The Seven Deadly Sins In Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales

The sin stories in the Book of Genesis address theological, cosmic, social, and ethical questions. These sin stories, The Fall of Man, Cain and Abel, and Noah and the Flood, and The Tower of Babel show the functions of myths and demonstrate man's likeliness to sin. These myths let the readers learn of the culture, beliefs, and foundation of the time.

In the epic poem Beowulf, there are many battle between righteous characters and immoral characters. The righteous always conquer the immoral, just as depicted in the Christian Bible. For example, Beowulf battles both Grendel and Grendel's Mother, descendants of Cain from the BIble whom killed over jealousy. Beowulf is perceived as righteous while Grendel and his mother are perceived immoral. With greater analysis it is clear that three characters, Beowulf, Grendel and Grendel's Mother are immoral. In fact, all three of these characters embody one of the Seven Deadly Sins, which is also a Christian belief. Grendel embodies envy. Grendel’s Mother embodies wrath and the epic hero Beowulf embodies greed as well as pride. While immoral characters, Grendel’s Mother and Beowulf deserve the sympathy of others, Grendel does not.

In the folktale “The Blue Beard” written by Charles Perrault, conforms to both Dworkin’s and Lurie’s representations of fairy tale heroines. Perrault states, “The fatal effects of curiosity, particularly female curiosity, have of course long seen the subject of report” (133). Andrea Dworkin author of “Women Hating” and Alison Lurie author of “Don’t Tell the Grown-Ups” explain their different views regarding the heroines in fairy tales.

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

Ever looked at somebody and thought that they were a terrible person? This is probably because they embody at least one of the seven deadly sins. These sins have been around for centuries and have been used over and over again in many stories. Some of the best examples of the deadly sins are found in the characters of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. These characters, the pilgrims, vary in profession, personality, and background; most being guilty of at least one of the seven deadly sins. Continuing, Chaucer’s pilgrims will be exposed of their deadly sins that they are guilty of, each with an explanation.

It is hypothesized that the two excerpts convey messages about the representation of goodness and evil attributes. An expository approach is essential to the study of this key idea, for the reason that no single punitive perspective can sufficiently address this issue. The research will be used to convey and interpret ideas from both passages. I will research the stories portrayal of wicked factors, while clarifying and expressing the importance within both accounts. By means of thorough investigation, the reader will apprehend the significance of why the authors included these themes within their stories.

Before the Brothers Grimm transcribed what is known today as one of the most recognized fairytales ever recorded, it was being passed down orally from generation to generation at every corner of the globe. Various versions of Cinderella’s myth can be found in almost every culture in the world, all very distinct with their own specific qualities, reflecting each society’s predominant interpretations of religious themes. For instance, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s works were known to promote their Prussian culture and language, such as “Aschenputtel”, their German version of Cinderella. Most of their adjustments were heavily influenced by the criticism of their fellow countrymen, their audience, and their Christian beliefs.

The tradition of telling fairy tales to children effects not only the listener but also the reader. Maria Tatar, in her book Off with Their Heads!, analyzes how fairy tales instill and reaffirm cultural values and expectations in their audience . Tatar proposes that fairy tales fall into three different tale-types: cautionary tales, exemplary stories, and reward- and- punishment tales. These three types portray different character traits as desirable and undesirable. Due to the tale’s varying literary methods it can change the effectiveness of the tale’s pedagogical value. In Tatar’s opinion, all of these tales are similar in the way they attempt to use punishment, reward, and fear to encourage or discourage certain behaviors. In the cautionary fairy tale “The Virgin Mary’s Child”, the use of punishment and fear to discourage certain behaviors is enhanced by the Christian motifs and values employed by the tale. These literary devices encourage the audience to reflect on and internalize the lessons that are presented in the fairy tale.

This paper explores the novel Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong by David Walsh, who published the novel at the end of 2012. This novel is about Walsh’s journey as he follows Lance Armstrong and his life as a cyclist for 13 years as Lance deals with critics and skepticisms about his correlation with doping. Lance Armstrong was a glorified athlete who won many Tour de France titles after conquering testicular cancer. He was widely appreciated for cycling, but many people were questioning how he was able to make such a comeback after his cancer diagnosis. This book explores what happens from David Walsh’s point of view and the struggles he had to face as a Tour de France sports journalist: whether he should just celebrate Armstrong’s victories or question his usage of drugs. The purpose of this paper is to give a brief summary of the novel, and to reflect on the novel while still linking it to the issues and concepts of drugs and cheating in sports.

There is nothing more precious and heartwarming than the innocence of a child. The majority of parents in society want to shield children from the bad in life which is appreciated. Within human nature exists desires of inappropriate behavior; envy, deceit, selfishness, revenge, violence, assault and murder. The most well-known fairy tales depict virtue and the evil in life. Even more important, the form and structure of fairy tales suggest images to the child by which he can structure his daydreams and with them give a better direction to his life. (Bettelheim).

“Aschenputtel” by the Brothers Grimm proves that human greediness only leads to disaster. For example, when the stepsisters’ mother tells one to “cut the toe off” (3) and the other to “cut a bit off thy heel” (3) it shows to what lengths a person will go to get something that does not belong to them. The sisters were not the one the prince wanted to marry, yet their mother encouraged them to be greedy and deceitful to gain something that didn’t belong to them. This is further proven when they leave the church and “the pigeons pecked out one eye of each of them…and then the pigeons pecked out the other eye of each” (4). Since the sisters learned to be greedy and selfish from their mother, who encouraged them to take something that wasn’t theirs,

"Once upon a time," the most used introduction phrase in common fairy tales used to start an adventure. These adventures have been around for years. The importance of some tales might be more significant than others, also based on culture. My goal for this paper is to educate my readers with the importance of fairy tales, especially for younger children. Fairy tales have been around for centuries from generations to generations. Different cultures, such as the Japanese and Western, have also expressed them differently. All these fairly tales teach children different aspects of life, which make these tales so important.

Fairy tales make an important part of cultural prophecy, because they contain wisdom which is passed from parents to their children. They contain basic moral and ethical guidelines for children. Images and symbols used in fairy tales can help to judge about cultural, ethical, social and moral values popular in the contemporary society. Changes and similarities, which can be found in the popular fairy tale Cinderella by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, version of 1812 and the Disney version of Cinderella (2015), can help to realize the changes in cultures and historical epochs.

But in fact we use the stories that we tell children, and especially those that we tell over and over, to instill messages, to teach cultural norms, to establish the roots of what we hope will be proper behavior as the children grow up. Fairytales are a form of propaganda. The traditional fairytale almost always reflects (and therefore works to reproduce) the power relations of patriarchy; its rigid sexual patterns teach that fear and masochism are tenets of femininity and all of the symbolic inversions that occur are not chances to upset the standard patriarchal hierarchy but are instead ways of maintaining it (Bacchilega, 1997, pp. 50-1).

Fairy Folk Tales are the most popular types of literature. The tale is an orally transmitted tradition by generations through the time; some events are changed to fit reality and society. Folk fairy tales deal with the dualism of the good and the evil. They are basing on a conflict between the good and the evil forces. The conclusion comes from aspirations of the human desire to achieve the justices. There are no known authors and sources for ancient’s literature. We have many versions of the story; they are credited by many authors later. Each tale is very like some other culture’s tale. Each culture has own tales, but all the tales are similarities and differences in some points. This essay will compare between two fairy tales, “Cinderella” and “In the Land of Small Dragon”. The tale of Cinderella is a French tale. It is credited by Charles Perrault; it is published in 1697. The in the Land of Small Dragon is a Vietnamese folktale; it is told by Dang Manh Kha in 1979.