By Hana Christensen
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“And they lived happily ever after.”
These six words are the last you see before closing the fairy tale storybook. But fairy tales aren’t the only stories that end in “happily ever after.” This phrase often refers to a marriage in many fairy tales. In the romance genre, it has a similar meaning – two people who are deeply in love with each other get to be together and happy despite whatever odds. Romance authors have and do draw influence from fairy tales, expanding their creativity through the inclusion of tropes and symbols, retellings, and erotica to craft intriguing and successful stories within the romance genre.
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Aspects of fairy tales are found quite commonly in past and modern romance literature, romance authors often drawing from these stories for inspiration. This connection seems easy to explain: fairy tales have romance in them, therefore romance books can use them for inspiration. But the relationship between the two genres is far more complex than that. It is a misconceived notion that fairy tales are meant for children. “Fairy tales, like romance novels, target an adult audience and address adult concerns. They invoke a fictional, fantasy realm and express a collective fantasy for their audience. Despite the fear of romance critics, the audiences of both forms do not confuse reality with the fantasy presented; there is no element of belief in these genres” (Lee 56). Fairy tales have whimsical magic like talking mirrors and sleeping curses, and this is where ideas of “love magic” arise from. “True love’s kiss” is a motif found in and popularized by fairy tales, first introduced by the Brothers Grimm’s tale “Little Briar Rose.” They cover difficult and dark topics, from complex family dynamics, magic and power, revenge, jealousy, love, betrayal, death, and more. The romance genre is a genre that encompasses a broad range of tropes, characters, plots, ideas, and themes. There are, of course, kid-appropriate stories within the romance genre, but it is thought to be and often crafted more towards older audiences, who can understand complex ideas about relationships and have the maturity to read darker themes and scenes. Combining stories of magic and stories of romantic relationships was an easy feat, as fairy tales essentially had already done so, and romance authors continue to draw inspiration from these tales.
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Many romance authors incorporate common tropes that originated from fairy tales in their own works. The storyline between a protagonist and a love interest is exactly that, a romance. But there are tropes that involve no romance at all. A trope refers to a literary aspect that is used repeatedly in a work. The “Cinderella trope,” the “Beauty and the Beast trope,” the “Ugly Duckling trope,” to name a few, have become incredibly popularized in past and modern romance literature. These tropes have a few commonalities: an underdog protagonist, struggle between beauty and ugliness, the theme of transformation. These are aspects of story writing that can be easily replicated and expanded on in a work. These stories also have surprising messages and depth on other complex and darker topics. For example, “‘Beauty and the Beast’ may be a love story about the transformative power of compassion, but it also has an emotional ferocity that encodes messages about how we manage our anxieties about monstrosity and alterity” (Tartar 30). Numerous successful book series are known for their fairy tale tropes, and they are considered a “selling-point” to read them.
In Julia Quinn’s bestselling historical romance series Bridgerton,” the third installment in the series “An Offer from a Gentleman” follows Benedict Bridgerton as he falls in love with a mysterious lady – Sophie – during a masquerade ball. When she runs away, he searches for her, unbeknownst to him or anyone that Sophie is a kitchen maid who snuck into the event and was technically not allowed to be there. This story perfectly follows the Cinderella trope. In the Brothers Grimm “Cinderella,” the transformation occurred when Cinderella dressed in nice gowns and attended the ball unrecognized, just as Sophie did. In the same series, book three “Romancing Mister Bridgerton” follows Penelope Featherington, the wallflower of the ton, as she moves on from her crush on her best friend Colin Bridgerton and seeks to marry. Colin agrees to help her become more enticing and attractive in all matters to the ton and potential suitors, and it is there that he realizes his feelings for Penelope were never platonic, but pure, unadulterated love and devotion. Penelope’s story follows the Ugly Duckling trope, where she was made fun of and looked down upon for her appearance and her familial status, only to transform into a beautiful and alluring entity that everyone is envious of. The Beauty and the Beast trope is also commonly found in popular romance novels. “The Duchess Deal” by Tessa Dare follows this trope, when seamstress Emma marries and falls in love with the emotionally closed off, tonally abrasive, sorrowfully scarred Duke.
