Princes, Beasts, or Royal Pains: Men and Masculinity in the Revisionist Fairy Tales of Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

It is illustrated that the stories of late-nineteenth-century and early-twentieth-century American author Mary E. Wilkins Freeman contain much more than implied by the "regional realism" and "proto-feminist" labels so often applied to them. Freeman's strong use of fairy-tale themes and tropes is examined in selected short stories. Special attention is given to tropes of masculinity and Freeman's interaction with them in her role as fairy-tale revisionist to illustrate that Freeman's understanding of masculinity matches current critical notions and is much more complex than has been considered to date.