Princesses in Fantasy
These are my thoughts of, as the title implies, princesses (and to a lesser extent, noble ladies) in fantasy. I've mined my knowledge of fantasy and come up with some tropes and cliches, which I hate. Be warned, mild princess bashing follows. This ain't Disney here...
This post will be leading into a massive post about my own princess in fantasy and just how scary she's become. Since putting everything together probably negates the LJ word limit, here's the background theory. (As a side note, I have trouble with paragraphs. LJ formatting killed my formatting and I'm too tired to sort it out.)
Princesses in fantasy seem to be one of several breeds.
1) the spirited, troublesome kind who;
1a) run away from home and disguise themselves as commoners
1b) trying to escape an unwanted arranged marriage
1c) cause as much mayhem and madness as possible
2) are brides in arranged marriages to the prince or king who are;
2a) either spirited and troublesome (see option 1)
2b) aloof and resentful of their marriage
2c) mopey and wimpy
3) weak and wimpy
4) warrior princesses; see 4a
4a) see 1, 1a, 1b, 1c
5) brats, usually spoiled by their loving father
Princesses in fantasy seem to completely avoid doing any work which one would automatically assume came with the role, especially where the form of government is an absolute monarchy and does not have separate bodies of government such as parliament or high councils. The main options I can see are:
1) ensuring there is a royal heir
2) charity work
3) politics
4) managing the household
I don't see any one of those breeds fitting into those options listed very well at all. None of the princesses I've read about actually work within those options at all. Of course, considering that most fantasy is medieval in general, you can scratch option two out straight away. If women aren't valued in the society, you can scratch option three as well.
However, looking at option four, the author who has at least read a little bit of history would know that women worked. To use a very early example, in hunter-gatherer societies, you didn't work, you didn't eat. Such groups of people couldn't have half of the healthy population living in sedentary positions. One of the textbooks I'm reading on the Roman Empire has some fascinating views on the role of women in society. To paraphrase, marriage and the raising of children thereof was essential. Within marriage, there was scope for action and influence. She could be active in certain business or property management, hold certain priesthoods. Unmarried women had lesser scope for honourable employment beyond working on the family farm, but still... they worked. There is a long eulogy in the textbook I'm reading now from an upper-class husband for his wife. This particular woman was managing the family properties, caring for the elderly parents, providing dowries for female relatives among other things. (I can scan the whole two pages if anyone wants to read them).
I haven't even gone anywhere near medieval women yet. But one would imagine that princesses and other noble ladies would have a great deal of influence among the members of the household. I can think of a few fantasies which briefly describe noblewomen managing the households while their husbands are away (usually at war), but their names (mostly) slip my mind. The main ones I can think of are Tamora Pierce's Tortall books, the Lioness and Protector of the Small quartets which have their nobly-born female characters taking up places in society that aren't for their gender (becoming knights). So, leaving it at that, there is a great deal for princesses to put their mark on. They could genuinely become powerful in their own right, and that's even if you have a society where the balance of power is male-dominated. Since a lot of fantasy shows men and women as equals, there's a great deal of scope there to be played with. A princess could become a respected mother and provider of heirs, maintain the respect of her household, take part in the politics and direction of the country, (especially after she becomes queen either as the dominant power as ultimate ruler, if she's married to the ruling monarch, even if she's in that male-dominated society. Otherwise I'd expect to see a bit more feminist movements in those oppressive societies that can be portrayed.) set the trends, tour the army camps (though I would expect a strong contingent of guards), go on a sort of royal progress visiting the towns and cities of her state, and if your society is a theocracy, be the chief religious body. I can probably think of more, but that's what came to mind first. This is fantasy. For all I know, there is someone out there who insists on their princess selling strands of her hair, each strand to be used as soldiering wire to weld magic spells together. There are no bounds. But fantasy continues to persist with the same old-same-old tropes. Sigh. Be original.
