An Analysis of the Grimm Brother's Fairy Tales

Many of the protagonists tended to be characters such as Kings and Queens and other authority figures. Perhaps this was so the children could look up to them. Second of all I noticed that there was always something unique about the protagonists that made them different from people in the ordinary world. I read a variety of protagonists such as hunters, poor peasants, a lazy girl, three little men, and a Miller and his wife. I did not read one fairy tale that had a plain and ordinary type of protagonist.

In the way of settings I again noticed that most of the settings were peculiar in some way or another.

Rarely would I read of a setting of an ordinary place such as what you and I may live in. they always had something mystical about them. Only places that children dreamed about were used. These were places such as palaces, and Kingdoms, mystical forests or a witches castle. One story was of a lonely cabin located in a mystical forest.

Get quality help now

WriterBelle

Verified writer

Proficient in: Free Essays

4.7 (657)

“ Really polite, and a great writer! Task done as described and better, responded to all my questions promptly too! ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

I suppose places like these were used to provoke the children imagination. Many of the themes I found to be quite common. I quite often found them to be about a boy and a girl and them getting together. There was also usually some sort of a competition were the protagonist would win and get the girl.

The boy and the girl were often a prince and a princess. In almost all fairy tales the protagonist was put in a situation where there was a problem.

In Cinderellas case she had no money and three wicked step sisters. How was she to get the prince to notice her. In Snow white, her beauty was the problem as the wicked witch grew jealous. In some of the stories by Grimm such as "Thousandfurs", the king had to marry someone as beautiful as his deceased wife. The only one beautiful enough was his only daughter. This posed a problem for his daughter. The journeys were usually of mystical places. Some of them were journeys that used a great deal of imagination.

They were often journey's that occurred in dreams. One journey that really caught my attention was the one that occurred in "Darling Roland". It was about a witch that wanted to kill her step daughter because she possessed a beautiful apron that the other daughter envied. By accident the witch killed the wrong daughter and ended up chasing the other daughter through the country side. Both possessed special powers and were using them in the chase. At one point the step daughter turned herself into a duck and her darling Roland (the apron ) turned into a lake. Talk about strange. The story went on and on with strange journey's such as this.

Many of the journey's that I read about were quite out of the ordinary. I also wanted to note that I found that there was a lot of violence in these childrens stories. In the " Darling Roland" the wicked witch "...gripped the axe in both hands and chopped her own child's head off." A fairy tale is a simple narrative that usually deals with supernatural beings, such as fairies, magicians, ogres, and dragons. Fairy tales are generally of a folk origin and are written or told for the amusement of children. The more sophisticated narratives contain supernatural and sometimes highly improbable events, scenes and events. They often have whimsical, satirical, or moralistic character.

They are usually a story that is implausible, incredible, or a lying story that was designed to delude or mislead. Fairy tales are very important in the way that it is a way to get through to children. Because of the way that fairy tales are presented they became easy for the child to pay attention to. Fairy tales become a learning medium that children are interested in. Writers take advantage of this learning medium to try and get through to the children. They try to employ learning experiences and lessons within the stories. Often the hero of a fairy tale can leave a strong impression on the child and imprint morality on him. Fairy tales are a way to get ideas through to the children as well as a way to get the children to willingly use their brains and apply their imagination skills.