Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are known around the world for their creative collection of fairy tales for children. The most common folk tales include Snow White, Rapunzel, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood. However, many people are unaware that the Grimm brothers originally filled their folk tales with shocking scenes that would be too mature for children’s literature; they never intended to interest an audience of children. The first editions of “Grimm’s Fairy Tales” were intellectual writings with many footnotes and no graphics. As younger readers started to take an interest in these tales, more than adults, they took out the horrific events. With the Grimm Brother’s revising their material to make it more fitting for children’s …show more content…
literature their stories was soon adapted by Walt Disney. Snow White is a German fairy tale that is recognized in many different cultures and regions around the world. The Grimm Brother’s published it in 1812 in the first edition of Grimm Fairy Tales. The final revision however, was not completed till many years later in 1854. Interestingly enough is the amount of religious symbolism found in the classic fairy tale that is often overlooked. Three authors explore these works of symbolism found in the Grimm’s folk tales through analytical articles that expose the provocative symbols of the apple, biblical colors, seven sins and other allegory present in the Grimm Brother’s literature. In the evil queen’s efforts and final attempt to kill off Snow White is the infamous symbol of the poisonous apple. She, the queen, creates a gorgeous white and red apple that people will long for if they saw it, however, whoever eats a piece will certainly die. This is absolutely a similar representation of Adam and Eve with the temptation of eating the apple. In Erin Heye’s article Religious Symbolism, she argues and supports many of the symbols found in the tales. Her writings suggest that the apple is comparable to the biblical story of Adam and Eve. “It is a very close parallel to the story of Adam and Eve, where Eve is tempted by the forbidden fruit and is corrupted by her acceptance of this fruit” (Heyes). Just like the bible, Snow white is drawn with this apple by her evil step mother. The apple that the queen makes is so perfect that only the red part was diseased. Not only is the apple taunting enough for White’s temptation, the queen states “Are you afraid of poison?” and “Look, I will cut the apple in two pieces, you eat the red check and I will eat the white” these two statements encourage Snow White to eat the apple. White is engaged in the apple, encouraged by the queen and ultimately falls for the temptation that she will soon suffer for. Snow White hardly has a bit of the apple in her mouth and she falls down dead. The three prominent colors found in Snow White are known to have biblical allegory. First we are presented with the appearance of Snow White “She has skin white as snow, and red as blood and her hair is black as ebony” (Grimm). Next we see the same sequence of colors with the murder methods of the queen. Initially she uses white lace to lace her to death. The queen uses phrases such as “Child” and “what a fright you look, come, I will lace you properly for once.” Again these phrases the queen uses for the child (Snow White) to easily trust her. The queen laces her so tightly and quickly that the child is out of breath and falls dead. Snow White is than offered with a black poisoned hair comb. The queen presents Snow White with a diseased comb which she uses to comb Snow White’s hair. Lastly Snow White is presented with the red apple. This sequence of colors is no coincidence but purposely there to represent a time of life: birth, life or death. The color of white (birth) signifies innocence and virginity. While red (life) indicates action and spiritual awakening. Lastly, the color of black (death) directs to time without end and death. Erin Heye’s supports this argument in her article Religious Symbolism with the quote: Each of these colors has significant symbolic implications and represents a time of life. White, representing birth, is for purity, virginity, and innocence. Red, representing life, symbolizes action, fire, charity, spiritual awakening, joy of life and love and the Holy Spirit. Black, symbolizing death, connotes the absolute and eternity. (Heye) Erin Heye supports the idea of symbolic colors in her psychoanalysis of the Grimm’s famous fairy tale. These three colors contradict themselves and are known to have biblical references and significance. There is thorough evidence expressed in the analysis that Erin Heye’s writes, supporting the symbolism of the Seven Sins in Snow White.
