Supernatural Elements In Fairy Tales, Hamlet, And Macbeth

Brilliant Essays
Register to read the introduction… In many fairy tales, the supernatural is the cause of conflict. In the case of the Grimms’ “The Two Brothers,” the titular brothers – one rich and the other poor – begin a feud over a golden bird that will make it possible for the one who consumes its heart and liver to receive a piece of gold underneath his pillow each morning. When the poor brother’s children eat the heart and liver from the bird, the wealthy man convinces his brother to banish the children. In “Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs,” the queen’s vanity is the main cause of conflict, however her plans to get rid of Snow-White in order to become the fairest in the land involve the use of witchcraft to create the objects of Snow-White’s demise. The main conflict in “Cinderella” between the protagonist and her stepfamily is enhanced through the bird that grants her wishes and the juxtaposition of Cinderella’s religious persistence with the stepfamily’s cruel …show more content…
This universality is one reason that stories involving the supernatural are so easily adapted, but another reason is the ease with which a particular supernatural phenomena can be altered to be more relevant to a certain culture. The inclusion of supernatural elements into a story with a basic plot structure will often make the story more interesting, because supernatural elements are so involved in struggle and are often symbolic. Supernatural elements reflect the nature of humanity, because they allow fictional universes and people to be applicable to the real …show more content…
BBC, n.d. Web. 1 Oct 2013.
Mabillard, Amanda. "Shakespeare's Sources for Hamlet." Shakespeare Online. N.p., 20 Aug 2000. Web. 11 Sep 2013.
Mabillard, Amanda. "Shakespeare's Sources for Macbeth." Shakespeare Online. N.p., 20 Aug 2000. Web. 11 Sep 2013.
"Macbeth: Background." Higher Bitesize. BBC. Web. 1 Oct 2013.
Northrup, Mary. "Multicultural Cinderella Stories." Offices of the American Library Association. American Library Association, n.d. Web. 11 Sep 2013.
Perrault, Charles. "Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper." . N.p., 8 Oct 2003. Web. 1 Oct 2013.
Pettegree, Andrew. "The English Reformation." BBC History. BBC, 17 Feb 2011. Web. 1 Oct 2013.
Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2007. Print.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. New York: Spark Publishing, 2003. Print.
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. New York: Spark Publishing, 2003. Print.
Zipes, Jack. Breaking the Magic Spell: Radical Theories of Folk & Fairy Tales. Revised and expanded ed. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1979. Print
Zipes, Jack. Why Fairy Tales Stick: The Evolution and Relevance of a Genre. New York: Routledge, 2006.

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