In historically fictitious settings, Quinn’s and Dare’s works take inspiration from famous fairy tales by incorporating a popular trope. They are recognizable within these stories, but what is inspiring is how the authors’ creativity altered the stories and created new worlds for these storylines. The protagonists representing the characters Cinderella, Beauty, and the Ugly Duckling are plain to see, and while their stories are unique and different compared to the original tales they’re based off of, they are known to possess these fairy tale tropes. These fairy tales are already popular in their own right, but by incorporating these tropes, romance authors are able to expand their creativity by imagining new and separate versions of the tale. When referring to these famous works, they are known to have similar plots to Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast, but to also have their own plots and characters in their own right separate from the fairy tales. The blending of the classic and the new are how not only romance, but all creative products gain attention and success.
Famous symbols in fairy tales can also be found in past and modern romance literature that are separate from fairy tales. Though the context perhaps may be different, the premise and meaning of the symbol may be the same as in an original fairy tale. These symbols can be easily spotted in works and connected back to famous fairy tales. One famous example is in the first book of Stephenie Myers’ Twilight Saga “Twilight,” where a green apple held by white hands is pictured on the cover. The apple is most prevalent in the Brothers Grimm tale “Snow White.” The apple can be a biblical allusion to Adam and Eve, how the serpent offers Eve, to the Evil Queen offers Snow White, and Edward offers Bella an apple. An apple can represent a plethora of things: beauty, knowledge, temptation, and immortality and mortality, to name a few. In Snow White, the apple represents mortality and beauty, the Evil Queen offering it so Snow will die and she will be the fairest in the land. In Twilight, the apple represents beauty, knowledge, and both mortality and immortality, Edward offering it as a subtle invitation into his supernatural world full of immortal, gorgeous, blood-thirsty vampires. In both these two stories, the apple’s purpose is to bring the protagonist toward a darker, grimmer fate. In separate tales, the fairy tale symbol of the apple and its symbolism is easily identified, and yet the authors were able to craft individual and unique stories whilst both possessing this symbol. This shows how authors can take a well-known idea and twist it in their own way.
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Romance authors can also draw influence from fairy tales so closely that they become an interpretation or variation of the tale. These are often referred to as “retellings.” An author may retell a fairy tale by improvising the story or embellishing the tale already as it was. This sparks creativity in ways different than simply using tropes. When writing a retelling, the author already knows the entire story. The struggle comes when the author is then forced to look into another perspective, analyze a concept deeper, or reimagine an event and its consequences.
One of the most popular series currently in the romance genre is a retelling of “Beauty and the Beast,” fascinatingly. “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Mass takes place in a mystical world where faeries and humans live together, though not totally harmoniously. The series follows Feyre, a human, who must live with a fae named Tamlin, who she met when he was under the disguise as a beast, in the fae realm. She falls in love with Tamlin, but he has a curse that can only be broken by the love of a woman who hates fae – which happens to be Feyre. Mass was able to tell the story of Beauty and the Beast, but in a different setting – the fae realm – and with new plots and details – like Feyre competing in lethal physical tasks to get Tamlin back.
Another popular variation of retelling is modernizing a fairy tale. One example of this is Kelly Oram’s retelling of “Cinderella,” “Cinder and Ella,” which follows a car accident survivor named Ellamara as she is sent to live with her wealthy father and step family after her mother dies in the accident. She has an internet buddy she met through her reading blog named Cinder, who turns out to be an upcoming young and attractive actor named Brian Oliver. They have been anonymously messaging each other under screen names and do not know who the other is until they meet one fateful day at a fantasy convention. Ella later flees the convention and disappears from Brian’s life, and he still doesn’t even know her full name. He then searches for the girl he has fallen in love with all these years messaging in time for his upcoming film premier. “Our quintessential story about a rise from rags to riches has also become a cultural meme for capturing dramatic turnarounds, hard-won victories that are earned by an undeserving underdog… Flashing out at us as reminders of a fairy tale drama that mingles persecution at home and class differences with romance that takes the form of love at first sight” (Tartar 139). Oram instead modernizes the tale, putting the fairy tale in the real world and in today’s time, with references to more current events and cultural practices, as well as more realistic and less dramatic relationship dynamics between characters. She not only explores a romantic relationship dynamic in her book, but complex familial dynamics and surviving incredible trauma through Ella.
