Dana Lancaster
English 215-007
Professor Otero-Piersante
Critical response
10-28-09
Hansel & Gretel
In the fairy tale, “Hansel and Gretel” by the Brothers Grimm, the protagonists
Serve as heroes who must overcome the circumstances of their birth in order to reach maturity and enlightenment. This hero quest takes place in three stages. The first is the separation, in which the parents cast the children away from their home. In this stage, the children are for the most part controlled by their surroundings. The second stage of their journey is the transformation, when the children “battle a monster,” or, in this case, defeat an evil witch. In this stage, the children rely upon their own increasing intelligence to control their future. In
…show more content…
In the second stage of Hansel and Gretel’s hero quest, the transformation, they must defeat and conquer their youth, id, and naïveté. They do this by killing the evil witch who had lured them into her gingerbread house. This is the most vital part of their development, yet they begin it in their most vulnerable position. When the children are alone in the woods, they have lost a sense of security and previous values. They must work towards a higher level of psychological existence: their form of heroism. “ The cottage was made of bread and roofed with cakes, while the window was made of transparent sugar.” (48) A gingerbread house is a symbol of the mother, who nurses the infant from her body. In this way, the house serves as the Good Mother to the children. When the children are shocked to see the failure of the witch as a mother figure, it only further intensifies their oedipal development. By eating the gingerbread house, the children show they are ready to destroy somebody’s home, which is what caused them to be deserted by their parents in the first place. By allowing their id to behave unchecked in this manner, they endanger themselves. In order to defeat the witch, they must ignore the pressures of the id and follow the superego. This balance then gives rise to their ego, which is an essential component of their enlightenment. Birds appear once
When you think of a hero, is the first character to pop in your head a little hobbit named Bilbo Baggins? In most cases, people think of Superman or Hercules, but in The Hobbit, an unexpected hero emerges and changes the name for all heroes to come. The Hobbit is a novel about Bilbo Baggins and his journey, with thirteen dwarves and a wizard, seeking the treasure stolen by the dragon, Smaug. While on this unexpected journey, Bilbo and his companions overcome many obstacles to eventually get to the treasure and retrieve it. Throughout the story, Bilbo develops into a courageous man, who indeed, is a hero. Richard Tyre wrote an article, “You Can’t Teach Tolkien,” and he explains his theory in which he connects multiple story’s plot with six elements. The Hobbit, is assuredly a prime example of Tyre’s theory because it follows all six steps throughout the story simultaneously. The six elements are; “(1) those who hunt for treasure, (2) must go alone, (3) at night, (4) and when they find it, (5) they must leave some of their blood behind, (6) and the treasure is never what they expected” (Tyre 19). These elements are steps in which a character must take to emerge into a hero in the end. Bilbo Baggins is the hero in The Hobbit, but he doesn’t start off as the hero. He has always had heroic traits but throughout the novel, he pursues those six steps and in the resolution, he is transformed into an actual hero.
Terrorizing a town for 12 years Grendel kills countless men and woman in the epic of Beowulf. Banished to an underwater dwelling when descendants of Cain were banished and killed, many warriors faced him but few survived. Many have herd of Grendel and his tale of horror, but who is Grendel?
There are many similarities and differences between the movie "Beowulf and Grendel", to the poem. Major differences between the movie and the poem would be Grendel himself. In the poem, he is described as an evil monster born from two demons. In the movie, Grendel is actually human, but known as a troll to the warriors and Danes. The poem doesn’t give the background of Grendel or show how the Danes killed his father and the possible reason of his revenge, like in the movie. If the witch, Selma, was not included in the storyline of the movie, the audience would not have known key information that she was used to show from more flashbacks. The witch gives more of an idea about Grendel’s past life that could have been the possibility to
Every character in The Wizard of Oz has a reason for going to Emerald city, each have the same reason but are all in search of something different. Their reasoning for going to the promise land, Emerald city, is to find the Great Wizard, Oz. Although they are all on a journey for Emerald city and Oz, what they are in search of is very different as is each character. Through Archetypal Theory it is shown that each character's reason for setting out on the journey to Emerald city distinguishes their type of character. Their journey is to find the promised land. Although they are not aware, the characters slowly gain what they originally set out to acquire throughout their journey, rather than at their destination. Although the journey seems as easy as following the yellow brick road, there are many obstacles the characters; the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion, must face throughout this novel. Through stages along their journey, the characters are all thrown into pivotal positions that they do not realize the importance of. In turn, this results in a drastic development of their characteristics. In these stages they are put in situations, which allows them to grow and adapt to what they are seeking on their journey, are what allows them to earn what they were seeking. Each character is in search for Oz so he may grant them one wish for whatever they desire, for the Scarecrow;
In John Gardner's Grendel, women are viewed as inferior and as objects. For example, women are used as peace treaties between kingdoms. When Hygmod meets Hrothgar, he offers his sister as a means of peace. By serving as peace offerings, women are capable of being designated as material possessions. In addition, women are utilized as servants. By making her serve the Geats upon their arrival, Hrothgar clearly reduces Wealtheow into a laboring role. Through this patronizing, inferior employment of women is undoubtedly conspicuous. Through degradation of women's societal roles, the novel accentuates the discriminatory behavior between
In this story, Grendel is cursed from the beginning and he has no chance of being a useful contributing member of a society that does not accept him, so in turning away from god, he became a
This is the true story of the two young children everyone felt bad for. In the story you have heard the children are left to starve and die all alone in a forest and I, the witch am evil. Well sorry to burst you bubble but that is completely false. I am the witch who everyone believes cooks and eats children, well news to you, I am a vegetarian! I am not evil but those two children were evil. So I will share the true story with you.
