| Fairy tales is a favorite form of children's literature for centuries, it serves to teach, entertain and explain the world to the next generation. The tales also answer children's most important questions about the world's origin and purpose while providing social ideals. Fairy tales are influential because children pattern their behavior and learn how to act by reading fairy tales. However, traditional tales portray women in almost exclusively traditional roles, consequently they could work to suppress women. Though piles of research on gender roles in fairy tales have already conducted, but few of them make a comparative study on angel/monster dichotomy of female images in fairy tales. This thesis attempts to apply feminist criticism and discourse analysis theory to interpret angel/monster dichotomy in traditional western fairy tales, in order to make a comprehensive study on the female images in fairy tales to explain how they serve to implement patriarchal principles to readers internally, and how the dichotomy kills female creativity.The thesis is composed of five parts. Part one is introduction, stating the main contents of the thesis. The body of this thesis is divided into three chapters.Chapter 1 states the value of feminist research on traditional fairy tales and the literary theories applied in the thesis. Women have long been defined as the"Other"in the society as well as in relation with men. The principle that woman is inferior race so that they are defined and ruled by men has long been seen as convention. Lacan's theory of discourse analyses that the man ruling woman ruled status is further strengthened through centuries of literary works where women have no voice heard. The rise of feminism along with feminist criticism offers new approaches to literary works, confronting the conventional ways patriarchal society views women.Chapter 2 is divided into three sections to give a detailed feminist interpretation of angel/monster dichotomy of female images in fairy tales. Section 1 focuses on the analysis of angel images, and chooses typical princess figures Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and popular Cinderella as the model to indicate how they set ideal female image combined with beauty and virtue for the society. Section 2 selects the Queen with a mirror in Snow White, Maleficent in The Sleeping Beauty, the enchantress in Rapunzel and other ordinary negative figures in fairy tales as powerful monsters in contrast to angels to explain how patriarchal society deforms capable and assertive women, denounces them as sinful devils. Section 3 sets a comparison on the two extreme mother images in fairy tales: stepmother and fairy godmother, and arrives at the conclusion that they are actually two split selves of one, which further proves the angel/monster dichotomy.Chapter 3 is devoted to analyse themes of these traditional fairy tales, how the angel/monster dichotomy is set up in compliance with patriarchal principle and confine women to be the inferior and dominated race. The angel/monster dichotomy is hidden in numerous literary works besides fairy tales, they actually originate from Virgin Mary and Eve, reflecting the ideal female in the dream of males and also the potential human frauds males are afraid of. Through fairy tales, patriarchal society establishes its ideal for women: combined with beauty and virtue, view marriage as the ultimate goal in life, at the same time deforms powerful women to warn against young girls. It drives women to comply with ideal angels set by patriarchal principles to get rescued and live happily ever after as in the tales, aesthetically kills women into art.Part five is conclusion.
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