How Did The Grimm Brothers Contribute To German Unification

He quotes or cites text from 45 works by 36 authors as evidence for his claims. It can be observed that this textual evidence has neither been directly extracted from, nor been Haase’s interpretations of, fairy tales. He gives the example of various “contemporary literary version[s] of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’” (362), in lieu of using his own interpretations of the original story. By making sure that he does not impose his own interpretations of fairy tales on the readers, he saves his essay from falling into duplicitous hypocrisy, and maintains the crux of his argument, which is to allow “both adults and children to assert their own proprietary rights to meaning” (363). Nevertheless, the various citations do not always blend seamlessly together, and this leads to certain disharmonious vagaries in the essay, which when read with some attention, reveal themselves to be a somewhat convoluted web of contradictions and conflicts with regard to the views expressed by the author. This can be discerned when Haase takes a critical view on the nationalistic claims of fairy tales, suggesting that they lead to the development of stereotypical images of the identity of the people who belong to the nation claiming ownership, defining explicitly the stereotypical German image: “such social characteristics as

Through the many years the Grimm brothers were alive, an array of children's literature was produced. Actually, the correct term would be reproduced. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were masters at reproducing and even changing early children's stories so that they had more meaning for the children of the time. More times than not, they censored out sexual meanings and added violence to children's stories that had already been told for centuries. By doing so, the brothers got an effect out of the story that would change it from a story with a subtle theme or moral, to a vivid story of lessons to be learned and consequences to be dealt with. There was one thing about their' writing that was always

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were the pioneers for making children’s literature more risky. These fairy tales were originally meant for adults, thus explaining the violence and other dark topics. After Grimm Fairy Tales became popular they re-wrote the stories, deleting a fraction of the dark topics. Some of the stories included in the copy of the fairy tales that I rented from the library include Cinderella, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, and Rumpelstiltskin. All of these are classics, but not as Disney or other animators portray them. Disney took out all the dark topics and replaced them with cute. In Cinderella there is recurring themes of graphic violence, child abuse, and wicked mothers. Most of these themes there are in all Grimm fairy tales. Like Snow White has a wicked stepmother, Hansel and Gretel has child abuse, and Rapunzel has graphic

In “Cinderella” by the Grimm Brothers, the moral is that one should never lie or be wicked to others. In the story,

Cinderella goes to her mother’s grave and cries about how poorly and inhumanely she is getting treated, she tries satisfying her wicked step-mother, but she is never successful. The Grimm brothers had a different audience to satisfy so their story tone is darker and deeper. Their main concern was for the audience to sympathize with Cinderella and emotionally connect with her.

A true hero in the eyes of Jacob and Wilhelm, their mother single handedly overcame opposition in their family, just as their sister did growing up with five brothers. (Grimm, 11) The sentiment of being abandoned as children unlocked a new territory of potential as their creative juices began to surge. "Child abandonment is a many-faceted concept within myth, folktale, and literature," and the Brothers Grimm explored this concept in great detail (Garry, 3). As they began to express themselves through literature, male figures, such as fathers, were often dismissed as the females stole the spotlight in their fairy tales. “Some modern psychologists have argued that [their] harsh family background influenced the ways the Brothers Grimm interpret and present their tales” (Grimm, 15). Without a prominent male figure growing up, they only had their mother to look up to and to idealize as the strong willed individual who never gave up despite all the privation send her way. The Brothers Grimm incorporate their own perspectives to generally recognized fairy tales, often adding a twist and a more callous feel to them. They first started their collection of fairy tales in 1806 by writing down those that they had previously heard from the females in their neighborhood while growing up. This serves as another female sway on their fairy tales that influences their stance on men vs. women in regards to

Have you ever had a dark and gloomy day? Imagine having that feeling every single day. The Grimm’s Cinderella was written in 1812. 1812 was one of the harshest years for America. An event that formed it was the war against Great Britain and the United States. Not only was there a war, but there was also a series of disastrous harvests. Taxes got higher, and more than twenty people who were involved with a Luddite Act were hung. In 1812, there was also the only assassination of a prime minister, who was shot dead in the House of Commons. The Grimm Brothers have put the dark times of 1812 into their stories. Some of their stories contain violence, child abuse, and wicked mothers. They came up with these types of stories after their father died, and when they struggled out of school. That gave them enough time to research and put together a collection of folk tales. Now you can see why the Grimm’s Cinderella was dark and gloomy. Although the plot stayed the same, over the years, the story did get lighter. Disney’s Cinderella came out in 1950. In 1950, learning information was not by fear, but by engaging happiness. Disney’s Cinderella transforms the Grimm’s Cinderella into a happier atmosphere. While some similarities between Disney’s Cinderella and Grimm’s Cinderella are noticeable, the differences are pronounced, especially when referring to the slippers, her father, and the ball.

