Baba Yaga Analysis

Within every folktale or legend, there is a quest for a hero to complete. Although the hero in most of these stories are male, there is always a sense of importance with the hero even if they are female. Therefore, in order to identify how the quests differ based on whether the hero is male or female in the Slavic culture, one must analyze both the hero and the quest in the Slavic folktales “Baba Yaga,” and “llya the Murom.” In the Slavic folktale “Baba Yaga” there is a quest presented throughout most of the story, for which only a female would be given. The hero presented with this quest is a little girl, who must use her kind nature in order to stay alive. According to Corinne Azen Krause, a research associate in the department of History at the University of Pittsburgh, “expressions of self-pity, depression, and nervousness were notably absent” among Slavic women (299). We see this depiction in the little girl even after she finds out that Baba Yaga will try to eat her with her “iron teeth” (“Baba Yaga” 3). Although the little girl is the hero in this folktale, much of her behavior doesn’t resemble that of a typical hero. For instance, in most of the folktales across ancient Europe, we see a hero, who sacrifices themselves to save others. However, in this folktale, we see a hero …show more content…
In the folktale “Baba Yaga” we see an unusual characterization for the hero. Unlike the folktales of other cultures, where the hero is described as being the strongest and bravest, the hero in this folktale is often mentioned as being “kind” (“Baba Yaga” 2). Compared to the hero in the other folktale “llya the Murom’ we see a completely opposite characterization. In this folktale, the hero is continuously characterized with traits such as strong and brave. With that being said, we see that these folktales portray a Slavic culture that identifies heroes by their actions, rather than their