Incompetent Father

Theme of Incompetent Father in Fairy Tales

We have already discussed the theme of absent fathers in fairy tales where we provided several examples as well. Absence is not the only issue related to fathers in fairy tales. Often, they are present, yet so incompetent, that they can't provide even the basic protection for their children. Sometimes they actually push them into grave danger.

Here are some good examples of incompetent father who didn't do their jobs and exposed their children to serious troubles.

Brother and Sister

Here we have a father who lost his wife and stayed as sole provider to his son and daughter. He remarries a woman who already has a daughter from before. She is also a witch. When she started treating her stepson and her stepdaughter badly, the father didn't do a thing. They are on their own and forced to run away to save their lives.

She manages to enchant the brooks in the woods, changing the stepson into a deer and later even kills her stepdaughter. Father still doesn't react.

credit: https://franz-stassen.mystrikingly.com/blog/brother-and-sister

Beauty and the Beast

In this classic fairy tale, a father is a merchant who loses all his money. The family has to move into a small house hoping for better times. The merchant really gets another chance and fails again. Even more, he encounters a Beast who threatens to kill him for stealing a rose from his garden. Father is willing to trade his life in exchange for one of his daughters!

This is a definition of incompetence.

credit: https://past-tense.mystrikingly.com/blog/beauty-and-the-beast-by-eleanor-vere-boyle

Hansel and Gretel

Hansel and Gretel are brother and sister living with their father who is a poor woodcutter. There is also a stepmother who gets the idea of taking the kids so deep into the forest that they can't find their way home. The father is okay with the idea. When the kids return despite everything, the stepmother convinces her husband, the father of the kids, to take them into the woods again!

credit: https://ameblo.jp/vintageart/entry-12444476868.html

Juniper Tree

Again, we are dealing with a father who lost his wife and stays alone with his son. He gets another wife and she gives birth to a daughter. She hates her stepson, treats him badly, and, when a chance appears, kills him by the cover of the chest. The same day she uses his remains to make a stew and serves him to her husband. Father eats it without realizing he is having his own son for lunch.

Rapunzel

Rapunzel is a fairy tale where the problems of the title character start before she is even born. In the beginning, we have a husband and a pregnant wife. She yearns to eat rapunzel which grows in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, the garden with rapunzel belongs to a witch who catches the husband while he is stealing.

She offers him pardon and even an unlimited supply of rapunzel if he promises her his unborn daughter. He complies. Again, a father who is willing to trade his life for his child's. And some rapunzel of course.

Rumpelstiltskin

Wrong actions are not the only way to get into trouble. A big mouth is enough. A miller gets a chance to talk with a king and starts bragging about his daughter. He claims she is able to spin straw into gold. The king decides to test the girl. If she fails, he will kill her. Another way to get your innocent kids into trouble, right?

credit: Richard Flockenhouse

Sleeping Beauty

In this popular fairy tale, the king makes three cardinal mistakes endangering his only daughter's life. First, he doesn't invite all the fairies to the party. The uninvited one is so angry, that she throws the curse. Because the curse involves a spindle, the king forbids spindles in the kingdom, instead of educating his child about the foretelling. This is his second mistake.

He hets another chance and he blew it again, making a mistake for the third time. Despite being informed when the fatal accident with the spindle will occur, he leaves her alone, wandering around until she finds the spindle. We all know what happens next.

credit: https://charles-perraults-fairy-tales.weebly.com/fairy-tales/sleeping-beauty-in-the-woods

Wishing Table

The last example of the incompetent father in this article comes from the story about a father who has three sons and a goat. All his sons have to pasture the goat, the only family treasure, and one by one are back with a properly fed goat who claims how hungry is she. Instead of checking his sons' side of the story, the father promptly kicks them out one by one.

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