Saturday, February 27, 2010
The view expressed in Prose’s interpretation of Sleeping Beauty is simply that “(...) The insensate slumbering woman is not only the ideal lover and mate, but also-- as it turns out-- the perfect mother. The kiss that returns the Sleeping Beauty to her waking state requires two generations” (Scholes, Textbook, p.228).Prose goes on to say “(...)Or perhaps its not love, but motherhood that finally makes a girl's eyes blink open(...)”(p,228).I support this view for the fact that Prose took a more personal and relateable stance, that is to say she interjected her own critique and interpretation, without basing it on scientific fact. I believe that is possible that Prose got her inspiration from Umberto Eco when he states,”One could object that the only alternative to a radical reader-oriented theory of interpretation is the one extolled by those who say that the only valid interpretation aims at finding the original intention of the author,”(p.210) often referred to as the intention of the text.
In contrast, to that of Bettelheim his stance on this subject was certaintly objective and more scientifically based whereas no personal connection to the story is expressed, this is evident when it states that on the part of the adolescent it is:“(...)Characterized by periods of utter passivity and lethargy alternating with frantic activity, even dangerous behavior to “prove oneself” or discharge inner tensions.”(p.214) Though this a valid point and Bettelheim being a child psychologist it is clear why he took this stance, but I believe it was too safe, simply because it was within his comfort zone and he did not really present (in my opinion) any personal connection that he had to the story, therein making it clearly objectified in the sense that he is taking a professional observers opinion and not that of a critical standpoint.
Now is this to say that the process of nurturing a child into adolescence is to reach a sort of “summit of femininity” as Bettelheim would say? (p.221), No, I do not believe that Prose would agree with this statement. She in fact makes a rebuttal of sorts when she states that a “(...) a paradigm of the feminist critique of how our culture programs girls, of the psychic footbinding designed to send them -- blinded, hobbling -- from the cradle to the altar...”(p.222) To me this makes a firm stance that Prose's opinion is quite to the contrary of that of Bettelheim who basically equates in my opinion the old adage that a woman's place is to bear children and make a home happy for her precluded husband, whereas it seems Prose's place is simply that of a woman whom is free to make that choice for herself.
This observation is supported I believe in the statement Prose makes to the reader when she states “As girls, we loved this story best of all for its heartening promise that the long nap we knew we were taking (referring to the child's innocence of sorts) would eventually end; perhaps when we least expected it...,”(p.222) this is the quintessential adage of every little girls dream, now is this to say that she necessarily has to bear children? No that is not the case at all here, what is evident in this passage is simply that she longs for something more sustainable in her life and yearns for more and as the saying goes if you keep looking for love you never find it, but the minute you stop looking for it, it will find its way to you. I do believe that Prose was trying to covey to the female reader especially the sense of preparedness and that while in preparing for motherhood one could infer this to mean she is in fact preparing for her own sexual role as a mature young woman. Prose makes a bold statement in regards to the idea of identifying a sexual role when she states:
“So perhaps the story of Sleeping Beauty is not as much as promise of future
romantic awakenings, as a warning, an etiquette lesson, a prescription for
behavior. It's not so much that we are asleep, on ice till the Prince comes to
rouse us. It's that if we want the Prince to come...well forget the make-up, the
curlers, the short skirts...The surest route to a man's (or any man's) heart is
to pretend to be unconscious: I asleep dear...and actually, to tell the truth I
may not even be...real...”(p.226).
In arguing whether or not Prose is justified in her qualitative analysis of Sleeping Beauty I believe the text really speaks for itself. Now in my opinion I believe that Prose felt the need to qualify her analysis simply because if one looks at the passage that states,”It seems, we might think, the very simplest of tales, this romantic and hopeful story about the power of love to reverse all the weaker enchantments and in the process rouse young girls from their insensate virginal comas...” (p.222)
This passage to some untrained and almost illiterate eye, could seem rather reticent and therefore deemed controversial. I believe Prose was well justified in her position and I also believe that the text can found to be almost verisimiltudinous that is to say the text shows a ”true seemingness” about the tale, which is sublimated and brought into a new light via the critique that Prose presents.
In conclusion, throughout this paper I have stated that I side with Francine Prose on the interpretation of Sleeping Beauty and have provided sufficient evidence as well as counter-evidence which only perpetuates the validity to Prose's interpretation, in that she is more relateable and she took the text at face value, and did not give in to scientific ideation rather she took the stance of a more personal nature and therefore made her argument more sustainable and efficacious when read to the masses.
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