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CASD 1717 – Fall 2024

The Grimm Brothers

The Grimm Brothers are probably the most well-known collectors/writers of stories. They were 19th-century academics who were interested in language and culture and were part of a movement that sought to collect folklore. Many others followed in their footsteps in other parts of Europe. Collecting folklore, specifically the oral traditional stories, was one way of making a claim for cultural national unity.

The Grimm Brothers produced collections of what they termed “märchen“, perhaps best translated as “wonder tale.” Grimm’s Fairy Tales was originally known as Children and Household Tales. The first edition, in 1812, contained 86 stories; ta second volume of 70 stories followed in 1815. Over the next years, until the seventh edition of 1857, the brothers added and subtracted stories, and rewrote many of them with an eye toward improving their suitability for children and increasing their suitability in terms of the values of 19th-century German-speaking middle-class societies. This often took the form of removing sexually explicit material, though not violence.

As part of our work on fairy tales, you are choosing one story to work on in-depth, looking at many variations, so you may, for example, find it interesting to look at a story fro the Grimm Brothers’ from the 1812 publication and compare it to that of 1857. And then to see how it is retold again and again.

Read

The Juniper Tree

Read the Text

Via Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts, edited by D.L. Ashliman

Detailed line drawing of a woman kneeling before a tree in a dress with bodice. In the branches of a tree is a glying bird, behind is an open door and a window
Louis Head, illustration for The Juniper Tree, 1917; Public Domain via WikiMedia Commons

Optional

The above story, perhaps unsurprisingly, is often not included in later works of the Edwardian period intended directly for children. Not that the stories didn’t have their disturbing and strange moments.

Look at this example of “The Goose Girl” retold in Grimm’s Fairy Tales Retold in One-Syllable Words, published in 1899 by McLoughlin Brothers (among other things, the story features the decapitated head of a horse talking.)

Watch

The video below talks about The Robber Bridegroom, a story similar to Perrault’s Bluebeard.

What are two or three things that you’ve started to notice in these literary fairy tales? Has anything surprised you so far?

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Comments

24 responses to “The Grimm Brothers”

  1. Naurah Romulus Avatar
    Naurah Romulus

    In these fairy tales, I’ve noticed that they often include violence and betrayal, even though they seem magical at first. A lot of the stories focus on characters trying to control or trick others to get power. One thing that surprised me is how dark these tales can be, with things like murder or abuse, which isn’t what you expect from fairy tales.

    Reply
  2. Anthea longville Avatar
    Anthea longville

    In these fairy tales they usually convey a clear moral or lesson on the characteristics of bravery, betrayal, kindness and modesty.They feature formal dialogue and rich descriptions setting them apart from customary oral fairytales. I am surprised that there is so much cruelty, death and darkness involves.

    Reply
    1. Shiraz Biggie Avatar
      Shiraz Biggie

      It is hard for us to know how formal or “literary” the language used by oral storytellers of the time might have been. The Grimm Brothers initially claimed to be collecting and recording the oral stories, though they rewrote them over the various editions they produced.

      Reply
  3. Mahnoor Avatar
    Mahnoor

    Some things that I have noticed about these fairytales are that they often contain the death of a character and also that it is usually tied to betrayal. This has surprised me because I often thought fairytales were for children; however, these contain very mature theses. 

    Reply
    1. Ariana Loyfman Avatar
      Ariana Loyfman

      I agree with what you brought up. I have never noticed how often fairytales contain heavy and dark content until I took this class!

      Reply
  4. Nitzan Naim Avatar
    Nitzan Naim

    I noticed that these fairy tales are not really for children! They are quite scary and disturbing to read. It makes me question whether these stories are actually for children or only over time they became children’s books. The violence is very graphic, and a dark narrative emphasizes the power dynamic theme (which I don’t think is emphasized as much in modern fairy tales). Fairy tales have always had a positive connotation for me, so it’s surprising to see how dark and unsettling these original stories really are.

    Reply
  5. Kateryna Senkovych Avatar
    Kateryna Senkovych

    Two things I have noticed in these fairy tales are violence and cannibalism. They are definitely not for children because they are very dark and disturbing things happen in these fairy tales. For example, after reading “The Juniper Tree” I was shocked by what happened to the boy, and it was very disturbing.

    Reply
    1. Shiraz Biggie Avatar
      Shiraz Biggie

      There are surprisingly many stories that contain cannibalism in some form. We sometimes don’t think of it in that way because it might not end up happening, for example in Hansel and Gretel.

      Reply
  6. Anifat Abumislimova Avatar
    Anifat Abumislimova

    The things I have started to notice in these fairy tales is that they include cruelty, violence, betrayal, and even cannibalism. For me, fairy tales were always something that included joy and happiness, but not at all what I am learning now in this course is that fairy tales can have dark sides.

