Household Tales Wilhelm and Jakob Grimm

1. Chapter 34 Household TalesWilhelm and Jakob Grimm

2. Wilhelm and Jakob Grimm The Grimms were born in the 1780s in Germany. The Grimms saw fairy tales as a genre closely related to the epic poetry of the Middle Ages and earlier. The Grimm brothers wished to provide their readership with models of the moral values of society. They were very much influenced by the ideals of Romanticism. The philosophy of this movement looked back to what people considered a less complicated life, highlighted by more basic � or natural � human qualities. The brothers collected all sorts of stories, including magical fairy tales, horror stories, tall tales, and comical accounts.

3. Fairy Tale as Myth Salons � In 17th-century France, small gatherings of men and women met to develop their language skills and to refine the art of storytelling. They did not have a folklorist�s interest in maintaining the integrity of the stories. Thus they rationalized them and reworked them, adding characters and events, and changing the emphasis of the stories in many cases to reflect their own values and ethics. In the course of this process of reworking and retelling, the fairytale enters the realm of myth. Because the setting for the revisions was literary, the stories developed a more sophisticated writing style and a more logical structure than can be expected in a genuine folk tale.

4. Violence in Fairy Tales The Grimm brothers� tales were originally told by and for adults. Current American versions of the Grimms� tales have been revised to minimize or eliminate the violence and bloodshed they contained in their 19th-century versions. Psychologist Bruno Bettelheim argues in The Uses of Enchantment that these elements of fairy tales provide an outlet for feelings that are an important component of a child�s upbringing.

5. Introduction to �The Goose Girl� This can be viewed as a tale about growing up and the trials involved in the process. Victor Turner has suggested that tales like this one are comparable to the initiation ceremony that marks the child�s transition from a subordinate state to the full rights and powers of adulthood. In such rites of passage, the candidates for adulthood are sequestered from the community and undergo a series of trials or ritual abuse in what is called the �liminal� or transitional point of the ceremony, when they are no longer children but before they are admitted to their new status in society. Similarly, in this tale, the Goose Girl leaves her home and family and undergoes a period of humiliation when she becomes a servant tending geese, and her own servant takes her place as the master.

6. �The Goose Girl� This story contains elements of the family romance as defined by Otto Rank: The child is separated from her natural mother. The mother tries to provide surrogate protection. A substitute mother mistreats the child. The child journeys far from home. The child undergoes trials of separation. � She is betrayed and loses her identity. The child is subjected to trials of her fortitude and virtue. � She must work as a peasant despite her noble status, and she is pursued by her companion. The child stands the test. � In this case, she is helped by nature: the wind blows Conrad�s hat away and he must chase it. The child�s true identity is discovered. She assumes her rightful place in society.

7. Pre-Proppian Analysis: �The Goose Girl� Dramatis personae: Hero: the Goose Girl Villain: waiting woman (preparatory part) False Hero: waiting woman Lack or Harm: loss of the Goose Girl�s status and identity (1 move) Issues: Some students want to see the Queen as a donor, but this aspect of the story seems underdeveloped in the Proppian sense. The Queen does give Falada the talking horse to her daughter. Indirectly the horse keeps the girl�s spirits up, but it does not directly help the girl accomplish her task of caring for the geese. Some suggest that, in the main part of the story, Conrad is a villain whom the Goose Girl must defeat. However, the opposition he provides can satisfactory be explained as part of the task of caring for the geese. Also, no special branding occurs as a result of the girl�s interaction with Conrad.

8. Proppian Analysis: �The Goose Girl� abgde (reconnaissance of servant girl) hql a (loss of status) o L MN (with the help of Falada & wind) Q T Ex U W

9. Notes for Further Analysis: �The Goose Girl� Jungian analysis highlights the various shadows and animuses the Goose Girl has. The nature�culture opposition is important in this story. The girl moves on the scale from nature (incest) to culture (exogamy). Her sojourn as a goose girl represents a middle point in her journey to adulthood. The oven, a cultural object, helps her to make her transition to a culturally more demanding role.

10. Introduction to �The Raven� Fairy tales emphasize plot over character development, and often represent events without providing motivations for the characters who perform them. Thus, this fairy tale begins with a queen�s wish that her child be transformed into a raven. There is no explanation for why her thoughtless words result in the transformation of her child. Nor is there any suggestion that she regrets the effect of her comment.

11. Pre-Proppian Analysis: �The Raven� Dramatis personae: Victim: the Raven Hero: the unnamed man Donors: the witch, the giant, the robbers Lack or Harm: The first harm occurs when the little girl is turned into a raven. Because the hero fails in his encounters with the witch�donor, he experiences a new lack as the raven goes further away and he must set out again. (2 moves)

12. Proppian Analysis: �The Raven� agq (she becomes a raven) ABC � DDD a (new lack) aBC � DEF G (giant transports) DEFG o MN Q TW

13. Notes for Further Analysis: �The Raven� A Jungian analysis of this story would work. A Levi-Straussian analysis would show: The hero must rescue the princess, who is trapped by culture (the glass mountain) in an exaggeratedly natural form (the raven). He must learn to use the cultural objects in the story: the map, the horse, and so forth. Originally, he can�t control his need for food. He acquires more control in the second half of the story and becomes able to use the cultural objects to rescue the princess. See Chapter 36 for more discussion of this fairy tale.

14. Introduction to �Faithful John� This story seems to incorporate sections of several different stories into a single tale. The parts are not well blended, however, and the overall effect is somewhat confusing. The prince�s killing of his children to save John seems problematic to many readers. The logic of the tale de-emphasizes the inhumane aspects of the infanticide. In fact, the story seems to regard this act as a positive step, as it serves as a solution to the problem of John�s being turned to stone. It assimilates the ancient Greek, the Germanic, and the Christian traditions.

15. Pre-Proppian Analysis: �Faithful John� Dramatis personae: