Vladimir Propp

Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp

Propp was a Russian structuralist scholar who analysed the basic plot components of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest narrative elements. He was able to identify many narrative structures by analysing different types of characters and their actions in a story. Propp came to the conclusion that all tales display eight main characters. These are:

1. The villain (struggles against the hero)

2. The donor (prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object)

3. The helper (helps the hero in the quest sometimes magical)

4. The princess (person the hero marries, often sought for during the narrative)

5. Her father

6. The dispatcher (character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off)

7. The hero or victim (reacts to the donor, weds the princess)

8. False hero (takes credit for the hero’s actions/ tries to marry the princess)