Gender roles in once upon a mattress

As someone who spent a lot of time with this show, I had a lot of time to think about the gender roles. In a way it tries to defy them, but in defying them it still defines what they are. Dauntless and Winnifred are opposite roles in the sense that Dauntless is submissive and Winnifred is very strong and powerful. She even takes on a boy's name; "Fred" to show her manliness. Dauntless is ruled over by his mother. Queen Aggravain also has some distinct "gender personality". Women are often stereotyped as being overly talkative and annoying, and Aggravain certainly follows this. King Sextimus is, though very nice, afflicted with loose morals, chasing girls constantly. This also follows a stereotype; that women act like they don't want to be pursued when they really do, that it is ok to "trap" them (as the jester says "I will set a trap tomorrow". However, the musical mocks this stereotype more than following it, as it makes it extremely humorous. Lady Larkin's conversation with Winnifred struck me as interesting as well, because not only does Winnifred tell Larkin to apologize to Harry (Harry is the one that should apologize for blaming Larkin for mistaking the princess for a chambermaid), But she also tells Larkin not to act "too strong" because men like "weak women". This is very counter intuitive for Fred to say, as she is the ultimate "tomboy". I find it very interesting that Fred doesn't practice what she preaches, though its possible that she just knows Harry's personality and that he is extremely pompous and somewhat stuck up.

Finally, the song "Happily Ever After" covers the whole fairy tale stereotype, as there is one line that Fred sings in which she talks about how the "princess is always a bride" or something. She sings about how when she is married she will be happily ever after too, but she makes fun of this idea a little bit as well, even though it is obvious that though she is not the "typical" princess, she still wants the same thing that "typical" princess want.