Propp and his Theory

PROPP AND HIS THEORY

• Vladimir Propp was a Russian critic
• His seminal book, Morphology of the Folk Tale, was first published in 1928 and has had a huge influence on literary theorists and practitioners ever since.
• Essentially interested in the narrative of folk tales, noticing their similarities
• Created a theory behind this, identifying characters, actions and narrative functions
• Typical characters he found were:
• Villain - struggles against the hero, often causes destruction
• Hero - defeats the villain, marries the Princess, solves dilemma 
• Donor - prepares Hero - supplies Hero with a magical object that helps him on his quest
• Dispatcher - makes the lack known and sends the Hero off
• False Hero - perceived to be a good character at the start, but then emerges as evil, often betrays the Hero
• Helper -  helps the Hero to conquer his quest
• Princess - marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative
• Princess' Father - often objects to marriage of Princess and Hero, protective of daughter
• He noticed that there was a struggle scene and a recognition scene
• Narrative functions are the 31 stages within the story which determine what is going to happen next. The narrative functions of the story are important because they make up the whole plot.