Into the Woods and Fairy Tale Conventions - Literature review Example

Into the Woods and Fairy Tale Conventions Stephen Sondheims Into the Woods takes as its genesis many of the best known fairy tales. Most everyone has heard the stories of Cinderella, Rapunzel and Little Red Riding Hood in one form or another, even if the versions differ from one generation to another. By introducing these stories to the genre of musical theater, the writer and composer has achieved a synthesis through the unreal use of characters bursting into song that approximates the duality of the fairy tale convention in which the supernatural intrudes upon the narrative only once the characters have entered into the woods. There are significant similarities between legends, folk stories, fables and fairy tales. The one primary element that tends to differentiate the fairy tale from these other literary genres of morality is that the real action the fairy tale typically takes place in the forest. While folk tales are usually grounded in reality by way of setting, most fairy tales move from reality into the realm of supernatural once the characters move into the woods (Tatar 34). It is certainly not insignificant that Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine chose to title their musical retrofitting of fairy tales Into the Woods. It is not just that the woods represents where the natural order is upended; the woods are also symbolic of the movement toward primal instincts, emotions and desires. Little Red Ridinghood establishes how this theme will be central to the story when she sings a song all about desire: “The way is clear The light is good I have no fear Nor no one should. The woods are just trees The trees are just wood” (Sondheim). The primal desires that fairy tales are meant to address are full realized in Red’s song when she contemplates that even though she doesn’t know what her journey will bring her, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. And after all, she knows she will be back home before dark. Therefore, the musical centers the importance of the forest itself as the site where desire and the expected realization of those desires can be met after an exciting journey there and safe passage home. The woods is a very common component of the structure of the fairy tale and is featured as a prominent symbol in everything from Little Red Riding Hood to Hansel and Gretel to name just two of the most famous in which the woods plays a vital role. When fairy tale characters find themselves in a dark forest, the mystery the represents the dualism of knowledge. Knowledge in itself is neither good nor bad; it is all in the way it is utilized. This dualism is ideally represented in Into the Woods because the musical genre is also a representative of dualism. It is neither opera, nor play, but a fusion of both that is unique in the performing arts. Sondheim and Lapine have taken the unique properties of musical theater and used it effectively to create a situation in which the woods as a keeper of secret knowledge and hidden desires can mean something different to each person depending on what he or she is looking for. During the course of the two acts, both new and familiar fairy tale characters discover that they must enter into the woods to accomplish something and, once there, they must be willing to take a risk. The musical separates itself from straight prose drama by introducing an element of the unreal into even the most realistic of settings. Once a person bursts into song, it really does not matter how much realism has been constructed through dialogue, scenery or set construction, the audience is naturally conditioned to accept the intrusion of the unreal. This is directly analogous to what takes place during fairy tales. The woods also serve as the fairy tale’s location where the moral lessons are to be gained, and in those lessons will also be keen observations into the nature of humanity. The mystery of the forest enforces natural fear and when the more fear becomes manifest the more likely humans are to revert to primal instinct. Of course, the most primal instinct in all creatures, both humans and animals, is the will to survive. Interestingly, however, none of the characters delve that deeply into their animal instinct. Most, in fact, stop at the most primal instinct relegated to humanity: all they really want is to achieve happiness. In both traditional fairy tales and Into the Woods the narratives are not meant merely to entertain, but to enlighten as well as to engender self-discipline of frightening aspects of maturity. At heart they are about the conflict between children who must grow up and their parental caretakers who seem incapable of balancing the line between giving them too much independence and not enough (Gordon 301). The woods also, then, can be said to symbolize the big scary world of adulthood and all the big bad wolves that children will have to deal with. Little Red Riding Hood is a perfect example; as it is related today the core of Red’s story is about deception. In its original incarnation, however, the story is just as much, if not more, about sexual awakening that even involves Red Riding Hood putting on a strip show for the wolf (Tatar 23). This fairy tale is central to the overall theme of Into the Woods. It is no accident that Red Ridinghood has been called "perhaps the most humorous in a Sondheim musical since the zany excesses of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" (Gordon 302). Only Hansel and Gretel can lay a claim to being a fairy tale that imparts the spirit of warning and awakening maturity that is even close to the story of Red. It is also not coincidental that her riding hood is colored red, perhaps the most dramatic color of the spectrum and long a favorite for use as a symbol of sexuality. The plot device of Red Riding Hood heading off to grandmother’s house is a metaphor for setting off for maturity. The woods are dark and mysterious and filled with temptation. Temptation is the test of maturity that she must face alone. In Into the Woods temptation arrives in the form of possibility; the potentiality that it doesn’t matter what route one takes through the woods because the outcome will always be the same. The wolf isn’t presented as evil incarnate as in traditional versions of the story; rather his evil is related to the fact that is devious in setting the trap for Red Ridinghood. She constantly repeats the imperative “Mother said” to the wolf, proving that all the lessons taught her were memorized and stored away, but not critically engaged. When she finally comes to realize that a simple cape and hood offer no protection, it is evidence enough that the warnings and prohibitions that mark fairy tales as life lessons are woefully inadequate. Although Little Red Ridinghood is no more nor less integral to the convoluted plot machinations that drives the narrative than any other character, she acts as a condensed version of the larger themes of the overall story. Hers is the prototypical story of being seduced by the mystery of the woods and being tempted off the path of