The Heroine with a Thousand Faces : Universal Trends in the Characterization of Female Folk Tale Protagonists

Evolutionary Psychology
human-nature.com/ep – 2005. 3: 85-103
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Original Article

The Heroine with a Thousand Faces: Universal Trends in the
Characterization of Female Folk Tale Protagonists

Jonathan Gottschall, First Year Program, c/o English Department, St Lawrence University, Canton,
NY 13617, USA. Email: jgottschall@stlawu.edu.

with fifteen St. Lawrence University undergraduate students: Rachel Berkey, Mitch Cawson, Carly
Drown, Matthew Fleischner, Melissa Glotzbecker, Kimberly Kernan, Tyler Magnan, Kate Muse,
Celeste Ogburn, Stephen Patterson, Christopher Skeels, Stephanie St. Joseph, Shawna Weeks, Alison
Welsh, Erin Welch.

Abstract: Literary scholars and psychologists have long remarked striking
similarities in the depiction of male heroes in the world's folk tale traditions. The
best-known attempt to document and explain these similarities is Joseph Campbell's
The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1936). Campbell's work differs in detail from
other prominent attempts to define universal features of heroes, however its grand
thesis is much the same: while the details of heroes “faces” may change as the
investigator crosses geographical, ethnic, cultural and chronological borders, certain
details of the hero's life and challenges are everywhere the same. However, in
contrast to the many determined efforts to generalize about heroes, scholars have
expended little effort generalizing about cross-cultural features of heroines. The
present article, based on a quantitative content analysis of folk tales from 48 culture
areas around the world, represents the first systematic attempt to identify and explain
cross-cultural trends in the characterization of heroines. This study was designed to
improve substantially on previous attempts to define literary universals by drawing
upon theory and methods used by human scientists to fruitfully explore and explain
human universals.

Keywords: Literary Universals, Folk Tales, Content Analysis, Evolutionary Theory,
Evolutionary Psychology, Gender Differences, Female Literary Characters.

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Introduction

Literary scholars and psychologists have long remarked striking similarities in
the depiction of male heroes in the world's folk tale traditions. The most prominent
attempt to document and explain these similarities is Joseph Campbell's The Hero

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The Heroine with a Thousand Faces
with a Thousand Faces (1936). Campbell's work differs in detail from other notable
attempts to define universal features of heroes (e.g., Dundes, 1980; Fontenrose, 1959;
Rank, 1909; Raglan, 1936; Tylor, 1871; Von Hahn, 1876), however its grand thesis is
much the same: wherever you travel in the world's folk literatures, heroes will share
certain predictable patterns of characteristics; while the details of heroes “faces” may
change as the investigator crosses geographical, ethnic, cultural and chronological
borders, certain details of the hero's life and challenges are everywhere the same.
However, in contrast to the many determined efforts to generalize about heroes,
scholars have expended little effort generalizing about cross-cultural features of
heroines. A review of almost 2,000 publications on women and folklore featured not
a single concerted attempt to define cross-cultural features of heroines (De Caro,
1983), and we are aware of none that have been published since.
The present article, based on a quantitative content analysis of folk tales from 48
culture areas around the world, represents the first systematic attempt to identify and
explain cross-cultural trends in the characterization of heroines.

A Word on Terminology

First, the lack of preexisting cross-cultural studies of common traits of heroines is not
due to simple, sexist disregard. In fact, a great deal has been written about female
folk tale characters (for reviews see De Caro, 1983; DeGraff, 1987; Haase, 2000).
The paucity of attempts to generalize about cross-cultural aspects of heroines stems,
in large part, from the difficulty of identifying and defining a “type” of heroine
distinctly enough for cross-cultural analysis (see Ragan, 1998 on the difficulties of
devising a suitable definition of the heroine). Heroines are not merely heroes with
some different body parts; as we shall see later in the paper, there is a distinct scarcity
of female characters that are heroic in the same sense we usually associate with male
heroes. Therefore, in order to avoid sticky problems of definition, and in order to
attain a large and diverse sample, this study defines the term “heroine” in its most
generic sense, as any main female protagonist. As we employ the term, there is
absolutely no connotation of special grandeur, virtue, nobility, or courage.
The term “literary universal” must also be defined. The first property of a literary
universal is that the putative feature need not appear in every literary work nor must it
appear in all the world's literary traditions. An absolute universal is one that applies
across all literary works and traditions. This is a special, and perhaps rare
phenomenon, which likely applies mainly at the highest levels of abstraction (e.g.,
"all peoples have literature," "all literature is focused on conflict," "all peoples have
creation myths," etc.). This article seeks to document features of the characterization
of female protagonists that are statistical, not absolute, universals. These are features
of characterization which recur at rates significantly greater than would be predicted
by chance, and which cannot be convincingly attributed solely to diffusion (see
Hogan, 1997, 2004).

