According to Mircea Eliade, fairy tales and mythological stories are "models of human behavior [which,] precisely for this reason, give meaning and value to life (Bettelheim 35). This leads to the idea that fairy tales and myths, from the beginning, have been used as examples to follow and learn from. Stories from ancient Greek tragedies like Libation Bearers, from classic fairy tales like Little Red Riding Hood, to modern interpretations of fairy tales like Into The Woods, all have a message to tell, a tale to teach. This article will explore the messages conveyed by various fairy tales and myths and explain how these messages change depending on time and place, as well as how they are part of an agenda, using characterization, quotes and the outcome of characters. Say no to plagiarism . Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayMyths and fairy tales "[embody] the cumulative experience of a society in which men wished to remember the wisdom of the past for themselves and pass it on to future generations"" (Bettelheim 26). Over time, this cumulative experience and past wisdom were perverted or used to perpetuate ideas or send messages that the narrator wanted to convey. The first message that is told is that of Aeschylus's two children, Orestes and Electra, avenging their father's murder mother's side, in a way that demonstrates the Greek idea of ​​justice, that is, in its simplest terms, helping one's friends and harming one's enemies family in many ways, deserves justice for his actions, particularly for killing Agamemnon Although at its core, the main theme of the play and others in his trilogy is justice and its implementation, there is a political context and. social issue that must be addressed to fully understand the meaning of the work. The play was written in Athens, a democratic city-state. The play's main antagonist, Clytemnestra, tyrannically rules Argos. This already presents the fact that the Athenian playwright Aeschylus, as well as his predominantly male Athenian audience, see tyrants as an enemy. But it goes beyond this. Socially, the Greeks "connected tyrants to women", due to the fact that tyrants are surrounded by protections and walls, and therefore lose freedom of travel and movement, as well as the fact that a tyrant, due to his power, he is likely to indulge excessively in pleasures and fashions (Foley xviii). These characteristics are linked to women because, in Athens, leaving home as a woman was seen as a social faux pas, and women stereotypically enjoyed fashion and overindulgence, and were considered undisciplined, another stereotypical characteristic of women only and barbarians. By making the primary antagonist a female tyrant, “Aeschylus exploits these parallel cultural assumptions about women and tyranny” (Foley xix). With this basic information in mind, it is possible to see some messages that the work conveys. For example, Electra, supposedly the only surviving daughter of Agamemnon in Argos at the beginning of the play, begins the play by making offerings at her father's tomb and praying to the gods for vengeance to be wrought on her mother. Immediately after the offering and prayer, he finds traces of Orestes' presence, and reacts with extreme joy when he reveals himself, saying "[t]hou art the nearest and dearest to your father's House. How much I cried for you, seed of hope, of salvation!” (Lib. 235-6). Electra's extreme excitement at seeing Orestes, combined with her extreme grief at the loss of her father and her hatred for her mother, paints her as arespectful daughter. He is bringing offerings to his father's grave, without fighting or leaving his home, and when the time comes, Orestes begins to carry out the plan to avenge his father. In this way, Orestes, in the role of the hero, pushes Electra aside and has her follow her as she deals with the situation. Bettelheim states that “the hero presents himself to the listener as a figure that he should emulate in his own life, as much as possible” (Bettelheim 26). With all this information, the "model" presented here is that Electra, fulfilling her social obligations to pay homage to her father and be submissive towards Orestes, behaves as a just and dutiful daughter, while Orestes presents a chauvinistic message according to which man must lead, particularly in situations requiring strength or present difficulties. Clytemnestra is also portrayed as unjust, despite killing Agamemnon because of the unjust things he had done, such as killing their daughter as a way to end a war, and for having a concubine despite Clytemnestra being a dutiful wife up until the time. which kills him. The plot as a whole effectively conveys the idea that women should be submissive and not rule, and that men should take action, all under the guise of justice. This message is in line with common social beliefs in Athens at the time, strengthening the patriarchal hold on Athens. This can lead one to believe that mythological passages, such as the tales of Odysseus and Agamemnon or any other relevant mythological hero, contain a message to dissuade one from acting in a certain way. Into The Woods also features many messages about marriage, growing up, and everyday life. work together. An important distinction to note about myths versus fairy tales is that the ending “[of] myths is always tragic, whereas in fairy tales it is always happy” (Bettelheim 37). Considering that the film is made up of various adaptations of fairy tales and stories strung together into one film, the amount of lessons learned