Once Upon a Mattress

The gender roles in Once Upon a Mattress were reversed compared to most other fairy tales. Instead of a princess waiting for her prince, a prince was waiting for his princess. Princess Winnifred didn't have a typical female role. She didn't act very feminine or how a princess usually acts, considering she swam the mote. Instead of being quiet and following what she was told to do, she had characteristics more often associated with males such as the ability to stand up for oneself, strength, confidence, and not being so concerned with other people's thoughts and reactions. Also, she wasn't sensitive, which is a necessary trait of a princess according the the queen. In general, she played a part that would more typically be seen as a male considering her personality, behavior, and especially her role/place in the story. Another example of this gender reversal is the king and queen. The king is usually superior to the queen in most fairy tales, but in this case, the queen was definitely superior. She set the rules, people followed them, and she wasn't challenged (until the end by Dauntless). The male, instead of being superior to the female, was not able to stand up for himself and was forced to follow the queen's orders.