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Problems with Previous Attempts to Define Literary Universals

While there is, at present, a resurgence of interest in the subject of literary
universals (Arleo, 1997; Carroll, 2001; Gottschall, 2004; Gottschall, Berkey, Drown
et al., 2004; Gottschall, Martin, Rea, and Quish, 2004; Gottschall, Callanan,
Casamento et al., 2004; Hogan, 1996, 1997, 2004; Jobling, 2001; Mueller, 1993;
Richardson, 2000; Sternberg, 2003; Quasthoff, 1996), the majority of literary scholars
have, over the last several decades, viewed the very concept of universals with deep
suspicion. This is in stark contrast to a long and prominent universalist tradition that
argued for distinct regularities in literatures across geographical locations, historical
epochs, and levels of cultural complexity. There are both ideological and practical
reasons for this state of affairs. We will address only practical reasons, given that
ideological reasons have been ably discussed by other authors (e.g., Appiah 1992;
Hogan, 1997, 2004).
Literary scholars have found it easy to dismiss the concept of literary
universals largely because the most prominent research in the field has been rife with
theoretical and methodological flaws, and thus vulnerable to devastating skeptical
critique (see Cook, 1976; Jobling, 2001). However, the failures in previous attempts
to define literary universals may be attributable less to the absence of common
aspects of world literatures than to widespread use of weak theory and methods.
Prior to the twentieth century universalist claims were based on commonsense claims
concerning universal properties of human psychology. For instance, the nineteenth-
century anthropologist Edward Tylor wrote:

The treatment of similar myths from different regions, by arranging
them in large compared groups, makes it possible to trace in
mythology the operation of imaginative processes recurring with the
evident regularity of mental law; and thus stories of which a single
instance would have been a mere isolated curiosity, take their place
among well-marked and consistent structures of the human mind
(1871, pp. 281-282).

In the twentieth century, however, psychoanalysis emerged as an explicit and
systematic theory of human psychology that attempted to codify and explain the
provenance of the universal "mental law(s)" taken for granted by the likes of Tylor.
Psychoanalysis became both the map and the legend for the 20th century's most
prominent universalists: the map that indicated where to look for universals; the
legend that revealed how to interpret what was found. Thus the most widely known
attempts to systematically define literary universals are heir to the shortcomings of
psychoanalysis, and have often been guilty of implausible attempts to cram stories
into Freudian or Jungian molds. In addition to theoretical weaknesses, previous
attempts to define literary universals lacked methodological rigor. Conclusions were
not based on statistical analyses of representative samples of texts but on highly
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impressionistic "readings" of handpicked texts, typically over-representing circum-
Mediterranean content (Cook, 1976; Jobling, 2001).

The research presented in this article represents an attempt to improve upon
previous research in literary universals by applying theory and methods that have
invigorated the search for, and interpretation of, universals in other fields. By
applying scientific methods of data acquisition and analysis an attempt is made to
avoid (insofar as is possible) some of the problems of subjectivity, selection, and
confirmation bias characteristic of previous attempts. By taking evolutionary theories
of human behavior and psychology as map and legend for this exploration, an attempt
is made to identify universals that prove more durable and reliable than those based
on psychoanalytic theory and looser methodology.

