Fairytales have the power to tell us who we are and where we are going, making them powerful metaphors of individual journeys and personalities. In her book Rhetorical Criticism,  Sonja K. Foss writes, “When metaphor is seen as a way of knowing the world, it plays a particular role in argumentation. Metaphor does not simply provide support for an argument; instead, the structure of the metaphor itself argues” (Foss 288). When understood as metaphors that represent individuals, fairytales as structures make arguments and unfold roadmaps of life. These arguments and roadmaps identify personalities, show the shadow of this personality, and provide insight on how to overcome the shadow self.

Perhaps the simplest of the Disney fairytale collection is the 1959 film “Sleeping Beauty. The simplicity of this film and its archetypal characters encourage viewers to look at “Sleeping Beauty” as more of a parable and less of a narrative. In the film, there are many layers of verbal and visual metaphors in the forms of “substitution,” “fusion,” and “juxtaposition” to help viewers understand the larger metaphor of one individual being or the developing personality (Foss 291). The three main vehicles in this story are Aurora, Maleficent and Prince Phillip, who metaphorically represent the tenors of beauty, the shadow-self, and courage.

Establishing the Developing Personality 

The film opens with a celebration of the birth of Aurora. She and the young Prince Phillip of the nearby kingdom are betrothed to ensure peace and unity between the two royal families. Aurora is blessed by the good fairies Flora and Fauna with the gifts of beauty and song but just as the third fairy, Merryweather, is about to bless Aurora, she is interrupted by the evil and jealous fairy, Maleficent. Angered by the fact that she has been excluded from the celebration, Maleficent curses Aurora to die on her sixteenth birthday by pricking her finger on an enchanted spinning wheel. As her blessing, Merryweather alters Maleficent's curse, changing Aurora’s death to sleep until true love’s kiss wakes her. 

The film makes no qualms about establishing the characters immediately and giving us strong visual metaphors. Baby Aurora’s face is never represented as an actual child in the scene. Instead, we see spectral visualizations of her as an older form when the fairies bless her, and then a more concrete form when Maleficent curses her (00.07.14, 00.09.12). This demonstrates that she is more than an actual child, representing beauty itself. There is a great deal of attention paid to her transformation and development indicating that while she is beauty, she is a developing personality which can be spoiled, maimed, or killed. 

Maleficent is pictured as a distortion of beauty or the shadow-self of Aurora. Foss writes that many visual metaphors can be “...characterized by juxtaposition, in which the source and target are juxtaposed but remain visually separate” (Foss 291). In promotional material, Aurora and Maleficent are often juxtapositioned, pictured back to back or at least with both of their faces entirely visible, creating a strong metaphor for Aurora’s shadow-self. Maleficent's regal attire, voice, and composure are all forms of beauty, even resembling the basic facial structure of Aurora (00.08.45). Yet, her sharp face, exaggerated mouth and eyes, devilish horns, and the poisonous green light around her indicates that she is a malady to beauty, or malicious, hence her name “Maleficent.” The curse of the “spinning wheel” is a metaphor for not merely physical death, but the death of ignorance. When she pricks her finger, Aurora must face Maleficent’s evil and stop living in the ignorance of youth.  

Prince Phillip here is seen as a neutral, undeveloped character represented as a young child, therefore we do not yet know what he represents to the larger story. However, his betrothal to Aurora to bring peace between kingdoms indicates and foreshadows that good will come from their union. He is seen with a red feather in his cap which becomes an important plot device later on (00.04.27). While the relationship between Aurora and Philip has yet to unfold, it is noted as something paramount in the first scene. 

Aurora and Philip’s Encounter 

Once Maleficent leaves the castle, the three fairies conspire with the King to hide baby Aurora from the evil fairy until the time of her sixteenth birthday has passed, setting her free from the curse. Aurora, called Rose to protect her identity, is raised in a humble cottage by the three fairies who disguise themselves as humans. Rose is beautiful, beloved, and makes friends with all the creatures she meets near the cottage. On her sixteenth birthday, Prince Phillip rides near the cottage and hears her singing. Captivated by her beautiful voice, he finds her and they have a brief exchange in a dance, both feeling that they know one another. Aurora, who has been told not to talk to strangers, abruptly leaves the prince, not knowing who he is. Prince Phillip determines to find Aurora and marry her. 