virtue. It is important that the wolf tempts her with the possibility of choice: “Just so, little girl— Any path. So many worth exploring. Just one would be so boring” (Sondheim). Of course, part of the problem lies in the fact that many fairy tale characters, especially the females, aren’t entirely sure of why they desire what they desire and as such stick to a preordained path. If Red Ridinghood is confused after her encounter with the wolf it shouldn’t come as a surprise. What may be more surprising, however, is why Cinderella seems so unhappy after finding her Prince Charming. The story of Cinderella may be the oldest known fairy tale and in the most infamous versions always include the two ugly stepsisters mutilating their feet in order to get the slipper to fit, none of which seems to bother Cinderella herself as she goes on her merry way to happily ever after (Tatar 152). Never is the question raised that Cinderella’s greatest desire would be to marry the handsome, but is the reason really because he is such a great catch or because he represents an escape from the brutal bondage to her stepfamily? Into the Woods raises the possibility that what fairy tale characters really want from life is more problematic than normally thought. Cinderellas Mother asks her daughter: “Do you know what you wish? Are you certain what you wish Is what you want? If you know what you want, Then make a wish” (Sondheim). In this song Cinderellas Mother is raising the prospect that Cinderella and the other characters not only are not fully conscious of their desires, but don’t give deep thought to the possible consequences of realizing those desires. Cinderella attempts an explanation that suggests it is something beyond her own reason or consciousness that she wants by singing “I wish … More than anything … More than life”. All the characters in Into the Woods are affected by the desires they wish for and ramifications of achieving them. The chorus of “I wish” with which the play begins reveals that yearning is what drives the characters into the woods. And then as the first act comes to a close and those desires have been met, the cast announces their expected destiny: “Into the Woods, / Then out of the woods …—and happy ever after” (Sondheim). Into the Woods is a wish-fulfillment in which all the problems are solved and everyone gets what they think they want. That is usually where the fairy tales comes to a conclusion. But not in this version. Life doesn’t remain happily ever after because there are always new desires. In addition, Into the Woods also reveals that the method by which fairy tale characters achieve their aims is often unethical. The Giant’s Wife, whom gets no press in the original version, comes looking to call for Jack to answer for his immoral actions. What the musical accomplishes here is bringing the story of Jack and the Beanstalk back to the reality that exists outside the woods. Jack must face the music for committing his crimes against the Giant. Act II of Into the Woods brings the happily ever after fantasy back to the real world. The audience’s natural expectation of a happy ending for all concerned has been eroded. Everything that is expected from a good fairy tale is about to be upended and examined and probed for consideration. The safety of assumptions is challenged most obviously by virtue of the fact that the Giant’s Wife, mass murderer though she may be, certainly has every moral right to take out her frustrations. This Giant contradicts the conventional wisdom that just because someone is much smaller then they should naturally be more trustworthy. Into the Woods directly confront the issue of Jack’s culpability. Act II begins literally results in the devastation of the idea of happily ever after and sets up new needs for the characters. The theme of Act II might be the consideration that chaos results from the achieving of desires. It also brings into the question the literal concept of reading a fairy tale. Of course, most people don’t actually read a fairy tale; they have it read to them. The narrator of the play functions in the capacity of the parent passing these morality tales down through generations. But he is also representative of the fact that these tales have changed considerably over the years through the retelling. It is the person telling them who decides what really happens and what may be left out. The characters must face a new kind of fear after the narrator dies. Perhaps it was the narrator’s presence that even led Red Ridinghood to assume that the path out of the woods would be safe. These happily ever after stories known so well take on decidedly different endings once the characters are back home safely. The Bakers Wifes death is the point at which the play veers strongly off the path of fairy tale tradition. Lives have been devastated as a result of the actions in the woods and now the rest of the survivors must find a way to rebuild. The song “Children Will Listen” eschews the desirous “I wish” of the beginning of the story and now turns the attention toward being more careful. The characters now view the woods a little bit differently than they had, admitting only that they will venture into them while being careful to remember the consequences. Even though the characters hang onto the hope of their being a happily ever after, it is a bit more complex. Fairy tales share many common themes and elements. Many involved a damsel in distress who is ultimately rescued by a handsome and brave prince, and there is typically a villain, who may be a witch or otherwise supernatural. In the telling, fairy tales serve to reinforce various shared ideals of how humans should behave and even what they should desire. They can be viewed as an attempt to keep children away from the horrors of society and adulthood for as long as possible, but in doing so they may be committing an even more dangerous thing by promoting an idea of a world where bad things can be immediately spotted and identified. In addition, by promoting an either/or concept where choosing one path leads to nothing but eternal happiness, fairy tales engender a dangerous world view. What Into the Woods succeeds at best in transforming these well known stories is taking them back to the real world from the darkness of the forest and revealing that even the best intentioned choices can result in unhappiness and problems. It uses the conventions of musical theater to present for the first time a look at fairy tales that don’t separate the reality of family and home life from the supernatural goings-on inside the dark woods. The songs contribute to the feeling of an unreal world, but the songs exist both in the woods and in the land of happily ever after. As a result, Into the Woods better defines the duality inherent in fairy tales than any other contemporary representation. Works Cited Gordon, Joanne Lesley. Art Isnt Easy: The Achievement of Stephen Sondheim. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1990. Sondheim, Stephen. Into the Woods. 1986. Tatar, Maria M. The Hard Facts of the Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987. Read More