Decoding Female Characters in Grimm’s Tales and Nguyen Dong Chi’s Tales from the Socio-historical Viewpoint and Comparative Study

Abstract

This article examines how the Brothers Grimm and Nguyen Dong Chi reflect cultural issues through female characters in their folktales and how researchers decode their tales from the socio-historical viewpoint. By showing some aspects such as harsh conditions and gender roles, feminine virtues, the lessons of being a good woman and the concept of feminine beauty, the article argues that by picturing female persons, the Brothers Grimm's tales and Nguyen Dong Chi’s tales encode common and different hard facts and social values of German and Vietnamese people. The article is based on ten tales of the Brothers Grimm and ten Vietnamese tales collected by Nguyen Dong Chi.