While Mass and Oram retell their classic fairy tales in different ways, what remains consistent is the effect of the romance between the protagonist and the love interest. The romantic relationship is arguably strengthened when put in new limelights and stories, as audiences can empathize or connect more deeply with the stories and characters. Plots and characters can be refigured and reconstructed, but the original story is still prevalent throughout the work. When you think about it, retellings are really just fairy tale fanfiction.
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With growing popularity, fairy tale erotica is a branch of the romance genre. The inclusion of sexual material or “smut” in works influenced or based on fairy tales is not new nor surprising. Classical fairy tales allude to or express openly dangerous and adult topics, including sex, violence, pregnancy, etc. Combining fairy tales and erotica allow authors and readers to explore these topics deeper within contexts of the fairy tales and in new contexts.“We see evidence of the sexual relationship (that is, the children), but not the relationship itself. Erotic romances, in contrast, offer elaborated descriptions of the intimate bond” (Lee 58). What is important to remember, as mentioned before, is that fairy tales aren’t strictly meant for children.
Many classic tales discuss sex, love, marriage, and intimacy. Despite the dark and complex topics often brought up in the tales, the Brothers Grimm and other classic writers toned down the language around sex and intimate relationships in their stories. “The Grimms’ transformation of a tale replete with sexual innuendos into a prim and proper nursery story with a dutiful daughter is almost as striking as the folkloric metamorphosis of frog into prince” (Tartar 450). Fairy tales are filled with scenes and inferences that romance authors can draw inspiration from to write erotic literature. Based on many fairy tales’ origins, it won’t be much of a surprise in many retellings to find sexual scenes in such works. Tara Lovell’s Ever After series consisted of fairy tale retellings – titled “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Little Mermaid,” and “The Frog Princess” – with heavy smut mixed in with improvised and reworked plots to the original tales. Sarah J. Mass’s “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” a “Beauty and the Beast’ retelling, also included explicit sexual scenes.
One reason for why smut is so popular in works influenced by fairy tales is that it can be used to reconstruct power dynamics within intimate relationships between people. Authors can explore various aspects of sex and pleasure, as well as describe scenarios that introduce new ideas and pose new questions about sex and relationships. Erotica can also just be fun to read and write for many authors and readers, and fairy tales provide a solid foundation to take inspiration from. “In contemporary culture the erotic popular romance novel serves the function once filled by the fairy tale. Fairy tales have been interpreted as encapsulating collective fantasies” (Lee 62). Fairy tales are stories also meant to be read for pleasure, as is most fictional literature. It is no surprise that combining them with erotica would only enhance an author’s and reader’s pleasurable experience with such a story.
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The romance genre is one of the most profitable and successful adult literature genres, with numerous bestselling series that call upon fairy tales to craft such stories. From “Beauty and the Beast” to “Cinderella,” romance authors have taken inspiration from these tales to eroticize, retell, and expand on these classic stories, exploring new perspectives of characters, issues, and plots. Fairy tales were created to teach children life lessons through dramatic fictitious stories and magic, just as romance teaches others about love, sex, and intimacy through romantic relationships. Combining the two genres provide new insights on love, life, and people as they explore dynamic characters in familiar and new settings and situations. Though fairy tales and romance are not completely synonymous, they both will end in those six magical words before the storybook pages close.
“And they lived happily ever after.”
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Works Cited
Dare, Tessa. The Duchess Deal: Girl Meets Duke. Avon, 22 Aug. 2017.
Lee, Linda J. “Guilty Pleasures: Reading Romance Novels as Reworked Fairy Tales.” Marvels & Tales, vol. 22, no. 1, 2008, pp. 52–66, https://doi.org/10.1353/mat.2008.a247497.
Lovell, Tara. The Frog Princess. Evermore Publishing, 21 Jan. 2016.
Maas, Sarah J. A Court of Thorns and Roses. New York, Ny, Bloomsbury, 2016.
Meyer, Stephenie. Twilight. Waterville, Me., Thorndike Press, 2005.
Oram, Kelly. Cinder & Ella. Bluefields Creative, 2016.
Quinn, Julia. An Offer from a Gentleman. HarperCollins, 25 Aug. 2015.
—. Romancing Mister Bridgerton. New York, Ny, Avon, An Imprint Of Harpercollins Publishers Inc, 2021.
Tatar, Maria. The Classic Fairy Tales (Second Edition) (Norton Critical Editions). W.W. Norton
& Company, 2017.
