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	Feminist Criticism

In order to understand the Grimms' version of the fairy tale Bearskin more completely it is integral to view the tale through feminist criticism. Kay F. Stone posits in her essay, "Feminist Approaches to the Interpretation of Fairy Tales" that three schools of feminist criticism of fairy tales exist. The first school in early feminist writing argues that fairy tales were critically considered "as one of the many socializing forces that discouraged females from realizing their full human potential." Since critics from this period did not focus exclusively on the Marchen, critical descriptions tended to be generalized and vague. This early school of feminism relied on the assumption that women are separated from and wrongly considered unequal to men(234). Later feminist scholars such as Marcia K. Lieberman and Karen Rowe have examined Marchen more closely. This second school of feminists views fairy tales with "happily ever after endings have been made the repositories of dreams, hopes and fantasies of generations of girls"(Stone, 230). Thus, Prince Charming" is the villain in which girls foolishly await. This second school relies on the assumption that "women were naturally separate from men and rightly superior"(Sone, 234). Critics such as Marie Louise von Franz and Madonna Kolbenschlag belong to a third school of feminism which relies on the assumption that men and women are separate but equal if men shape up(234). In order to look at Bearskin Iwill use the second school of feminism based upon Marcia K. Lieberman's interpretation, and also the third school of feminism based upon Lecture IV in Marie Louise von Franz's book, "The Feminine In Fairytales".

Applied to Bearskin

There is a double-standard for the women in the Grimms fairy tale, Bearskin. Marcia K. Lieberman, in her essay, "Some Day My Prince Will Come: Female Acculturation through the Fairy Tale", ascertains that heroines in fairy tales are reduced to a state of passivity, submissiveness, and helplessness. In the leading female character in Bearskin the reader discovers exactly that: a female character who, in order to fulfill a debt owed by her father, agrees to wait passively for three years in order to marry Bearskin. Not only is the female heroine reduced to submissiveness, she is also reduced to an object displaying the father's gratitude towards Bearskin.

Lieberman further maintains that what is praiseworthy in males in traditional fairytales is rejected in females; the energetic aspiring boy is the conniving ambitious woman. This assertion rings true in Bearskin. Though the poor man has three beautiful daughters, two of them assertively reject Bearskin for his almost inhuman condition. Without enough familiarity to understand that this is only a facade for Bearskin and he really is a galliant warrior, itt seems as though the sisters have every right to reject him. However, when losing their souls at the end of the tale, the text suggests that this assertiveness results only in their banishment in hell. Moreover, while Bearskin is fondly looked upon in the text for traveling about the world in an active manner, the third sister is affectionately addressed for keeping silent and not letting herself be discouraged by her sisters while Bearskin is gone.

The Grimms tale of Bearskin follows this pattern in fairytales which Lieberman suggests "serve to acculturate women to traditional social roles." By making the heroine of the tale passive, submissive, and a helpless character, only to find happiness upon her marriage to Bearskin, this tale perpetuates this fallacy of thinking about the role of women in society.