Aurora is pictured wearing an earthen tone dress with a black bodice (00.30.58). This neutral color of clothing indicates an undecided nature. She has yet to make any important life decisions and yet to encounter Maleficent’s curse. While Philip wears similar earthen colors, he is cloaked in a bright, decisive red (00.24.19). This color shows an awareness of his true, royal self, and is also often used to represent courage, a characteristic which he demonstrates later in the film. For a moment, Aurora plays with the cloak and wraps it around herself, but never fully wears it (00.28.30). While Maleficent is Aurora’s shadow-self, Philip represents the element which Aurora (or the developing personality) needs to defeat the shadow-self and to be decisively whole in beauty and courage. In the scene leading up to their dance, Aurora crosses a bridge while singing, and the Prince is seen beneath her at a distance, entranced by the beauty of her voice (00.24.17). This juxtaposition shows their innate need and desire for one another. Foss writes that some metaphors “...involve fusion, in which the tenor and the vehicle are integrated…” (Foss 291). When Philip and Aurora dance, they move as one “fused” unit within a still frame, and their reflection is seen in the pond they dance next to, encouraging their metaphor of wholeness and the true reflection of the other, unlike Maleficent who is the shadow, not the reflection (00.31.54). 

The Curse of the Spinning Wheel

The fairies, wanting to make Aurora’s birthday a special one, decide to use magic, and as a result are discovered by Maleficent’s bird who acts as her spy. Meanwhile, the royal families are preparing for Aurora’s return home and her arranged marriage. When Aurora tells the fairies of meeting a handsome young man, they inform her that she is the Princess and is already betrothed to the Prince. While Aurora is terribly upset, she obeys. The fairies take her to the castle where they seclude her away until the wedding ceremony can begin. Maleficent, aware of Aurora’s hiding place, finds her and bewitches her to prick her finger on a spinning wheel. Aurora falls into a deep sleep, and the fairies place the entire castle under a sleeping spell with her until Maleficent can be overcome. Soon after, they discover that Aurora’s handsome stranger and Prince Phillip are one and the same, and set out to look for him to break the spell. 

While Prince Phillip and Aurora are seen in a type of fusion in their dancing scene, Aurora and Maleficent are shown in another type of fusion. During the scene in which Maleficent betwitches Aurora, Maleficent’s voice is audible and her poisonous green light overwhelms Aurora, but she does not show her full form beside Aurora until she is asleep (00.49.00). Even when Aurora is asleep, her face is not shown while Maleficent is in the frame (00.51.24). Foss calls these types of metaphors “...substitution, ones in which either the tenor or the vehicle is substituted for the other” (Foss 291). Maleficent’s face and Aurora’s face cannot be shown in the same frame since they are one and the same person in the story of a developing personality. Having pricked her finger on the spinning wheel, Aurora, or beauty, loses the ignorance of evil and falls under the power of the shadow-self which requires the element of courage found in the Prince. The good fairys sleeping spell over the rest of the kingdom is a juxtapositioned metaphor to Maleficent’s curse, showing us the relationship of life to beauty. When beauty goes away or “falls asleep,” the entire kingdom must be enchanted into a type of preservation of the memory of living, breathing beauty. This preservation of living beauty through hibernation offers hope and restoration; what Maleficent cursed to death is only sleeping, waiting to be roused.

Confrontation of the Shadow-Self and Resolution 

Not knowing the whereabouts of his Aurora, Prince Phillip seeks after her, only to be found by Maleficent and locked in her dungeon. The good fairies realize that Phillip has been captured, finding his red cap-feather, and set out to free him. They break his chains and give him the Sword of Truth and a Shield of Virtue to help defeat Maleficent. When Maleficent’s gargoyles cannot stop the Prince from escaping, she places a barrier of thorns between the Prince and the castle, and turns herself into a dragon to kill the Prince. The Prince pierces Maleficent in the heart with the Sword of Truth, slaying her. Now free, the Prince runs to the castle and kisses Aurora, awakening her and the entire kingdom. The Prince and Aurora are married, ending the narrative with both retribution and reconciliation. 

