Stripped of skin : narrative and feminine identity from reinterpretations of fairytales in Donkeyskin, Deerskin and All-Skin

Abstract

Robin Mckinley’s Deerskin is built upon a familiar fairytale which has been retold by

Charles Perrault as Donkeyskin and recorded by the Grimm Brothers as All-Kinds-of-Fur. In

each of these stories, a king and queen who are rich and beautiful have a daughter who, not

unnaturally, resembles her mother very much. In time, the queen is taken ill, and upon her

death bed exhorts the king to not take a new wife unless said new wife can compare to her

own beauty. Obeying her strictures, the king refrains from remarrying until his daughter is

discovered to have grown to match and surpass her mother in looks, and then attempts to

marry his daughter in order to obey his wife’s dying wish. The king attempts to woo his

daughter with expensive gifts, but unable to resist his demands, she runs away from her home

and takes refuge in the menial service of a nearby kingdom. In classic fairytale reversal of

fortune, she comes to the attention of the prince, who then discovers her identity and exhorts

her to marry him, returning her to her royal position and rescuing her from servitude, living

happily ever after.