The Analysis of the Central Region Folk Tales and the Northeast Folk Tales Using Propp’s Structural Theory of the Folktale

Abstract

            The study of the analysis of the central region folk takes and the northeast folk tales following Vladimir Propp’s Character theory found that the folk tales from both regions have a similar structure in which the two main characters’ behaviors are opposed to each other. One character represents the goodness while another represents the badness. When it comes to the end of the story, the good character always deserves a good result and the bad character usually deserves a bad result. The study also showed that there are four types of theme which are derived from the repeated behaviors of the characters in both regions’ folk tales, and fifteen behaviors that are distinct from Propp’s Character Theory exist in both folk tales. Moreover, the northeast folk tales have its own unique story where the two main characters are  a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law intended to teach its women to be good to their mothers-in-law according to Isan values (Heet-Kong).