Understanding folk structure

Folklore has such a breadth and deep-rooted history that it has a theorist of it’s own. Russian scholar, Vladimir Propp studied one hundred Russian folktales and found a story system that is found in essentially all narratives.

“Propp asserts that there are only a limited number of functions (31), and that the sequence of functions found in folktales and fairy tales is always identical- all such stories have the same structure.” (Berger, 24)

Though Propp’s studies are only based on his localized Russian folktales, his studies helped formulate a story framework that covers not only folktales around the world, but also most narratives. Propp asserts that there are no more than these thirty-one given functions, that one function develops with reference to another function and lastly, that functions arrange themselves in pairs (or binary oppositions, such as villainy versus heroism). If we look at the classic German folktale, Rapunzel and use Vladimir Propp’s formula, we can find 15 functions used throughout this text. Some of these functions include interdiction, violation, complicity, villainy, branding, and transfiguration, and all details of the story are covered- from start to climax to finish, with the use of these functions. In Propp’s understanding of folktales, he also includes a list of do-ers, characters that enable functions within the story. The characters in Rapunzel, for example, include a villain (the enchantress that keeps Rapunzel locked away), the princess (in this case, the ‘virginal’ Rapunzel), and the hero (the prince who comes to free Rapunzel).