МОРФОЛОГИЯ СКАЗКИ

Vladimir Propp’s work Morphology of the Folktale is one of the most influential and transformative works of modern folklore theory on the structural analysis of folk tales. By examining Russian fairy tales, Propp reveals that despite their surface diversity, tales contain a limited number of regular, recurring functions in their deep structures. According to him, the basis of fairy tales is not “character” but “function”; that is, what a figure does in the narrative is more important than who they are. This approach marks a turning point in attempts to scientifically classify the formal structure of folk narratives. Propp’s most important contribution is his definition of the plot of fairy tales through 31 basic functions. These functions appear in a specific logical chain, mostly in the same order, thus forming the “formal skeleton” of the fairy tale. For example, functions such as “prohibition,” “violation of the prohibition,” “the hero’s departure,” “encounter with the donor,” “trial,” “acquisition of the magical object,” “punishment of the villain,” and “happy ending” are the fundamental stages that determine the narrative structure of the fairy tale. Propp also classifies characters according to their functional roles, discussing seven basic character types: the hero, the villain, the donor, the helper, the false hero, the princess and her father, and the messenger. He thus demonstrates that the roles of figures in the narrative can be understood within a structural system independent of cultural context. The work has had a decisive influence on the shaping of narrative science, structuralism, and modern folklore studies. Thinkers such as Claude Lévi-Strauss, Roland Barthes, and Greimas have made extensive use of Propp’s categories in their structuralist works. Propp laid the foundation for systematic analysis in folklore by treating the fairy tale not merely as a cultural product, but as a narrative type with its own internal logic and structural rules.