Darkness in The Tale of Despereaux

As fantastical and whimsical as The Tale of Despereaux is with its fairytale references, characters, and notions, the characters are a mix of light and darkness (as the story would have it) in a dark story; the princess is spoiled, stubborn, and kind of snobby, Despereaux fights cowardice, repeatedly fainting, Chiaroscuro longs for light, deep inside of himself, and Mig is just stupid and easily taken advantage of. Even secondary characters such as the king, Despereaux’ family, the cook, and Mig’s father, are varying levels of crooked, selfish, and nonsensical. Another dark side of this seemingly children’s story is the lack of things being made completely right. Despite the topic of forgiveness being brought up, redemption, as I think of redemption, is not truly gained. Both Despereaux and the Pea forgive those that have wronged them merely to protect themselves from hurting, not for the true benefit of those seeking it. The ending is no fairytale: Mig is still deaf, deformed, stupid and fat. Roscuro never finds healing. Despereaux’ love for the princess will never result in marriage or fruition by children, as he has not been a prince under enchantment. Additionally, by lack of information, Pea could stay spoiled.