The Seven Deadly Sins are a list of rebellious tendencies of Christian belief that are classified by traditional orthodox Christianity. These sins have been used throughout many works of literature, especially children’s literature, to teach people what displeases God and encourage living life as a good Christian. Snow White presents the sins of pride/vanity, lust/extravagance, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, and envy. The plot of Snow White is built around the queen’s obsession with her beauty. The queen is infatuated with being the most beautiful women of the lands (Pride/Vanity). Lust and extravagance is represented in the queen’s wealth while her daughter toils. She also lusts to be most beautiful. The next deadly sin is not shown in Walt Disney’s version, however, in the original version the queen eats what she thinks is White’s heart representing Gluttony. Also in the fairy tale is the representation of sloth. The dwarfs are lazy in the upkeep of their home thus why they said Snow White could stay their if she did the upkeep of their house. Greed is signified through the queen’s constant need of wanting more. She is rich, has a husband, family, beautiful home however she still wants more. She is a very greedy and evil woman. The step-mother represents the sixth sin of wrath through her desire to stop at nothing to become the most beautiful women. She will sacrifice anything to kill her step-daughter and her beauty. The last sin is clearly indicated through her extensive jealously of her
step-daughter.
The Seven Deadly Sins, is a classification of sins (sometimes referred to as vices), that were used to describe the sources of all sins. The Seven Deadly Sins is a Christian idea and was most widespread in the Catholic Church. These sins are thought to have possibly gotten their origins from two places in the Bible, Proverbs 6:16-19, and Galatians 5:19-21. The first idea for The Seven Deadly Sins was from the writings of the monk, Evagrius Ponticus, who lived in the fourth-century. The Seven Deadly Sins were edited and modeled into their modern form in A.D. 590 by Pope Gregory 1. These sins are as
Gluttony, Avarice, Wrath, Lust, Pride, Envy, and Sloth are all commonly known as the “Seven Deadly Sins”. Each of these seven sins plays a major role in development of the different characters. In Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales”, the Pardoner committed sins through gluttony and avarice; the Wife of Bath through Pride and Lust; and also the Monk through gluttony and wrath. However, omnipresent on all the characters are the different deadly sins that led to their development and morality.
As the world has transformed and progressed throughout history, so have its stories and legends, namely the infamous tale of Cinderella. With countless versions and adaptations, numerous authors from around the world have written this beauty’s tale with their own twists and additions to it. And while many may have a unique or interesting way of telling her story, Anne Sexton and The Brother’s Grimm’s Cinderellas show the effects cultures from different time periods can have on a timeless tale, effects such as changing the story’s moral. While Sexton chooses to keep some elements of her version, such as the story, the same as the Brothers Grimm version, she changes the format and context, and adds her own commentary to transform the story’s
There are seven deadly sins that, once committed, diminish the prospect of eternal life and happiness in heaven. They are referred to as deadly because each sin is closely linked to another, leading to other greater sins. The seven deadly sins are pride, envy, anger, sloth, gluttony, avarice, and lechery. Geoffrey Chaucer's masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, provided an excellent story about the deadly sins. Focusing mainly on the sins of pride, gluttony and greed, the characters found in The Canterbury Tales, particularly The Pardoner's Tale, were so overwhelmed by their earthly desires and ambitions that they failed to see the effects of their sinful actions, therefore depriving themselves of salvation.
The telling of fairy tales has changed tremendously as they have been around for a great amount of time. As a child, fairy tails are read by someone who is older, that understands the deeper meaning of the tale. The Brothers Grimm tales were not meant to be for children because of the content that they contained. In Zohar Shavit criticism, he made the point that as time went on, fairy tales were transformed into ones that were more appropriate for children that did not contain all of the violence, sex, and dark meanings. They wanted children to look at the world in a different way than how it was intended for adults (Shavit 327). Literary critic, Robert Sale, once
Though the evils of the world may discourage us from reaching our full potential, fairytales such as Little Snow-White by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm teach us that good will always triumph over evil. As many tales of its kind, Little Snow-White uses a number of literary devices to attract a younger audience and communicate to them a lesson or moral that will remain with them throughout their lives. Since children have such an abstract stream of thought, it is vital to use language and devices that will appeal to them as to keep them interested in the story.
At first glance, what makes a fairy tale a fairy tale may seem obvious—some kind of magic, hidden symbols, repetition, and of course it’s evident it’s fiction—but fables are more than that. As Arthur Schelesinger puts it, it’s about “[expanding] imagination” and gaining understanding of mysterious places (618). While doing this, it also helps children to escape this world, yet teach a lesson that the reader may not be conscious of. A wonderful story that achieves all of this is Cinderella, but not the traditional tale many American’s have heard. Oochigeaskw, or The Rough-Faced Girl, and Ashputtle would be fitting for a seven-year-old because they get the gears of the mind turning, allowing for an escape on the surface, with an underlying enlightenment for children of the ways of the world.
