Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Structure of The Folktale
Structure of The Folktale
A. Setting
Most folktale settings remove the tale from the real world, taking
us to a time and place where animals talk, witches and wizards roam,
and magic spells are commonplace.
The settings are usually unimportant and described and referred
to in vague terms (e.g., Long ago in a land far away and Once
upon a time in a dark forest).
Some settings reflect the typical landscape of the tales culture, for
example, medieval Europe with its forests, castles, and cottages,
Africa with its jungles, India and China with its splendid palaces.
B. Character
The characters in folk literature are usually flat, simple,
and straightforward. They are typically either completely good or
entirely evil and easy to identify. They do not internalize their feelings
and seldom are plagued by mental torment.
Motivation in folktale characters tends to be singular; that is, the
characters are motivated by one overriding desire such as greed,
love, fear, hatred, and jealousy.
The characters are usually stereotypical, for example, wicked
stepmothers, weak-willed fathers, jealous siblings, faithful friends.
Physical appearance often readily defines the characters, but
disguises are common.
The hero or heroine is often isolated and is usually cast out into
the open world or is apparently without any human friends. Evil, on
the other hand, seems overwhelming. Therefore, the hero/heroine
must be aided by supernatural forces, such as a magical object or
an enchanted creature, to fight against evil forces.
C. Plot
Plots are generally shorter and simpler than in other genres of
literature.
The action tends to be formulaic. A journey is common (and is
usually symbolic of the protagonists journey to selfdiscovery).Repetitious patterns are found, suggesting the ritual
nature of folktales and perhaps to aid the storyteller in
memorization; for example, events often occur in sets of three (e.g.,
three pigs, three bears, three sisters, three wishes),
The action is concentrated, no lengthy explanations and
descriptions. Conflicts are quickly established and events move
swiftly to their conclusion. The action never slows down. Endings
are almost always happy (They lived happily ever after).
D. Theme and Conflict
Themes in folk literature are usually quite simple,
but serious and powerful. Folktale themes espouse the virtues of
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
E.