By Grace Laubach
In most fairy tales, the story space presented is primarily focused on the main characters, but off-page there are so many other stories that are unexplored and not presented to the audience. Charles Perrault’s The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood defies this common occurrence though by utilizing its off-page space actively and, in turn, is better able to communicate its message while also allowing more room for the audience to immerse themselves within the world. In comparison, Joseph Jacobs’s Jack and the Beanstalk utilizes its off-page space passively and keeps its audience focused on Jack, leaving the lives of the off-page space up to our imagination and its overall message and character’s weak and underdeveloped. In better acknowledging off-page space and actively using it, stories are more easily and effectively able to extend their story into our own.
This idea of off-page space comes from the concept of off-screen space which is most commonly applied to video games and film. Passive off-screen space is the area in a movie or a video game that “logically…exists, but nothing happens out there” (Egenfeldt-Nielsen 137). For example, when a movie includes a car chase, logically, we know that there are cars driving around them but since the camera only shows the two cars in the chase, they are irrelevant and will not affect the outcome of the scene. Active off-screen space would be when we are able to hear someone talking outside of the shot that is shown on-screen. Logically, since we can hear them, we know they are near, and we know what they are saying, making it a part of the scene and something that can affect the outcome of the scene. Off-screen space allows us insight into the world around the characters and the world of the story. In video games that actively utilize off-screen space, “what happens beyond the frame inevitably affects the course of the game” (Egenfeldt-Nielsen 138). The same goes for film; what happens outside of the frame, in active space, will eventually have some impact on the course of the story or character’s journey. In terms of written fairytales, this concept would be better called off-page space. Everything that is happening outside of the world that is given to us is either active or passive depending on how the author utilizes story and language. The characters in the villages surrounding and the kingdoms across the way are logically there but they are only relevant if the author decides they should be and says that they are. Fairytales that utilize off-page space open their worlds to the audience and allow more insight into the story whereas fairytales that do not utilize this space force the audience to see themselves within its given set of characters.
In Joseph Jacobs’s Jack and the Beanstalk, the off-page space is not active. A giant beanstalk shoots up into the sky and logically when we are reading, we know that the people who pass by will be confused by it and/or affected by the child-eating giant, but because we are never introduced to them in the story, they’re thoughts, opinions, and lives are irrelevant. Jack is constantly disrupting the world and by the end of the tale with “another chop with the axe” (Jacobs 277) he brings down the beanstalk. Crashing into his world with the ogre in tow the beanstalk becomes fully a part of his world but still, we have no clue what the surrounding neighbors and villagers think or are experiencing. Did the beanstalk crash into someone’s house? Did the ogre’s crown fall onto someone when it broke in half with his fall? There are no answers to these questions because there is no room for them to even be posed in the story. In some ways this allows the reader to fully immerse themselves into Jack’s story but in other ways, it excludes the reader from accessing his world. Not being allowed into the world outside of Jack narrows the story’s scope which also narrows the audience’s ability to fully immerse themselves.
Further than that, the story’s message is only communicated in the beginning through the fact that Jack and his family need money, but eventually, that becomes lost in Jack’s lack of character development. The most prominent message being that one must take advantage of opportunities presented and do what one must to survive is strong in the beginning but eventually falls flat. After the first time Jack steals, he goes back twice more, further betraying the ogre’s wife’s trust who protects him from her husband multiple times. His family’s need for money is fulfilled after his second trip up the beanstalk when he steals a magical hen that can lay “a golden egg every time he [says] “Lay”.” (Jacobs 276). But still, he goes back for more simply because he “was not content” (Jacobs 276). By his third trip, Jack’s morals become muddled in his greed and quickly it becomes easy to dislike him. Without more information about himself, his family, and the world he lives in, his motives become weak when we consider that he’s maybe not such an honest guy and has been stealing past the point of what he and his family need. With more active off-page space we may get more insight into why Jack may need to continuously go back for more. Jack and the Beanstalk’s passive off-page space prohibits its message from being as effectively communicated as it could be because we are not allowed enough insight into Jack’s world and consequently his motives.
On the other hand, Charles Perrault’s, The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood has a broader scope and is more of a full-fledged story with a world that extends way past just Sleeping Beauty herself. When she pricks her finger on the spinning wheel, we often forget that she is not the only one to fall asleep. The entire palace, except for the king and queen, is put to sleep by the good fairy as well so “that when the princess finally woke up she would [not] feel…embarrassed” (Perrault 125) and for the next one hundred years their lives are taken from them, and they all must wait for the prince to come to their rescue. Due to her status, the consequences of her actions are far greater than just her own loss of time. So much so, that they extend off-page into the lives of every single person in the palace. Off-page every person in the palace is asleep waiting for the prince, missing out on one hundred years’ worth of memories and experiences that they’ll never get back. No matter if they are harmed or not, the world around them is still alive and thriving. They’re missing out on decades of innovation and their families outside of the palace are all wondering if they’ll ever wake up again. The people of the palace individually live off-page but collectively they are on-page, and they are active parts of the story that we logically know are there and logically know are being affected by this spell. In this way, The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood balances its off-page space by utilizing it both actively and passively. It’s active in that we know they are being affected and we know that they are facing the consequences of her actions, but it is also passive in that we never know how they feel about it, and we never know how they are affected by this huge loss of time.
