Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp (
; — 22 August 1970)
was a Russian
formalist scholar who analyzed the
basic plot components of Russian folk
tales to identify their simplest irreducible narrative
elements.
Biography
Vladimir Propp was born on April 17, 1895 in St. Petersburg to a
German family. He attended St. Petersburg University (1913-1918)
majoring in Russian and German
philosophy. Upon graduation he taught
Russian and
German at a secondary school and then became
a college teacher of German.
His
Morphology of the Folk Tale was
published in Russian in 1928. Although it represented a
breakthrough in both
folkloristics and
morphology and influenced
Claude Lévi-Strauss and
Roland Barthes, it was generally
unnoticed in the West until it was translated in the 1950s. His
character types are used in media education and can be applied to
almost any story, be it in literature, theatre, film, television
series, games, etc.
In 1932, Propp became a member of Leningrad University (formerly
St. Petersburg University) faculty. After 1938, he shifted the
focus of his research from linguistics to folklore. He chaired the
Department of Folklore until it became part of the Department of
Russian Literature. Propp remained a faculty member until his death
in 1970.
Narrative Structure
Vladimir Propp extended the
Russian
Formalist approach to the study of narrative structure. In the
Formalist approach, sentence structures were broken down into
analyzable elements, or morphemes, and Propp used this method by
analogy to analyze Russian fairy tales. By breaking down a large
number of Russian folk tales into their smallest narrative units,
or narratemes, Propp was able to arrive at a typology of narrative
structures.
Functions
After the initial situation is depicted, the tale takes the
following sequence of 31 functions:
- ABSENTATION: A member of a family leaves the security of the
home environment for some reason. This may be the hero or perhaps
it’s some other member of the family that the hero will later need
to rescue. This division of the cohesive family injects initial
tension into the storyline. The hero may also be introduced here,
often being shown as an ordinary person. This allows the reader of
the story to associate with the hero as being 'like me'.
- INTERDICTION: An interdiction is addressed to the hero ('don't
go there', 'don't do this')The hero is warned against some action
(given an 'interdiction'). A warning to the hero is also a warning
to the reader about the dangers of life. Will the hero heed the
warning? Would the reader? Perhaps the reader hopes the hero will
ignore the warning, giving a vicarious adventure without the
danger.
- VIOLATION of INTERDICTION. The interdiction is violated
(villain enters the tale). The hero ignores the interdiction
(warning not to do something) and goes ahead. This generally proves
to be a bad move and the villain enters the story, although not
necessarily confronting the hero. Perhaps they are just a lurking
presence or perhaps they attack the family whilst the hero is away.
This acts to further increase tension. We may want to shout at the
hero 'don't do it!' But the hero cannot hear us and does it
anyway.
- RECONNAISSANCE: The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance
(either villain tries to find the children/jewels etc; or intended
victim questions the villain). The villain (often in disguise)
makes an active attempt at seeking information, for example
searching for something valuable or trying to actively capture
someone. They may speak with a member of the family who innocently
divulges information. They may also seek to meet the hero, perhaps
knowing already the hero is special in some way. The introduction
of the villain adds early tension to the story, particularly when
they are found close to the previously-supposedly safe family or
community environment. The eloquence or power of the villain may
also add tension and we may want to shout at their targets to take
care.
- DELIVERY: The villain gains information about the victim. The
villain's seeking now pays off and he or she now acquires some form
of information, often about the hero or victim. Other information
can be gained, for example about a map or treasure location or the
intent of the 'good guys'. This is a down point in the story as the
pendulum of luck swings towards the villain, creating fear and
anticipation that the villain will overcome the hero and the story
will end in tragedy.
- TRICKERY: The villain attempts to deceive the victim to take
possession of victim or victim's belongings (trickery; villain
disguised, tries to win confidence of victim). The villain now
presses further, often using the information gained in seeking to
deceive the hero or victim in some way, perhaps appearing in
disguise. This may include capture of the victim, getting the hero
to give the villain something or persuading them that the villain
is actually a friend and thereby gaining collaboration. Deception
and the betrayal of trust is one of the worst social crimes, short
of physical abuse. This action cements the position of the villain
as clearly bad. It also raises the tension further as we fear for
the hero or victim who is being deceived.
- COMPLICITY: Victim taken in by deception, unwittingly helping
the enemy. The trickery of the villain now works and the hero or
victim naively acts in a way that helps the villain in some way.
This may range from providing the villain with something (perhaps a
map or magical weapon) to actively working against good people
(perhaps the villain has persuaded the hero that these other people
are actually bad). We now despair as the hero or victim acts in a
way that may be seen as villainous. Perhaps we worry that the hero
will fall permanently into the thrall of the villain. Perhaps they
will become corrupted and evil also. We also fear for the
reputation of the hero who may be perceived as evil and thus never
find the true treasure or win the hand of the princess.
- VILLAINY and LACK: Villain causes harm/injury to family member
(by abduction, theft of magical agent, spoiling crops, plunders in
other forms, causes a disappearance, expels someone, casts spell on
someone, substitutes child etc, comits murder, imprisons/detains
someone, threatens forced marriage, provides nightly torments);
Alternatively, a member of family lacks something or desires
something (magical potion etc). There are two parts to this stage,
either or both of which may appear in the story. In the first
stage, the villain causes some kind of harm, for example carrying
away a victim or the desired magical object (which must be then be
retrieved). In the second stage, a sense of lack is identified, for
example in the hero's family or within a community, whereby
something is identified as lost or something becomes desirable for
some reason, for example a magical object that will save people in
some way. 'Lack' is a deep psychoanalytic principle which we first
experience when we realize our individual separation from the
world. Lack leads to desire and deep longing and we look to heroes
to satisfy this aching emptiness.
