E-mail: dobrovolska@inbox.ru
Tel.: +7 (499) 245-22-05
6, Turchaninov side-str., Moscow, 119034, Russian Federation
PhD (Philology), the academic secretary, State Republican center of Russian folklore of the Ministry
of Culture of the Russian Federation
Scenery of the Russian fairy tale’s fictional world is studied thoroughly enough, but there is still an entire group of details, which has not drawn scholars’ attention thus far, neither their function in plot structure or their role in the formation of fairy tale poetics. Such details are clothes and footwear, shuffled on by characters. The article deals with clothing functions in Russian fairy tale. The author reveals several functions of clothing in the plot structure. Clothes are instrumental in fantastic temporary transformations of biological species of the characters. Due to wearing given clothes a maiden can “turn into” a bird, but forfeiture of this item makes it impossible. Fairy tale conveys wedding ritual semantics, related with stealing of maiden’s clothes. A reverse situation is possible in fairy tales as well: metamorphosis or transition between worlds isn’t facilitated by human clothing, but with animal skin or feathering. Clothing items can work as different signs: they inform about a certain event, appear as a proof of heroic deed, act as a kind of identification mark or indicate the length of passage. Selection of garment or shoes, appropriate for a certain difficult task, is related with wedding ritual also. Clothing and footwear items can serve as fantastic transportation means. Magic shirt protects in battle. Most often various types or items of clothing in fairy tale texts are used to hide the true appearance of the character, as well as to change or mask his or her social status. Finally, the fact that a heroine makes clothes to herself can correlate with her belonging to the “other” world.
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