Decoding the Grimm Brothers
"Once Upon a Time" is a very common introduction to a fairy tale. Many fairy tales are well known by people throughout the globe. People may know these tales but they do not actually know what they mean. The Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales contain much symbolism and unique stylistic trends which have the ability to drastically change the meaning of each story that the brothers wrote. Some of these symbolic aspects include childhood innocence, justice and vengeance. A common stylistic trend would be the authors’ lack of inner character description along with advanced character development.
Childhood innocence is something that every one only has once in their lifetime. In many cultures children are depicted as pure …show more content…
For example, in the story “Little Brother and Little Sister”, two young children in the story are wandering through the forest in search of safety from their abusive, wicked stepmother. The fact that they trust in nature to keep them from harm shows their purity because they are reuniting with nature by using the forest as a safe haven. As the story continues, the two siblings come across a magical stream. The brother drinks from it and is turned into a fawn. This fawn is an example of purity and innocence, because it is a part of nature. The tale itself “is a visionary union of rude vigor and domesticity of reassimiloation to wild origins, return to childhood and sympathy with animals"(Harbison 230). The story continues when a young king discovers the two siblings and takes them home with him. The sister eventually marries the young king and they have a son. When the wicked stepmother hears that her step children are happy, and living a wonderful life, she becomes jealous, and plans to destroy their happiness and kill them. The stepmother murders the sister and replaces her with her own daughter. For many nights the spirit of the sister comes back into the castle to visit the fawn and her young child. During one of those nights the young king happens to be awake and catches a glimpse of her and realizes that she was his actual wife, and that the other queen is a fraud. The spirit of the sister then …show more content…
A great example of this would come from the story of Rapunzel. In the Grimms' version of “Rapunzel”, Rapunzel herself goes through a very drastic period of growth and change. In this particular version of the story Rapunzel is locked in a tower from the time that she was a small child until a period of time that she is about eighteen years of age. Even though Rapunzel is about eighteen years old, her mind set is that of a child's because she is hidden from society in a tower. One day the king’s son discovers her and he calls for her to let him up into the tower. Rapunzel, thinking that it was her mother, allowed the stranger to come into the tower. "At first Rapunzel was terribly frightened when a man, such as her eyes had never yet beheld, came to her, but the kings son began to talk to her quite like a friend, and he told her that his heart had been so stirred that it had let him have no rest, and he had been forced to see her” (Grimm “Rapunzel” 118) In this particular portion of the story, Rapunzel developed the most. Almost instantaneously she changes from child to adult as result of this encounter. At this point in the story she also takes note of her gender because being locked in a tower for over eighteen years, she seemed completely unaware of genders. This can be shown in her surprised reaction toward the prince’s physical appearances. It is interesting to see this development happen so quickly
"Once Upon a Time" is a very common introduction to a fairy tale. Many fairy tales are well known by people throughout the globe. People may know these tales but they do not actually know what they mean. The Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales contain much symbolism and unique stylistic trends which have the ability to drastically change the meaning of each story that the brothers wrote. Some of these symbolic aspects include childhood innocence, justice and vengeance. A common stylistic trend would be the authors’ lack of inner character description along with advanced character development.
Childhood innocence is something that every one only has once in their lifetime. In many cultures children are depicted as pure …show more content…
For example, in the story “Little Brother and Little Sister”, two young children in the story are wandering through the forest in search of safety from their abusive, wicked stepmother. The fact that they trust in nature to keep them from harm shows their purity because they are reuniting with nature by using the forest as a safe haven. As the story continues, the two siblings come across a magical stream. The brother drinks from it and is turned into a fawn. This fawn is an example of purity and innocence, because it is a part of nature. The tale itself “is a visionary union of rude vigor and domesticity of reassimiloation to wild origins, return to childhood and sympathy with animals"(Harbison 230). The story continues when a young king discovers the two siblings and takes them home with him. The sister eventually marries the young king and they have a son. When the wicked stepmother hears that her step children are happy, and living a wonderful life, she becomes jealous, and plans to destroy their happiness and kill them. The stepmother murders the sister and replaces her with her own daughter. For many nights the spirit of the sister comes back into the castle to visit the fawn and her young child. During one of those nights the young king happens to be awake and catches a glimpse of her and realizes that she was his actual wife, and that the other queen is a fraud. The spirit of the sister then …show more content…
A great example of this would come from the story of Rapunzel. In the Grimms' version of “Rapunzel”, Rapunzel herself goes through a very drastic period of growth and change. In this particular version of the story Rapunzel is locked in a tower from the time that she was a small child until a period of time that she is about eighteen years of age. Even though Rapunzel is about eighteen years old, her mind set is that of a child's because she is hidden from society in a tower. One day the king’s son discovers her and he calls for her to let him up into the tower. Rapunzel, thinking that it was her mother, allowed the stranger to come into the tower. "At first Rapunzel was terribly frightened when a man, such as her eyes had never yet beheld, came to her, but the kings son began to talk to her quite like a friend, and he told her that his heart had been so stirred that it had let him have no rest, and he had been forced to see her” (Grimm “Rapunzel” 118) In this particular portion of the story, Rapunzel developed the most. Almost instantaneously she changes from child to adult as result of this encounter. At this point in the story she also takes note of her gender because being locked in a tower for over eighteen years, she seemed completely unaware of genders. This can be shown in her surprised reaction toward the prince’s physical appearances. It is interesting to see this development happen so quickly