Expectations


This research seeks universal patterns in dimensions of female protagonist
characterization where evolutionary theory and research suggests one should find
them. The expectations of this study were as follows. On the basis of kin selection
theory (Hamilton, 1964) it was expected that female protagonists would devote
substantial effort to assisting their kin, especially their close kin, relative to non-kin
and distant kin. On the basis of research into human mate preferences inspired by
sexual selection theory, it was predicted that female characters, relative to their male
counterparts, would place greater emphasis on a potential mate's wealth, status, and
kindness (a potential signaller of commitment) than on his physical attractiveness
(Buss, 1989). On the flip side, given the heavy emphasis males place on the
attractiveness of potential mates in world cultures, it was expected that there would
be markedly greater emphasis on the physical attractiveness of female characters
relative to male characters. On the basis of Darwin-Trivers sexual selection theory
(Darwin, 1871; Trivers, 1972), it was predicted that female protagonists would be
identified as less "active," less "courageous," and less likely to be defined as
"physically heroic" than their male counterparts. This is because sexual selection
theory predicts that, in most sexually reproducing animals, males will be more prone
to risk taking behavior in the competition for mates; males' higher likelihood both of
reproducing prolifically and dying without issue gives them positive and negative
incentives to compete intensely and riskily for mates, and for the social status and
resources required to attract and retain them (for reviews of sexual selection literature
see Anderson, 1994; Miller, 1999). Finally, it was expected that one side effect of the
higher activity, courage, and heroism ratings of males characters would be an
abundance of male main characters relative to female main characters. It was
assumed that active characters (as well as the courageous and physically heroic)
would be more compelling than passive characters, and thus more likely to play
central roles in narratives. While some of these expectations may seem obvious on
the basis of commonsense, they are at odds with the dominant humanities models,
which predict strong inter-cultural variability given the basically arbitrary nature of
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human social and gender arrangements.

Data and Methods

Folk tale collections were chosen so as to maximize the geographical
variability of the sample as well as variability in levels of cultural complexity.
Specialized collections focusing on specific themes, plots, or character types (e.g.,
Hopi Trickster Tales, Hero Tales of the South Slavs) were rejected in favor of generic
collections (Hopi Folk Tales, Traditional Tales of the South Slavs). All collections
were of traditional tales, originally transmitted through the oral tradition. In all, the
study includes tales from 48 different culture areas from all inhabited continents,
varying widely in ecology, geographic location, racial and ethnic composition,
political systems, religious beliefs, and levels of cultural complexity. All non-English
tales had been translated into English, and the sample ran the gamut from polished
fairy tales to literal transcriptions of tales told in traditional contexts. A list of the
collections and tales coded can be accessed at this URL or by contacting the lead
author: http://www.science.mcmaster.ca/psychology/ehb/gottschall(folktales).pdf.

Once suitable collections were identified, each data collector (10 female and 5
male undergraduates at St. Lawrence University) scanned the thirty longest tales from
each of 3 culture areas. (Several researchers were responsible for tales from four
culture areas. They volunteered to code collections of tales that only arrived through
interlibrary loan after the main portion of the study had been completed.) The coders
were participants in a seminar focusing on content analysis methodology and the
depiction of female characters in world folk tales. Coders were told that the study’s
aim was to determine whether or not there were cross-cultural patterns in the
depiction of female characters. They were told that either finding—either of
prevailing cross-cultural regularity or of prevailing variability—would be an
important contribution. They were not made aware of the specific theory-derived
expectations.
The thirty longest tales were chosen, rather than a random selection, to ensure a
sample consisting of long, information-rich tales rather than short, information-poor
tales. Since the emphasis of the inquiry was on the attributes of female characters,
each of 1,440 tales was then scanned for the presence of a main female protagonist or
a main female antagonist. A protagonist was defined as a character who plays a
central role in the action and who the audience is led to root predominantly for rather
than predominantly against. An antagonist was defined as a character who plays a
central role in the action, who acts as an obstacle to the goals of the protagonist(s),
and who the audience is led to root predominantly against rather than predominantly
for. Any tale containing one or both of these character types was flagged for coding.
This sampling procedure likely introduced some biases into the sample that will be
discussed in the results section.

A coding form was developed to collect data on the main characters of all
flagged tales (see appendix 1). While male characters were not the main targets of
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the study, coding forms were also filled out for all main male protagonists and
antagonists in order to provide a yardstick for measuring the characteristics of the
females. Information was gathered on female antagonists for the same reason. In all,
researchers completed 1,307 coding forms on 658 different tales. Of the completed
forms, 568 were filled out for female protagonists, 392 for male protagonists, 197 for
female antagonists, and 150 for male antagonists.