by the characters, and by extension, the amount of lessons presented to the audience, are substantial. Over the course of the film, various characters are brought into the woods for different reasons and emerge stronger, wiser, or somehow better prepared for the real world. For example, the baker and his wife realize that they must work together to fulfill the terms of the contract with the witch, improving their marriage. This contrasts with the beginning where they had a "divide and conquer" approach to getting the items the witch needed. However, once the time came to actually have a baby, they began to fall back into old habits and the wife, after being separated from her husband again, cheats on him and subsequently dies. This is a fairytale example of how marriages can end in a less-than-fantastic situation. They started working together and developed a stronger relationship because of it, they were in love with the idea of ​​having a child but once the baby arrived, they noticed that they had no space in their house and seemed very unprepared, and the Le difficulties provided by the child, combined with the stress of external forces (in this case, the giant), made her resort to running away from her husband and son and having an affair with a handsome prince to get away from it all. This act of infidelity leads to her death, suggesting that she was punished for her actions, as befits fairy tales, which reinforces the idea that "virtue is rewarded everywhere and vice is always punished." The baker represents the virtuous hero in this story. After the death of his wife, the Baker learns to face his problems head-on after the appearance of his father's ghost, who tells the Baker of the immense regret he felt for running away from his troubles, and with the help ofother characters, faced his challenge, instead of abandoning them for a different life where he would regret his past decision. This realization echoes the original purpose of these tales, as mentioned earlier in the article, which is to embody experience and wisdom and pass it on to future generations. The father, who had made mistakes and learned from them, helped The Baker realize from beyond the grave that he cannot do the same, as he will spend the rest of his life unhappy and full of regrets. When he returns, he is full of determination, determination and, in the end, stronger than before. As Bettelheim says, “[t]he fairy tale is oriented towards the future and guides the [audience]” (Bettelheim 11). The Baker in this story, and by extension, the hero of other stories, acts as someone to emulate. By experiencing the problems first hand, The Baker has changed as a person and the audience now has a role model, an example to follow, without having to experience it themselves. By seeing someone else experience this and seeing the result, the audience learns, even subconsciously, to emulate or learn from that situation. The story of the witch and Rapunzel also teaches a lesson about attachment between a mother and her daughter. The witch has kept Rapunzel, now a grown woman, trapped in her tower her entire life. The witch keeps her in the tower with the sole purpose of keeping her safe, as she believes that the world is dangerous and dark, but that in the tower she can stay away from the harsh reality of the outside world. This seems to be a reflection of the original reasoning behind many fairy tales, as the Witch is exactly the type of person who probably told scary fairy tales to keep Rapunzel in her home, not wanting to escape until she realized there is more to hide . the outside world compared to the danger described by The Witch. Into The Woods shows its agenda through the consequences of its various characters. Baker's story, which is primarily about marriage, family cohesion, and raising children, conveys the message that you must be willing to work together with your family, which, in this case, also happens to be made up of various other fairy-tale characters. like his real family, and who must face his problems head-on and without fear, and the children of the story, after facing the challenges of the forest, become more capable and courageous. Rapunzel strikes and finds the person she loves in the woods, despite finding herself in an incredibly dangerous situation because of it. This can be seen as a reversal of the normal portrayal of these fairy tales, particularly the classic version of Little Red Riding Hood, where the story is used to scare children into behaving so as not to put themselves in a dangerous situation, such as example getting involved. getting lost in the woods or being attacked by wildlife. Little Red Riding Hood is an example of a fairy tale that has been reused over and over again to discourage certain types of behavior. Charles Perrault's version, in particular, highlights the one very weighty moral in saying “Children… should never speak to strangers, for if they did, they might well provide dinner for a wolf. I say "wolf", but there are various types of wolves. There are also charming, quiet, polite, unpretentious, compliant and sweet people who pursue young women at home and on the street. And unfortunately, it is these gentle wolves who are the most dangerous of all.” (Lang 53). This particular version shows the most blatant use of fairy tales as a way to encourage a lesson to be learned by children. However, there are various criticisms of this version of Little Red Riding Hood. As stated earlier, virtue is rewarded and vice is punished, and Little Red Riding Hood, in.