The Morphology of the Fairy-Tale

V.Ya. Propp

A correct classification is one of the first steps of scientific description. It was the Russian literary critic Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp (1895-1970) who gave the scientific basis for the classification of fairy-tales – he discovered its structure and revealed the genre peculiarity of the magic fairy-tale. His book “Morphology of the Folktale” was a very serious research of folklore studies, describing the uniform structure of the folktale plot V. Propp once bought a collection of Russian folktales by Afanasyev from a second-hand bookseller. While reading it he noticed the repetition of certain elements and wondered whether it was possible to single out the component parts in different fairy-tales and then to compare the fairy-tales on their basis. This would result in the morphology, i.e. description of the tale according to its components and the relations of the components between themselves and with the whole plot. First published in 1928, Propp’s work retains its topicality. It gained particular prominence due to the structural study of folklore. “Morphology of the Folktale” has been translated into English, Italian and other languages.

The research carried out by Propp brought him to the conclusion that every folk-tale contains some constant and some variable quantities. The names of the characters may change but their actions are invariable. That is why in the folktale studies the question what folktale characters do is of primary importance, while the question who does it and how he does it – comes next.

Thus, the main idea of Propp’s work is to study the functions of the folk-tale characters. By the term “function” he means a certain action of a character, determined by its importance for the development of the plot. The functions of characters are the so-called invariants of the folk-tale, being its main constituent parts. The second conclusion was that the number of the fairy-tale functions is limited, their succession is always the same which gives linguists the possibility to study the typology of a great number of fairy-tales from all over the world.

The first thing to do with the folk-tale text for Propp was to segment it into a number of successive actions, the contents of the tale may be given in a number of short sentences (the parents leave the house, they prohibit their children to go out of it, the dragon kidnaps the girl, etc.). All the predicates give us the composition of the fairy-tale, while the subjects and objects and other parts of phrases determine its plot. Every concrete action is classified as a certain function, the name of this function is a shortened and generalized definition of an action by means of a noun. Propp discovered that there are 31 functions of characters. Not all functions are present in any folktale, but their order in the development of the plot is constant.

The functions of folktale characters:

1) absence without permission, 2) prohibition, 3) violation of prohibition, 4) finding out smb’s secret, 5) betrayal of information to the antagonist, 6) the antagonist’s trick, 7) wrecking (вредительство) ….

The names of the following functions are given in Russian. If you find any of them necessary for the analysis of a certain fairy-tale, try to translate them into English.

8) недостача, 9) посредничество, 10) начинающееся противодействие, 11) отправка (героя из дома), 12) первая функция дарителя, 13) реакция героя, 14) получение волшебного средства, 15) пространственное перемещение, 16) борьба (героя и антагониста), 17) клеймение, отметка, 18) победа (над антагонистом), 19) ликвидация недостачи, 20) возвращение героя, 21) преследование, погоня, 22) спасение, 23) неузнанное прибытие, 24) необоснованные притязания (ложного героя), 25) трудная задача герою, 26) решение задачи, 27) узнавание (героя), 28) обличение (ложного героя), 29) трансфигурация, 30) наказание (врага), 31) свадьба.

Apart from the functions V. Propp singled out the constant set of roles (7 in number) under which all the characters of fairy-tales can be classified: protagonist (main character), antagonist (wrecker – somebody who destroys a plan, opportunity, etc.), benefactor (Russian - даритель), assistant, princess or her father, sender, false protagonist. Each of these characters performs one or several functions.

Propp’s book anticipated the typological-structural research in the field of folklore in the West which began in France and the USA only in the 1950s. His work helped to define the specific character of the fairy-tale as a genre, to describe and explain its structural uniformity.

To illustrate the distribution of functions V. Propp took the Russian fairy-tale “Гуси-лебеди”. The tale begins with an exposition speaking about the family, then comes prohibition (to leave the house), the departure (of adults), the violation of prohibition (the girl leaves her younger brother on the grass alone), inflicting harm (the boy is carried away), the search, appearance of the testing figure (испытатель – stove, apple-tree, hedgehog), repeated thrice (trebling), antagonist (Baba-Yaga), obtaining (of her brother back), the chase, again triple testing of the protagonist, and successful escape.

The strict succession of functions creates specific fairy-tale time. It is excluded from real time. This is shown by special syntax, what presupposes the use of introductory phrase “Once upon a time there was…; Long, long ago…” and the concluding – “all went well that didn’t go ill; they lived happy ever afterwards; I know, they are living happy to this day”, emphasizing the specific character of the tale not belonging to real time and the indefiniteness of the place of action. (e.g. rhyme: “Lived happy//and died happy//and never drank//out of a dry cappy”). It is a certain stylistic convention to set the story apart to show clearly to children that a fairy-tale is not to be taken literally.

There are a lot of traditional epithets (dark forest, beautiful princess) and various symbols (objects, colours, numbers, figures: e.g. a ring – the symbol of faithfulness).

Fairy-tales fed the fancy of many poets and playwrights, so that in the works of Shakespeare, Milton and others we find allusions or even whole plots that echo them (c.f. “The Cap of Rushes” – “King Lear”). The magic of fairy-tales can still be trusted, no wonder that these tales give the children of today the vivid pleasure they have given for centuries.

When the English poet W. H. Auden reviewed the edition of Grimms’ Fairy tales for “the New York Times” (November 12, 1944), he made rather a startling statement: “For, among the few indispensable, common-property books upon which Western Culture can be founded – that is, excluding the national genius of specific peoples as exemplified by Shakespeare and Dante – it is hardly too much to say that these tales rank next to the Bible in importance”. When some strict moralists get worried about the ethics of the fairy tales and wonder whether children should read about Bluebeard’s gory collection of ex-wives, or about some other horrors, they might also question whether they should read about Jacob tricking his brother Esau out of his birthright, or about the terrors of Daniel in the den of lions, or whether they should watch some of the most popular TV programs.

Kindness and courage work their own magic in this world. We must remember the glass slipper in our pocket. It is our talisman of the triumph of virtue.