SOURCE: "Born Yesterday: Heroes in the Grimms' Fairy Tales," in Fairy Tales and Society: Illusion, Allusion, and Paradigm, edited by Ruth B. Bottigheimer, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1986, pp. 95-114.

In the following essay, Tatar examines both heroes and heroines in Grimm's Fairy Tales, arguing that, contrary to "conventional wisdom," the protagonists (males in particular) are neither strong nor clever but rather "simple," "silly," "foolish," and "useless."

There comes an old man with his three sons—I could match this beginning with an old tale.

—Shakespeare, As You Like It

Identifying fairy tale heroes by name is no mean feat. In the Grimms' collection, only one in every ten actually has a name. But it is also no secret that the most celebrated characters in fairy tales are female. Cinderella, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, and Sleeping Beauty: these are the names that have left so vivid an...