy tale plot by the example of Zhukovsky's tale "About the Czar Berendey". Maria-Czarevna is very wise daughter of Koschey The Immortal. Koshchey asks Ivan challenges, and every time Ivan returns from he in despair. Three times a conversation with his bride Maria-Czarevna happens in which every time he said that Koschey is about to cut his head off. And on the question of Maria, "what do you intend to do?", he gives the same answer: "Nothing. There should not be Three times of death, but the only one you can not escape". On the advice of Maria: "Morning is smarter than evening" - the hero goes to bed.

This example demonstrates the archetype of fabulous relationship between men and women: the woman soothes while the man in important turning point of life for himself falls asleep. A woman begins to act: she consults with magic books, objects, sometimes her intentions are evil, but in her the boundless and not knowing the barriers energy is laid.

In the fairy tale of Zhukovsky Maria-Czarevna converts Ivan first into the bridge, and then into the forest, and then into her husband in the end. She converts, He is convertible. He is the material - She is the master, creator. This is not Ivan who marries Maria, but she makes him her husband, as he usually in the Russian fairy tales is idle, while She works. The motive of the women's power cuts across the most of tales. And this is not fiction of authors - it is a long ago rooted peculiar idea about the role of Russian women in the structure of being, objective reality but not just human life.

If for instance we compare the Russian fairy tales with the French ones, we can see that the relationship between men and women is opposed in them, in some cases is mirror image. In French tale a man goes to his goal and with the help of his mind and tenacity reaches her. In Russian fairy tales such dedication is typical for women. French hero unrelentingly seeks his bride, for the sake of her he beats the opponents, overpowers obstacles, he is ready to sacrifice even his life, while his lady bride sometimes is simply capricious.

Russian brides in Russian fairy tales, first, never are capricious, secondly, I could not find a Russian fairy tale where the hero died sake of his bride. Certainly, we are dealing with very different points of view on a woman.

In Russian fairy tales male character is little active, he can not do without outside help, which often comes from a female heroine (his bride), both active in goodwill and in the evil, in anger and tenderness. The image of luck often presented in the Russian fairy tales, is usually tied to a male character. A woman does not need luck, a woman receives all she needs by her own.

There are several plots of Russian fairy tales, in which the fate of women depends on the behavior of man. It is in these cases, the woman dies. Once the old man clambers to heaven, holding in his teeth a bag with old woman, and does not keep. Once he is deceived by old fox, to which he entrusted to heal old woman, a fox eats her. No matter how different the situation, the same outcome: a woman perishes of a man's fault.

Men's psychology in the tales image often reminds the child psychology, which must be directed, which has to be cared, otherwise he will make troubles, mostly to himself. With this role, of course, the woman best deals: mother, wife, sister. And in a fairy tales relationship between men and women, between bride and groom most often resemble the relationship between the mother and son, regardless who would in fact she was to him.

This is the reality of Russian fairy tales! What is this? The dream of a clever woman, writing, in order to make the plot more attractive precisely by its difference from real life or still reflecting the Russian life? I think the latter. Meanwhile, in Russian fairy tales we always saw the King but very rarely - Queen. Woman must save Ivan-fool, but remember her place! To become a Czar, it is for him without fail! Nothing reminded? Read Russian fairy tales, and many things will become clear in our Russian reality. The nature of Russian bride will become more understandable. "The Tale is falsehood, but there is a hint..."

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