Data analysis is reported for the sample as a whole and for each of 6
geographical regions: 1) the circum-Mediterranean, 2) East Eurasia, 3) North
America, 4) South America, 5) Africa, and 6) the Insular Pacific combined with
South East Asia and the Pacific Rim (see appendix 2). Where possible our division
of culture areas into geographical regions follows Murdock's precedent (1957, 1981),
although it diverges in two significant ways. First, the analysis makes up for a
shortfall of tales in Murdock's Insular Pacific region and a glut of tales in his East
Eurasian region by grouping several culture areas in South East Asia and the Pacific
Rim with tales from the Insular Pacific. Second, East African tales were grouped
with Africa rather than with circum-Mediterranean tales. These divergences from
Murdock result from the necessity of establishing regional samples of roughly
equivalent size.
The sample was also divided into two broad levels of cultural complexity.
The first level consists of tales that circulated primarily in unassimilated band and
tribal societies, though the tales may have only been written down after assimilation.
The second level consists of tales that, while they may have originated in non-state
societies, circulated for long periods in preindustrial state societies. Since the line
between these categories can be fine, tales from culture areas that could not be
confidently placed in one of these two categories were excluded from the calculation.
Finally, because a prominent claim of feminist scholars of folk and fairy tales,
is that patterns of characterization in European folk and fairy tales are the result of the
patriarchal biases of male editors and collectors (for a survey of these claims see
Haase, 2000; for a disconfirming test of these claims see Gottschall, in press), sub-
analyses were performed for male-edited collections versus female-edited collections,
and for data gathered by female coders versus data gathered by male coders. While
there is variation across male and female editors and coders, this variation is not
always in a predictable direction and it is consistent with natural variations across
collections and cultures. In no case did results for male or female coders and editors
violate the general patterns apparent in the other samples (for a report of these results
see Gottschall, in press).

Content analysis of literary works presents special challenges to reliability
assessment due to the length and complexity of the works and the time consuming
nature of the coding (for further discussion see Gottschall, in press). The following
conventional measures (see Krippendorff, 1980; Neuendorf, 2002; Weber, 1990)
were undertaken to promote inter-coder reliability: we developed a coding question
that was as uncomplicated as possible, we devised simple coding instructions, and we
prepared a coding dictionary with definitions of all potentially ambiguous terms.
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Finally, inter-coder reliability was assessed in two formal tests. The first test assessed
the coders' agreement in scanning the same assortment of 23 culturally diverse tales
for the presence of a main female protagonist or a main female antagonist. The
second test assessed agreement in coding an assortment of 11 culturally diverse tales
previously identified as containing either a main female protagonist or antagonist.
Most content analysis practitioners strive for reliability rates of 80% or better, and
consider 70% to be the minimum level of adequacy (Krippendorff 1980; Neuendorf
2002; Weber 1990). Inter-coder agreement in scanning tales was 89% while, for the
variables discussed in this paper, agreement ranged from 75-94% with an average
agreement of 88% (see results section for percent agreement on all variables). These
rates of reliability were nearly identical to those produced by 12 coders in a different
study who applied the same coding question to a western literature sample (see
Gottschall, Martin, Quish, and Rea, 2004). This approach, in which reliability ratings
are established prior to actual coding rather than having multiple coders read and
code all or some fraction of the different works, is well established in content analysis
and is discussed as an option in books on, and practical guides to, the subject. The
advantage of this approach is that is allows the compilation of the largest data sets,
though some content analysts argue that it does so at the cost of some degree of
precision in reliability reporting (for discussion of different methods of reliability
testing see Krippendorff, 1980; Neuendorf, 2002; Weber, 1990).
We acknowledge that the relatively small number of tales examined in our
reliability assessment influences confidence in the reliability of our overall results.
At the same time, however, we believe that confidence in our results should also be
influenced, in a positive way, by the fact that 15 naïve coders, working in isolation
from one another, all found the same general patterns of female versus male
characterization in their individual collections. While the degree of confidence
generated by this fact cannot be expressed quantitatively, such regularity would not
be anticipated in the output of unreliable coders.