Prince Philip, a representation of courage, is the only one who has not fallen under the fairy’s sleeping spell since he was seeking the beauty of Aurora. As courage, Phillip can handle the “Sword of Truth” and uphold the “Shield of Virtue” to defend beauty and to conquer the shadow-self (01.05.18). Unlike the substitutionary metaphor with Aurora and Maleficent, Philip is a new element (courage) that is not a representation or distortion of beauty. Therefore, he can be juxtaposed to Maleficent in her most hideous form, the dragon, and can be seen fighting her in the same frame (01.10.02). The Prince dons his red cloak for the entire fight, bright and vivacious against Maleficent’s bruised colors of purple, black, and green. When he kills Maleficent, he drives the Sword of Truth into her heart, and red blood is seen coming from her fatal wound, signifying courage’s triumph over evil (01.10.17). When he returns to the castle to awaken Aurora, he is pictured only in red, and Aurora’s color changes from poisonous green to a rosey hue (01.11.22). Later, when he and Aurora are married, red becomes a part of his actual attire, not just his cloak (01.13.02). These color changes signify the staying power and decisiveness of his courage which enables Aurora to awaken back into beauty as a fully developed personality united to courage.

Conclusion 

Using fairytales as metaphors rather than stories with stand-alone characters creates a holistic understanding of someone’s internal narrative. This reading of fairytales has the potential to help people recognize the positive and detrimental characteristics within themselves, and provide them a roadmap to a more successful narrative ending. We all long for happily ever after, but we cannot be dependent on finding the “prince” or “princess” as an external means to rescue our internal narrative. In order to experience peace and restoration of the soul, we must recognize that the first and most important battle to face is with our shadow-self, and cannot be battled anywhere but our own soul. 

Works Cited

Foss, Sonja K. Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration and Practice. Waveland Press, 2018. 

Disney, Walt. Sleeping Beauty. 1959. 

Every person has had a special moment when their soul leaps up and shouts for joy. Every heart has felt the agony of suffering and pain. And every one of us has our own unique perspective on life as it happens. These are the universal ingredients of poetry.  

In education, there are the mechanical studies—math, science, and physical education. Then there are the thinking studies—history, language, philosophy, and English. And finally, there are the feeling studies—art, dance, music, and poetry. All of these combine to make a complete person, reaching the body, mind, and soul. 

However, poetry in particular seems to be a neglected study as it contains language, but does not necessarily compute as a “thinking” study but rather a “feeling” study. In a way, it can feel like using math symbols to tell a story—rudimentary and frustrating. 

The mechanical and thinking studies of the world are easier to understand since they attempt to measure and observe  the knowable world. For this reason, thinking personality types will always be drawn towards these studies, as feelers will be drawn towards the arts. Neither is better than the other, and each person must have an appropriate balance between both thinking and feeling in order to become fully functional.

We can think of life like a bike. The thinking studies can teach you what a bike is made of. But they can’t tell you what a bike means. Art, particularly poetry, invites us to get on the bike, have an experience, the. attempt to explain its significance. Poetry taps into the meaning of life and the essence of moments and feelings. 

Poetry is not necessarily something “all new” or “novel.” The best poems are always resonate with the greater human experience. However, they slow us down over moments or ideas we might skip over if we are overly-preoccupied with the mechanical world. 

Good poetry does not involve wallowing in personal emotions or griefs, but rather attempts to sync these emotions with the greater human experience, putting them into perspective. 

The heartbreak experienced by the death of a loved one, divorce, or illness is universal, therefore good poetry will unite a suffering soul to the greater knowledge of suffering and attempt to give that suffering perspective and meaning. For Christians, suffering is a byproduct of the fall of man—our willful disobedience to God has created a gaping wound in the universe which we are forever falling into. 

Well-being, peace, and joy are also universal, therefore poetry can unite a rejoicing soul to the greater knowledge of joy. For Christians, joy is found when Christ is in every arena of our lives—binding up our wounds, saving us from sin and death, and training our hearts towards God. Joy is not bound to physical circumstances, but rather to the penultimate reality of God. 

This is why I believe poetry is so prevalent in the Bible. God rests at the heart of all things—mechanics, thoughts, and feelings all stem from the reality of God’s existence. To be parted from Him is suffering, to be united to Him is joy. He is all that cannot be explained, and yet must be communicated—therefore, poetry exists.

The human experience is a lonely thing since we have language but often cannot communicate what we really mean to one another. Trapped in our own bodies, minds, and souls, we are limited in our communication. God is truly the only being who knows us intimately, and much of our human suffering is due to the fact that we can be known by Him, but we cannot know Him as deeply as we wish. 

Poetry seeks to push the boundaries between man and God and man to man. God speaks to us in poetry, a language beyond language to reach our spirits. When we speak back to Him in poetry and to one another in poetry, we are touching on a reality that is beyond us, as though pushing through a dream that doesn’t quite make sense, attempting to wake up.

Poetry is often overlooked in the modern world, not perhaps because we do not have time, but because poetry defies the rush and busyness that has become a staple of society. We don't linger and we don't repeat, we simply move on to the next thing. 

But poetry demands that, for a few moments, we sit still. For that reason, I am always keeping my eye out for poets who are currently carving memories out of moments. 

A Little About Christine 

Interview

What drew you towards writing/art? 

My older sister died when I was 11 years old. She was 20. It was sudden and left a crater in my life. I wrote to process that grief and other aspects of my life. (My book of poetry, KEEPING THEM ALIVE, grapples with this subject, too.) After a while, it became a practice others expected me to do, and I began to expect it from myself. But that took years. 

How do you find inspiration or topics for your genre of writing/art? 

I’m drawn to certain overarching themes, like epistemology (what do we know, how do we know, and when do we know) and loss, but I wrestle with them through art, nature, and family relationships. In other words, sensory details from my daily life help me express more philosophical thoughts.  

What was your first or favorite childhood memory? 

Wow. That’s a tough one. I have a lot of impressions of my grandparents’ homes--scents, sounds, etc. Most of my fuller memories start in kindergarten, which seems late. 

What is a small joy you celebrate often? 

My sons’ learning new things. My older son has a rare form of epilepsy that tamped down his learning for nearly a decade. For years he was unable to fully use or understand language. (I tackle this strand of my life in my book Bluewords Greening.) Now that the seizures have waned, he’s learning how to have conversations, how to read, how to take better care of himself, how to cook, how to tell jokes, etc. My younger son, nine years younger than his brother, simply soaks information in, which astonishes me. What brings me the greatest joy is how they love and help each other. 

What has been an inspiring piece of art or media you’ve enjoyed lately? 

I recently bought a piece of art from Susan M. Heggestad, a mixed media artist from Vermillion, South Dakota. I love the way she uses textiles for texture in her work. I regularly practice ekphrasis, and I have an ongoing collaboration with British artist Pauline Aitken. I have ekphrastic poetry in Bluewords Greening as well as its “twin” book, Untrussed. 

What is a fun or interesting experience you’ve appreciated? (either personally or professionally) 

During the pandemic, I started giving a lot of Zoom workshops and readings. Of course, I prefer face-to-face interactions, but I was shocked about how many more folks could participate online. I live in a rural state, and I know how a newfound appreciation for the way technology can help us connect with each other. 

What is your go-to comfort food, TV show, and book?

I really like homemade pizza. I don’t watch a lot of TV, and I don’t often read the same book more than once unless it’s work or writing-related.

What do you feel is the most significant achievement you’ve made thus far? (Personally or professionally) 

Professionally, I’m very proud of my education (I hold a Ph.D.) and my published work because I didn’t know anyone who had gone to graduate school or published books when I was growing up. My parents are responsible for pushing me toward college; they hoped I could have more choices than they did since they didn’t have college degrees. I’m proud of my tenacity in terms of keeping up my writing practice and sending work out into the world. I know a lot of good writers who have negotiated this path differently.  Personally, I’m proud of my family. Parenting is super hard work--the hardest work I’ve experienced. And my kids and marriage are thriving right now, so…. So far, so good.

If you could give the younger generation one piece of advice, what would that be?

Own your strengths and yet stay humble. It took me years before I really began to believe in myself and have a strong, confident sense of self. Of course, that doesn’t mean one should be ruled by ego, just that it’s okay to let yourself shine.

When did something unexpected but good happen to you? 

Wow. I have so many answers to this. I try to stay open to serendipity; it’s an important part of living a creative life. In the summer of 1996, soon after I graduated with my undergraduate degree, I got an invitation to interview for a job teaching in Turkey. Despite my plans already in place for graduate school, I said yes to the interview, got the job, and six weeks later I was on a plane to Istanbul.

What was the last song you listened to? 

Michael Jackson’s Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground). It was the last one on my family’s bike ride playlist yesterday. 

To purchase a copy of Christine's latest book of poems, The Poet & the Architect, visit her lovely site at

https://www.christinestewartnunez.com/#/the-poet-the-architect/

Thank you so much to Christine for taking the time to answer my questions!

Ashley 

If you or another artist you know would like to be interviewed, drop me a note at aafouchwrites@gmail.com