In the article, Dreams of a Better Bourgeois Life: The Psycho-Social Origins of the Tales, Jack Zipes explains the psychosocial origins of the tales of the Brothers Grimm. Since there are very few publications of attempts to explain the psychosocial origins, there is an assumption “that the tales were genuine folk tales” (28). As Zipes describes, these fairy tales do not reflect the “ancient times and customs” (29). When the Grimm Brother’s collected these fairy tales they already had undergone changes. Also, the Grimm’s collection of fairy tales were rewrote to represent them because these tales closely related to their lives. The Grimm Brothers experienced loss and separation of family members, decline in social status, lack of basic needs

The Grimm Brothers version of Cinderella is a written down oral story that people passed down from generation to generation, meant to teach a lesson about piety and good behavior. Before the Grimm Brothers ever wrote it down, the story had been told several times by memory. It is thus not surprising that the descriptions of certain events in the story, such as the way Cinderella went to the Ball, are lacking in details. It is obvious that these parts of the story are unimportant to the overall message of the story. Instead, it focuses on the piety of Cinderella and the wickedness of the step-sisters. Through the events of the story, it becomes obvious that the goodness of Cinderella is justly rewarded, and that

Grimm’s tale conveys a story of a girl whose morals, soul, and faith in God and her mother’s words are what defines her beauty. They reinstate this point by describing even the step-sisters as works of beauty. By

“The writer may very well serve a movement of history as its mouthpiece, but he cannot of course create it.” - Karl Marx. The words of Karl Marx have shaped nations and caused immeasurable change across the globe. Perhaps it was his dedication to the plight of the working man, or maybe his defiance of the ruling class, either way, there is no doubt that Karl Marx has influenced the lives of millions. Similarly, the works of the Brothers Grimm, specifically “Iron Henry” and “Hansel and Gretel” (for this essay), have also influenced the lives of millions, both young and old, as common icons of folklore. It would be easy to gloss over these tales as nothing more than a simple tales, a closer inspection of the authors may lead to more clues. According to a short biography on the Bros. Grimm, it turns out that the brothers, “...were strongly influenced by feelings of national pride,” (Myers). This fact, coupled with the knowledge that the brothers were also in the service of several German

In the 19th century, Europe was characterized by enormous changes in its economic, social and political sector. Between1815-1830, all over Europe was widespread political unrest regardless of the ongoing industrialization and institutions that were being developed. The period 1850-1900 was further characterized by new inventions, advances in science and global establishment of empires (Goldstein,100). However, the same period also saw a rise in labor and suffrage movements and a rebellious socialism. Such changes meant that the populations of Europe were becoming enlightened in the matters to do with political freedoms especially the indifferent population. There was excess pressure mounting as many demanded free press, and their rights to

In the grand scheme of things politically and socially speaking, the 19th century was a time where the world was working to come together and I believe it still is today. Leaders all over the world were still coming to conclusions about political matters and due to powerful political groups having conflicts of interest, there were disagreements that led to wars, and most of all there were constant reforms and a steady stream of colonization still happening. In the midst of all of these events, there was change to the everyday economic, social, and political aspects of life. During the 19th century, there were many significant events that occurred during that time that added to the political atmospheric change but in this essay I will write about three; the Kingdom of Britain and Ireland merging to the United Kingdom, the British Parliament passing the Great Reform Act, and the Seneca Fall Convention. These three significant events

The French invaded the Rhineland, in what is now Germany, in 1792 during the French Revolution. During this time, the French invaders pillaged towns, raped women, and destroyed entire families. While the French believed that they were liberating the Germans from the “yoke of feudalism,” (Large 629) they were really creating a bitter enemy of the German people who found unity in hating anything French. This new found zealotry was exemplified during the Romanticism period by writers such as the Grimm brothers. They believed that writing down these folk tales was a way of accurately representing their German culture. Due to this deep seeded belief, they allude to the French invaders of Germany in Cinderella through the use of the evil stepsisters

Most of us grew up watching and reading the stories of Cinderella, Snow White and, Sleeping Beauty all of which were produced by Disney. But what if I told you that the versions you grew up watching and reading are far from the original versions depicted by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, better known as the Brothers Grimm. In their tale of “Cinderella” there was no fairy godmother, the step sisters cut off portions of their feet to fit into the slipper and none of the animals talked or sang, but rather plucked out the step sister’s eyes as punishment for the mistreatment of Cinderella. Which begs the question, what inspired the brother’s to write these types short stories, which are so not what is recognized today as a “fairy tale”?