Degree Name

BA

Department

Comparative Arts and Letters

College

Humanities

Defense Date

2025-12-03

Publication Date

2025-12-12

First Faculty Advisor

Larry H. Peer

First Faculty Reader

Rob McFarland

Second Faculty Reader

Allen J. Christenson

Honors Coordinator

Larry H. Peer

Keywords

Hungary, folklore, folk tales, gender, transformation

Abstract

This thesis examines the ways female supernatural beings are portrayed in Hungarian fairy tales, with a special focus on how their femininity, morality, and power manifest in their depiction. A close reading of fifty-two Hungarian fairy tales with prevalent female supernatural characters reveals that the spaces they occupy, the forms they take, and the gender roles they fulfill both influence each other and the portrayal of women in these stories. Depending on the space they reside in (whether that is the human domestic sphere, a magical kingdom ruled by a specific species, or a liminal zone of magical wilderness), women display different levels of power and autonomy. The forms these women take often changes depending on the space they occupy, their transformation signaling entering and exiting states of power and powerlessness, desirability and repulsiveness. The combination of these two factors (space and form) fundamentally changes how the male characters of fairy tales interact with female characters, determining what gender roles they can take upon themselves. This thesis explores how female supernatural beings navigate these forms, spaces, and gender roles across the fairy tales and what that reveals about their gendered nature and connection to the supernatural.

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