The simplicity of fairy tales and non-specific details renders them ideal for manipulation allowing writers to add their own comments often reflecting social convention and ideology. Theref...
For their second edition of fairy tales, the Grimms and their publisher deemed their original version of “Rapunzel” to be inappropriate for children for “what proper mother or nanny could tell the fairy tale about Rapunzel to an innocent daughter without blushing?” (Tatar 18). The Grimms, in fact, changed details of “Rapunzel,” ridding the story of even t...
Fairytales express the creative fantasies of the rural and less educated layers of common man (Cuban, 1984). They are characteristically full of magic, often involving upper class characters (Cuban, 1984). In short, Fairytales are organically grown with the creative material of a collective group. The Grimm Brother’s fairytale, The Frog Prince, is no exception. The Grimm Brothers’ fairytale is about a handsome prince trapped in the repulsive body of a frog, but who nevertheless overcomes and transcends this bewitched state through his wit, perseverance, and magic (Prince, 2009). Until the seventeenth century, it was the adult population that was interested in fairytales (Cuban, 2009). Their allocation to the nursery was a late development (Cuban, 2009). This allocation can be credited to the rejection of the irrational, and development of the ra...
When the word “fairytale” is mentioned, nearly everyone thinks of light-hearted stories with friendly characters and happy endings. However, these are not the ideas that classic fairytales originally sparked. In fact, numerous modern Disney movies were based off stories that were not so sugar coated. In the 19th century, the Brothers Grimm were responsible for multiple of these popular children’s tales. The Disney remakes of classic fairytales such as Cinderella, Tangled, and Snow White exclude the dark, twisted themes that are significant in the Brothers Grimm fairytales, because society tendencies continue to evolve toward sheltering and overprotecting young children.
Most modern fairytales are expected to have happy endings and be appropriate for children, nonetheless, in past centuries most were gruesome. Consequently, fairytales have been modified throughout time. The stories “Beauty and the Beast” by Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont and “The Summer and Winter Garden” by Jacob and Wilherm Grimm share similarities and differences. The two stories are distinct because of the peculiar year they have been written in. LePrince de Beaumont’s story is written in London of 1783 and Grimm’s in Germany of 1812. At the time, wealthy people in London, were educated and had nannies who would read to their children; whereas, in Germany, the Grimm brothers created their own interpretation into a short story. Because many high class parents in 18th century London would not be able to spend time with their children, nannies would read “Beauty and the Beast” to them since they were intended for children and considered appropriate. In “The Summer and Winter Garden,” the Grimm’s’ story was mostly based to entertain misbehaved children and teach them the valuable lesson that everyone should be treated with kindness. The Grimm brothers’ goal in rewriting this short story is to better children’s behavior which worked quite well. Since these stories have been re-written for children, it would be safe to say the reason why parents expose the two stories to their children is because they both portray the same moral: good things happen to good people. The two interpretations of “Beauty and the Beast,” although written in separate countries, share important similarities and differences even though the authors have different interpretations and came from different cultures.
Throughout time the way we visualize things has changed. When the Brothers Grimm’s created “Little Snow White” in 1812 they did not have any way to visually show their ideas to the public. They could not just make a movie or hire an illustrator to bring life to their words. So instead they relied on their readers to use their own imagination to create the characters and scenarios throughout the s...
Over the years, fairytales have been distorted in order to make them more family friendly. Once these changes occur, the moral and purpose of the stories begin to disappear. The tales featured in the many Disney movies - beloved by so many - have much more malignant and meaningful origins that often served to scare children into obeying their parents or learning valuable life lessons.
The construction of children’s literature was a gradual process. For a long period of time children’s books were frowned upon. The stories were said to be vulgar and frightening. Adults censored children’s ears to stories of daily life, tales with improbable endings were not to be heard. It was not until the mid 1800s that stories of fairies and princesses began to be recognized. Although children’s literature was accepted, the books were not available for all children. With limited access to education, few public libraries, and the books’ costs, these texts were only available to the middle and high- class. As public education and libraries grew so did the accessibility of books and their popularity. They no longer were considered offensive, but rather cherished and loved by many children. Children’s literature became orthodox and a revolution began, changing literature as it was known.