Vladimir Propp's Theory

Vladimir Propp was born April 17th 1895 in the country of Russia in the citry of St.Petersburg. Vladimir attended St.Petersburg university and studied Russian and German philology, after this he published several books including a book called Morphology of the Folktale. He was influenced by Claude Levi-Strauss and Roland Barthe to create theories including the character theory. 

The typical characters Vladimir Propp identified were:

• The Hero: This character fights the hero.
• The Villain: This character fights against the hero.
• The Donor: This character prepares and aids the hero.
• The Dispatcher: This character sends the hero off on their quest/journey.
• The False Hero: This character tries to take credit for the heros actions.
• The Helper: This character helps the hero.
• The Princess: This character serves as a reward to the hero.

This theory shows that there is a struggle between the hero and the villain, but through the theory the hero is identifed and they recieve help from the donor character and the dispatcher to begin and complete their quest. Also the hero's quest is to oppose and defeat the villain which then they recieve a reward which is usually the princess character who is normally saved from the villain by the hero. Plus this theory shows the women as stereotypcial as the female gender is seen as the damsel in distress.