    Reply
    1. Amy Khait Avatar
      Amy Khait

      I agree that fairytales have a cruel, violent side that I’ve never quite thought about before.

      Reply
  7. Sofia Buttaro Avatar
    Sofia Buttaro

    The Juniper Tree has the characteristic mix of violent storytelling, magical realism, and moral teachings from the Grimm Brothers, yet even in the darker context of their stories, its most unsettling aspects—namely, the murder and cannibalism—stand out as unexpected. A symbolic role is played by the “Juniper Tree”. It stands for the life-death-rebirth cycle. The child is killed, and the tree’s magical qualities play a major role in the transformation and eventual punishment of his soul. Themes of natural justice are reflected in this, which is a repetitive topic in the Grimm Brothers.

    Reply
  8. Brittany Giler Avatar
    Brittany Giler

    Both tales explore themes of loss and grief. Something that has surprised me is the level of violence and cruelty present in these tales. While fairy tales often feature dark elements, the violence in these stories is particularly graphic and disturbing.

    Reply
    1. Shiraz Biggie Avatar
      Shiraz Biggie

      Why do you think we moved away from this kind of violence? Did the stories also lose their cruelty?

      Reply
  9. Alexa Mendez Avatar
    Alexa Mendez

    What I noticed in these tales is that they are dark and disturbing, they mention violence and cruelty. It also helped me understand that not all fairytales are happy and joyful, they can have dark sides and be way more disturbing than you think of.

    Reply
  10. Amna Syeda Avatar
    Amna Syeda

    I’ve noticed themes of violence and betrayal related to power in these stories. It’s surprising how curiosity and disobedience lead to severe consequences. The treatment of women reflects historical views on gender and power.

    Reply
    1. Shiraz Biggie Avatar
      Shiraz Biggie

      I’m glad you brought up gender. Do you think this and the tales on the last page would reach a female audience differently in terms of interpretation?

      Reply
  11. Michelle Cortes Rodriguez Avatar
    Michelle Cortes Rodriguez

    Ive noticed how fairytales could be dark and have a deeper meaning to them. We’re all so use to thinking fairytales are good and having a nice ending but once we start reading it we being to be aware of certain things.

    Reply
  12. Selina Chen Avatar
    Selina Chen

    Things that I have noticed in these fairy tails is that there’s a repeated pattern of violence. Usually when you hear “Fairytales”, you would immediately think of magical stories that follows the concept of magical events that leads to a happy ending. However, this was not the case.

    Reply
  13. Amy Khait Avatar
    Amy Khait

    I’ve always believed that fairytales are supposed to be magical and very happy. However, as I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that this is not true at all. I never thought as a child that fairytales can be very dark and include elements of murder, abuse, and violence. Fairytales can also have very mature themes in them such as, betrayal, evil, and talks about moral lessons that can be complex for a child to even understand. I wonder now how some of this can even be for children.

    Reply
  14. Tory Sen Avatar
    Tory Sen

    In these fairy tales, I usually include elements of murder, deception, and doom in the story plot. They teach moral lessons about being strong, lying, being kind, and being humble. They’re not like oral fairy tales because they have official language and detailed details. The deaths of characters who are often linked to betrayal but who are nevertheless considered appropriate for young audiences reveal deeper problems in these stories.

    Reply
  15. Victoria Lucenti Avatar
    Victoria Lucenti

    Some things that I have started to notice within these literary fairy tales is the consistent theme of darkness and violence, but the fact that it is hidden in the beginning as it starts off as magical and mystical, but leads into these themes as the story progresses. As I begin to read, I would not expect such kind of violence because of how disturbing it is to read, although it does play a major role in connecting the story. Reading the kind of cruel darkness that is portrayed within these fairy tales is truly shocking to recognize and read, especially because the types of fairy tales that have been disputed out for children to read, including myself back then, have never been so disturbing and cruel to read, but I guess that is to each their own’s kind of knowledge of what a person has read while growing up.

    Reply
  16. VANESSA Avatar
    VANESSA

    I noticed that in these fairy tales they’re gruesome. Most of the time contain violence and betrayal! I stick to the theory that wealth and power will make you do things you probably never imagines you would do. The one thing that shouldn’t surprise me however still does, is how deep and violent these fairytales are. I am taken back by knowing what they’re about because growing up when hearing “fairytales” we think about prince charming, marriage, happy home, happy ending and it’s surprising to learn that usually things aren’t that way.

    Reply
  17. Kaylee Pontone Avatar
    Kaylee Pontone

    Two things that I noticed and shocked me were the cannibalism and the overall hopeless feeling, which veers off completely from the happy/positive tone of current stories for kids.

    Reply
  18. Jaylyn Calles Avatar
    Jaylyn Calles

    Two things i’ve noticed about these fairy tales is that they are scary and suspenseful. Something that’s surprised me so far is these being told to children if they were, i think there should be a certain age to listen to these so they dont think its real.

    Reply

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