- MEDIATION: Misfortune or lack is made known, (hero is
dispatched, hears call for help etc/ alternative is that victimized
hero is sent away, freed from imprisonment). The hero now discovers
the act of villainy or lack, perhaps finding their family or
community devastated or caught up in a state of anguish and woe.
This creates a defining moment in the story as we wonder what will
happen now. Perhaps we do not realize that the hero is the hero, as
they may not yet have demonstrated heroic qualities. We feel the
lack in sympathy for the act of villainy, but the hero may just
have arrived on the scene or may be undistinguished from other
grieving family members.
- BEGINNING COUNTER-ACTION: Seeker agrees to, or decides upon
counter-action. The hero now decides to act in a way that will
resolve the lack, for example finding a needed magical item,
rescuing those who are captured or otherwise defeating the villain.
This is a defining moment for the hero as this is the decision that
sets the course of future actions and by which a previously
ordinary person takes on the mantle of heroism. Having made this
decision, acting with integrity means that there is no turning
back, for to do so would be to remove the mantle of heroism and be
left only with shame.
- DEPARTURE: Hero leaves home;
- FIRST FUNCTION OF THE DONOR: Hero is tested, interrogated,
attacked etc, preparing the way for his/her receiving magical agent
or helper (donor);
- HERO'S REACTION: Hero reacts to actions of future donor
(withstands/fails the test, frees captive, reconciles disputants,
performs service, uses adversary's powers against him);
- RECEIPT OF A MAGICAL AGENT: Hero acquires use of a magical
agent (directly transferred, located, purchased, prepared,
spontaneously appears, eaten/drunk, help offered by other
characters);
- GUIDANCE: Hero is transferred, delivered or led to whereabouts
of an object of the search;
- STRUGGLE: Hero and villain join in direct combat;
- BRANDING: Hero is branded (wounded/marked, receives ring or
scarf);
- VICTORY: Villain is defeated (killed in combat, defeated in
contest, killed while asleep, banished);
- LIQUIDATION: Initial misfortune or lack is resolved (object of
search distributed, spell broken, slain person revived, captive
freed);
- RETURN: Hero returns;
- PURSUIT: Hero is pursued (pursuer tries to kill, eat, undermine
the hero);
- RESCUE: Hero is rescued from pursuit (obstacles delay pursuer,
hero hides or is hidden, hero transforms unrecognisably, hero saved
from attempt on his/her life);
- UNRECOGNIZED ARRIVAL: Hero unrecognized, arrives home or in
another country;
- UNFOUNDED CLAIMS: False hero presents unfounded claims;
- DIFFICULT TASK: Difficult task proposed to the hero (trial by
ordeal, riddles, test of strength/endurance, other tasks);
- SOLUTION: Task is resolved;
- RECOGNITION: Hero is recognized (by mark, brand, or thing given
to him/her);
- EXPOSURE: False hero or villain is exposed;
- TRANSFIGURATION: Hero is given a new appearance (is made whole,
handsome, new garments etc);
- PUNISHMENT: Villain is punished;
- WEDDING: Hero marries and ascends the throne (is
rewarded/promoted).
Occasionally, some of these functions are
inverted, as
when the hero receives something while still at home, the function
of a donor occurring early. More often, a function is negated
twice, so that it must be repeated
three times.
Characters
He also concluded that all the characters could be resolved into
only 7 broad
character
types in the 100 tales he analyzed:
- The villain — struggles against the hero.
- The donor — prepares the hero
or gives the hero some magical object.
- The (magical) helper — helps the hero in the quest.
- The princess and her father — gives the task to the hero,
identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for
during the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess
and the father can not be clearly distinguished.
- The dispatcher — character who makes the lack known and sends
the hero off.
- The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, weds the
princess.
- [False hero] — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to
marry the princess.
Criticism
Propp's approach has been criticized for removing all verbal
considerations from the analysis, even though the folktale's form
is almost always oral, and also all considerations of tone, mood,
character, and, anything that differentiates one fairy tale from
another. One of the most prominent critics of Propp is the famous
French
Structuralist Claude Lévi-Strauss, who used
Propp's monograph on the morphology of the Folktale to demonstrate
the superiority of the Structuralist approach, and the shortcomings
of the Formalist approach. (see Levi-Strauss, Claude. "Structure
and Form: Reflection on a Work by Vladimir Propp"). Defenders of
Propp believe that that such criticisms are largely redundant, as
Propp's approach was not intended to unearth meaning in the fairy
tales he examined (as may be the case with Structuralist or
Psychoanalytic analysis), nor to find the elements that
differentiate one tale from another, but to unearth the elemental
building blocks that formed the basis of their narrative
structure.
References
- Propp, Vladimir. "Introduction." Theory and History of
Folklore. Ed. Anatoly Liberman. University of Minnesota:
University of Minnesota Press, 1984. pg ix
- Propp, Vladimir. "Introduction." Theory and History of
Folklore. Ed. Anatoly Liberman. University of Minnesota:
University of Minnesota Press, 1984. pg ix
- Vladimir Propp, Morphology of the Folk Tale, p 25,
ISBN 0-292-78376-0
- Vladimir Propp, Morphology of the Folk Tale, p 74,
ISBN 0-292-78376-0
- Vladimir Propp, Morphology of the Folk Tale, p 79-80,
ISBN 0-292-78376-0
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