Interested in seeing what others think, especially if anyone can point me to some good examples of princesses in fantasy.
Stay tuned for my upcoming in depth rant-cum-essay on my own politically ambitious princess.
This post will be leading into a massive post about my own princess in fantasy and just how scary she's become. Since putting everything together probably negates the LJ word limit, here's the background theory. (As a side note, I have trouble with paragraphs. LJ formatting killed my formatting and I'm too tired to sort it out.)
Princesses in fantasy seem to be one of several breeds.
1) the spirited, troublesome kind who;
1a) run away from home and disguise themselves as commoners
1b) trying to escape an unwanted arranged marriage
1c) cause as much mayhem and madness as possible
2) are brides in arranged marriages to the prince or king who are;
2a) either spirited and troublesome (see option 1)
2b) aloof and resentful of their marriage
2c) mopey and wimpy
3) weak and wimpy
4) warrior princesses; see 4a
4a) see 1, 1a, 1b, 1c
5) brats, usually spoiled by their loving father
Princesses in fantasy seem to completely avoid doing any work which one would automatically assume came with the role, especially where the form of government is an absolute monarchy and does not have separate bodies of government such as parliament or high councils. The main options I can see are:
1) ensuring there is a royal heir
2) charity work
3) politics
4) managing the household
I don't see any one of those breeds fitting into those options listed very well at all. None of the princesses I've read about actually work within those options at all. Of course, considering that most fantasy is medieval in general, you can scratch option two out straight away. If women aren't valued in the society, you can scratch option three as well.
However, looking at option four, the author who has at least read a little bit of history would know that women worked. To use a very early example, in hunter-gatherer societies, you didn't work, you didn't eat. Such groups of people couldn't have half of the healthy population living in sedentary positions. One of the textbooks I'm reading on the Roman Empire has some fascinating views on the role of women in society. To paraphrase, marriage and the raising of children thereof was essential. Within marriage, there was scope for action and influence. She could be active in certain business or property management, hold certain priesthoods. Unmarried women had lesser scope for honourable employment beyond working on the family farm, but still... they worked. There is a long eulogy in the textbook I'm reading now from an upper-class husband for his wife. This particular woman was managing the family properties, caring for the elderly parents, providing dowries for female relatives among other things. (I can scan the whole two pages if anyone wants to read them).
I haven't even gone anywhere near medieval women yet. But one would imagine that princesses and other noble ladies would have a great deal of influence among the members of the household. I can think of a few fantasies which briefly describe noblewomen managing the households while their husbands are away (usually at war), but their names (mostly) slip my mind. The main ones I can think of are Tamora Pierce's Tortall books, the Lioness and Protector of the Small quartets which have their nobly-born female characters taking up places in society that aren't for their gender (becoming knights). So, leaving it at that, there is a great deal for princesses to put their mark on. They could genuinely become powerful in their own right, and that's even if you have a society where the balance of power is male-dominated. Since a lot of fantasy shows men and women as equals, there's a great deal of scope there to be played with. A princess could become a respected mother and provider of heirs, maintain the respect of her household, take part in the politics and direction of the country, (especially after she becomes queen either as the dominant power as ultimate ruler, if she's married to the ruling monarch, even if she's in that male-dominated society. Otherwise I'd expect to see a bit more feminist movements in those oppressive societies that can be portrayed.) set the trends, tour the army camps (though I would expect a strong contingent of guards), go on a sort of royal progress visiting the towns and cities of her state, and if your society is a theocracy, be the chief religious body. I can probably think of more, but that's what came to mind first. This is fantasy. For all I know, there is someone out there who insists on their princess selling strands of her hair, each strand to be used as soldiering wire to weld magic spells together. There are no bounds. But fantasy continues to persist with the same old-same-old tropes. Sigh. Be original.
Interested in seeing what others think, especially if anyone can point me to some good examples of princesses in fantasy.
Stay tuned for my upcoming in depth rant-cum-essay on my own politically ambitious princess.