To accompany your Sleeping Beauty readings and marionette performance, here are some illustrations produced by the renowned illustrator Gustave Doré for the 1867 edition of Charles Perrault’s fairy tales:
All images by Gustave Doré [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
These illustrations are beautiful. There seems to be an overbearing presence of the wilderness in them, perhaps adding to the moral of the story that one must go through many troubles to be with one’s loved one– and that the struggles are worth it in the end.
I agree that these are beautiful. Though it is possible, I think that the wilderness is not necessarily representing hardship. If you had to jump from the top of Empire State Building, that would be hardship too. I t find the reason of wilderness in the origins of these stories. They were created in very old days, much before the establishment of industrial cities. This is the reason they were also set up in “jungle” settings. Which is the reason, to properly represent the story, one must include the wilderness.
The detailing in the artwork is just fantastic! But on another note, this adds to the general message that the Marionette-version of the story was focusing on: the triumph of good over evil. There is no romanticizing of the untold love between the prince and the princess. The works really focus on human emotions, rather negative, like desolation and desperation more so than anything in my opinion. Nothing along the lines of Disney’s rendition.