Results: The Heroine's Face

This study was designed in hopes of producing an empirically sound
composite of some broad lineaments that are relatively constant in the heroine's
thousand faces. Analysis of data reveals salient trends of female protagonist
characterization across the sample in parameters associated with age, levels of
physical attractiveness, frequency of representation as the main character, marital
status, mating preferences, motivation, level of activity, personality descriptors,
propensity for physical heroism, and patterns of altruism.

Frequency of representation as the main character


Across subsamples female protagonists were significantly under-represented
as main characters. The representation of female protagonist main characters was
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estimated in two ways. The first estimation was reached by subtracting the number of
tales with female protagonist main characters in the sample from the total number of
tales scanned (all pertinent questions from the coding form are listed in appendix 1).
Overall, male main characters outnumbered female main characters by a factor of
three (inter-coder reliability 81%). However, this method may overestimate
somewhat the representation of male protagonist main characters because it does not
account for tales where main characters (like animals, plants, or forces of nature) may
be represented as unsexed. In the second estimation, the senior author analyzed the
tables of contents of all collections utilized in the study, determining the relative
percentages of titles referring to male main characters versus female main characters.
Any title that did not communicate definite information as to the sex of the tale's
main character was excluded from the calculation. Overall, male main characters
outnumbered female main characters by more than 2 to 1. However, this method of
estimation likely underestimates the representation of male main characters because it
does not account for the fact that most folk tales featuring anthropomorphized
animals or forces of nature sex them as male. As indicated in Table 1, the results of
both analyses (the first somewhat aggressive, the second somewhat conservative)
confirm that female protagonist main characters are significantly under-represented in
the samples.

Table 1: Percentage of male and female main characters: two methods of estimation


Estimation 1

Estimation 2








Male
Female
Z-Score
Male
Female
Z-Score
Overall
75 (n=1084)
25 (n=356) 31.45**
68 (n=949) 32 (n=443)
20.59**
North America
82 (n=247)
18 (n=53)
20.77**
76 (n=151) 24 (n=52)
11.26**
South America
84 (n=176)
16 (n=34)
18.81**
76 (n=105) 24 (n=34)
9.91**
Circum-Mediterranean
77 (n=207)
23 (n=63)
14.65**
67 (n=267) 33 (n=134)
9.96**
East Eurasia
74 (n=222)
26 (n=78)
13.4**
67 (n=216) 33 (n=107)
9.11**
Africa
62 (n=131)
38 (n=79)
5.24**
68 (n=172) 32 (n=82)
8.54**
Insular Pacific, etc.
73 (n=132)
27 (n=48) 10.01** 58
(n=76) 42
(n=56) 2.49*
Bands / Tribes
76 (n=567)
24 (n=183) 23.08**
68 (n=441) 32 (n=205)
14.11**
Preindustrial States
79 (n=573)
21 (n=147) 26.87** 68
(n=511) 32
(n=235) 15.38**








N is number of story characters
* indicates p < .05
** indicates p < .001
(See Appendix for listing of cultures in each region and level of cultural complexity)

As stark as the discrepancies are, the likelihood exists that, due to the
particular sampling methodology we employed, our figures significantly overestimate
the representation of female main characters. This is because all tales coded were
first pre-selected for the presence of prominent female characters. A sample that was
not thus presorted would likely have an even more extreme imbalance between main
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male and female characters.

These results have recently been replicated in computerized content analyses
of a (different) culturally and geographically diverse sample of 43 collections of
folktales from around the world. It was discovered that, in these collections, male
subject pronouns (he, him, himself, etc.) outnumbered their female equivalents by a
ratio of 3:1, and that clearly male terms (man, boy, uncle, etc.) outnumbered their
female equivalents by roughly the same margin (Gottschall, Callanan, Casamento et
al., 2004.). Together with the results of the present study, these findings suggest that
an under-representation of prominent female folk tale characters is statistically, and
perhaps absolutely, universal in world folk literatures.

Age

Young, reproductive aged women are vastly over-represented in the ranks of
female protagonists (inter-coder reliability 75%). Across subsamples an
overwhelming majority of female protagonists were identified either as sexually
mature teenagers or as twenty to twenty-nine year olds; just 8% were identified as
forty or older. This is in stark contrast to the depiction of female antagonists, 40% of
whom were identified as forty or older (see Table 2). Incidentally, male protagonists,
though rated slightly older than female protagonists overall, demonstrated exactly the
same pattern: the antagonists are significantly older than the protagonists.