Being misunderstood is not against the norm for anyone in life. At some point or another humans will feel different from those around them, and while Grendel is not human he is no different. Despite executing years worth of raids, it is evident Grendel is a sympathetic Outcast due to his mother’s actions, his experience with the men in the forest, and the tales the scops sing of Grendel.
Do you ever wonder what kind of person you are? Are you adventurous, perseptive, athletic? Have these traits ever affected your decision making? Because in “The Hobbit” By J.R.R. Tolkien, The protagonist Bilbo Baggins feels conflicted whether he should act like his more daring ancestors, the Tooks by embarking on a perilous journey to retake a kingdom. Or to be like his more respectable ancestors, the Bagginses and stay in the comfort of his warm home. As you can see, the traits he has acquired from his forebears are altering the way he sees the situation. Much like Bilbo, I believe that we all have similar sides to our personalities, whether the conflict is to be brave or timid, or smart rather than foolishly. And it is up to us to correctly
Grendel, the offspring of Cain the outcast, is a demon. He is a scaly creature that lives in a swampy area. He is a reptilian human, with spikes on him. He is a human-like figure, in which the way he stands. He stands on two feet, and has arms. In the book Beowulf removes Grendel’s arm and shoulder, defeating him. This must mean he has a shoulder blade and can walk like a human. He also has razor-sharp talons as it says in the book “Venturing closer, his talon was raised to attack Beowulf where he lay on the bed” (Heaney 51). One night when he is prowling around, he hears the King and his kinsmen singing out to the Lord. He hears the songs of how great God is, and is outraged. As the outcast of God, Grendel despised of God. The songs and happiness, pushes him over the edge. He plans the downfall of the hall, in spite of their songs. He will attack at night, as everyone sleeps, and butcher them dead. He sneaks in at night, watching over the guards, ready to pounce. He rips apart the men eating them alive. “Suddenly then the God-cursed brute was creating havoc: greedy and grim, he grabbed thirty men from their resting place and rushed them to his lair” (Heaney 11). This shows just how When the king awoke the next morning he grieved for his men, but little did he know Grendel would attack every night for 12 winters. Once again Grendel sets of for a night of ravishing, but the king has a plan. He has set out more guards to keep watch over the kingdom, as he sleeps. When Grendel
While comparing the two poems, "Gretel in Darkness" by Louise Gluck and "Hansel and Gretel" by Anne Sexton with the original Brothers Grimm tale "Hansel and Gretel", different perspectives, point of views and messages are shown.
Our first character, Grendel, is an exceptionally diverse character. It is implied that in both book and poem, Grendel is a blood-thirsty monster. All Grendel does is go through
It was said by an anonymous author, that war changes the inherently good and unique spirit of the human race into the brute savages that they once had been. In The True Story of Hansel and Gretel characters have never known freedom from this war torn Europe. Bloodshed and violence are all that these characters have lived with and therefore we see no other traits other than those that are a direct result of these unfortunate and gruesome circumstances. Throughout this book, the actions of Major Frankel, although looked upon as always evil, give the reader a sense that before these atrocities were committed he had an inherently good heart.
Set in Poland during the German occupation, “The True Story of Hansel and Gretel” is told as a fairy tale, utilizing many of the elements that are common to fairy tales.
Contrasting points of view in Grendel and Beowulf significantly alter the reader’s perception of religion, good and evil, and the character Grendel. John Gardner’s book, Grendel, is written in first person. The book translated by Burton Raffel, Beowulf, is written in third person.