Simply knowing that they exist adds to the story, however. We do not need to know everything they think and feel or else the story would be way too long. Active off-page space only needs to be utilized and active enough to contribute to the story otherwise it will only hurt the on-page space, which is ultimately the most important. In telling the story this way and utilizing the space as so, Perrault allows us to see ourselves and the people we know within Sleeping Beauty’s world. We are given more lives to care about and more lives to see ourselves in. Within the sleeping people of the palace are all our friends and family, and maybe even ourselves. With more people to think about and relate to we are better able to feel seen in a world that does not exist and does not explicitly include us.
In creating a world that is so, Perrault complicates the characters’ choices and lives in a way that only further drives home the story’s message. Perrault urges women to wait for the right man to come along and save them. ‘Pricking your finger’ too early results in a “reckless and a little thoughtless” (Perrault 124) girl according to Perrault. This is obviously problematic and forces women into traditional gender roles that prohibit them from acting independently in their own lives and doing what they want. Nevertheless, in sending the majority of the palace into a hundred-year slumber, Perrault instills the idea that waiting will be good for all. Everybody waking up with Sleeping Beauty when she is finally saved by her true love, the prince, reinforces the idea that waiting for the right man to come along will only benefit everyone around you. In the story, everyone who falls asleep works in the palace and to some degree knows Sleeping Beauty, works for her, or is related to her. In our own lives, we have people who fit these same or similar descriptions. We have people around us who care about us, know us, and/or are related to us and Perrault wants us to know that these people, just like the people surrounding Sleeping Beauty, will be affected by our choices. According to Perrault, impatience will only hinder ourselves and our relationships with those around us so we must wait for the right one to come along and save us and in turn those around us from the consequences that supposedly come from being an independent and free woman. Perrault is only able to fully communicate this to his audience though because he opens up the off-page space and allows us access to the lives of others in the world.
Not only does he allow access for his audience to relate and connect through creating active off-page space, but he also allows wonder. Every story needs wonder because it’s what captures us and immerses us in the lives of the characters and their world. In not knowing everything about these characters, Perrault is able to catch the audience’s attention while also getting away with vague reasoning as to why the people of the palace are directly affected by Sleeping Beauty’s actions and choices. The audience is never fully clued in as to why not waiting for the right man will negatively affect the people around us, but the story definitely does warn us that it will. This lack of reasoning and explanation is mostly just a flaw in the message itself which demonstrates why traditional gender roles are so absurd. Whether or not Perrault was aware of this is no matter, however, because due to the absurdity he is able to omit explanation and leave his audience in a cautious and wary wonder that, unless we look closely, is ambiguous and mysterious enough to scare us into listening. Perrault is again only capable of accomplishing this because the off-page space is active. If the people of the palace did not fall asleep and only Sleeping Beauty were to fall asleep the consequences may not be frightening enough to effectively get his audience, young children, to listen. Allowing access to the lives around Sleeping Beauty and extending her impact into their lives, makes her choices questionable and inevitably more important and in turn makes us, as an audience, wonder about the choices we make in our own lives and how they will impact those around us.
Off-page space opens the story’s world by extending it into our own. Revealing the world around and all the lives filled within it keeps the audience engaged and allows them more access to connect and feel seen. The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood by Charles Perrault utilizes its off-page space actively and in turn, effectively communicates its message while keeping space open for its audience to see themselves within the world. Stories like Joseph Jacobs’ Jack and the Beanstalk that do not utilize their off-page space actively, risk effectively communicating their message in return for a more isolated story. Either way, great stories can be told but ultimately off-page space is just as important as on-page space and must be understood by the author in order to have an effective and engaging story.
Bibliography
Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Simon, et al. Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction. Routledge, 2020.
Jacobs, Joseph. “Jack and the Beanstalk.” The Classic Fairy Tales: Texts, Criticism, edited by Maria Tatar, W.W. Norton Et Company, New York ; London, 2017, pp. 272–277.
Perrault, Charles. “The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood.” The Classic Fairy Tales: Texts, Criticism, edited by Maria Tatar, W.W. Norton Et Company, New York ; London, 2017, pp. 123–130.