Table 2: Percentage of female protagonists and antagonists falling in given age
categories


Sexually Mature Teen or Twenties
Forty or Older







Female
Female

Female
Female

Protagonist
Antagonist
Z-Score
Protagonist Antagonist Z-Score
Overall
80 (n=531)
38 (n=174) 10.3**
8
42
-8.68**
North America
71 (n=76)
38 (n=26)
3*
18
35
-1.57
South America
71 (n=75)
52 (n=23)
1.58
8
30
-2.22*
Circum-Mediterranean
91 (n=121)
27 (n=44)
8.83**
4
64
-7.96**
East Eurasia
85 (n=117)
44 (n=41)
4.83**
4
29
-7.63**
Africa
62 (n=78)
24 (n=25)
3.69**
12
48
-3.43**
Insular Pacific, etc.
94 (n=63)
53 (n=15)
3.04*
2
33
-2.59*
Bands / Tribes
70 (n=263)
41 (n=80)
4.64**
13
36
-3.98**
Preindustrial States
88 (n=252)
38 (n=88)
9.12**
3
44
-7.61**








N is number of story characters
* indicates p < .05
** indicates p < .001
(See Appendix for listing of cultures in each region and level of cultural complexity)


We did not predict the age discrepancies in the portrayal of antagonists and
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protagonists of both sexes and will not speculate here about its root causes. What
seems clear, however, is that the youthfulness of protagonists is connected to the
prominent role of marriage in the tales.

Marriage and mating preferences

While there was significant variability across sub-samples, the majorities of
male and female protagonists were unmarried at the beginning of their tales (77%
male; 78% female) and, of these characters, most were married by the end (64%
female; 64% male). Fewer previously unmarried antagonists succeeded in marrying
by the end of their tales, but the percentage was still substantial (33% female; 22%
male). Thus a large proportion of folk tales dwell on the process of attracting and
securing mates. As a result, the tales convey information regarding the attributes
characters from the world's folk tale traditions value in potential mates. Consistent
with expectations, female protagonists were rated as placing the highest premium on
a potential mate's kindness (a potential signaller of commitment), followed by his
wealth and social status. In contrast, while male characters were also attracted to
kindness, they were far more likely to be rated as placing a premium on the physical
attractiveness of potential partners, and placed markedly less emphasis on wealth and
status (see Table 3) (for further discussion of mate preferences in the tales see
Gottschall, Martin, Rea, and Quish, 2004). Inter-coder reliability for the marital
status variables were, respectively, 89% and 86%; reliability for the mate preferences
variable was 87%.

Table 3: Percentage of male and female characters identified as placing primary
emphasis on given mate preference criteria

Physical
attractiveness
Wealth/Status
Kindness





Male
Female Z-Score Male Female Z-Score Male Female Z-Score
Overall Folk Tales
56 (n=246)
23 (n=278)
7.78**
9
26
-5.03
35
51
-3.51**
N. America
48 (n=34)
6 (n=34)
4.19**
3
39
-3.81**
48
54
-0.61
S. America
65 (n=48)
51 (n=39)
1.26
13
23
-1.28
22
26
-0.29
Circum-Mediterranean
42 (n=68)
15 (n=77)
3.68**
6
15
-1.68
52
70
-2.28*
East Eurasia
58 (n=47)
24 (n=59)
3.71**
11
27
-2.25*
30
49
-2.08*
Africa
63 (n=16)
35 (n=20)
1.96*
19
40
-1.45
18
25
-0.3
Insular Pacific, etc.
84 (n=19)
13
(n=24) 6.67** 5 38 -2.90** 11 50 -3.18**
Bands/Tribes
67 (n=114)
33 (n=94)
5.01**
9
34
-4.47**
25
33
-1.89
Pre-industrial States
50 (n=115)
17 (n=140)
5.74**
8
21
-3.18**
43
61
-3.05**











N is number of story characters
* indicates p < .05
** indicates p < .001
(See Appendix for listing of cultures in each region and level of cultural complexity)

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Document Outline

• Evolutionary Psychology
• Data and Methods
  • • • • • • • • Sexually Mature Teen or Twenties
    • References

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