Fishing for Power: A Flounder Can Only Do So Much

When I read The Fisherman's Wife, several thoughts crossed my mind. First: Talking animals are all the rage in Fairy Tales, whether they're malicious (Red Riding Hood) or helpful (The fish in this story). Second: A case can easily be made that this story is commenting on a flawed aspect of human nature. Essentially, it is a story of a fisherman who catches a (seemingly normal) flounder. But nooooo, it's a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, guys. This fish HAS to be able to talk/perform magic/do a flip or something.

The fish promises to give the man anything he wants in return for the fish's freedom. (What a sweet deal!) The man returns home and tells his wife of his experience. After no doubt feeling the man's forehead for a high, and thus hallucination inducing, fever, his wife tells him to wish for a nicer living arrangement. The man obliges and calls the fish. When the scaled sorcerer (I got tired of saying "fish") answers his call, he tells the man to return home immediately, for his wife already has what she wished for. The man returns home to find his wife in a nicer living arrangement than they previously inhabited. The wife, he realizes, is not completely satisfied and demands more of the fish. The man goes out and requests a castle instead of the cottage that had replaced his shack. The flounder instructs the man to return home again, and when he does he finds his wife in a castle. The wife then reveals that she is not done with her rampant pleonexia and demands more of the fish. This scene takes places several times more, and, long story short, the wife demands that the fish make her God. That's right. You're reading that right. Here it is again just in case you think I made a typo (I'll even italicize it): the wife demands that the fish make her God. Wow. In response to this, the flounder tells the man to return to his wife, for she is inhabiting the shack they originally lived in.

This story is a very interesting commentary on greed, but I am not ignoring the strong religious overtones presented. For one thing, the story revolves around the wife's greed. I, for one, am curious as to why the husband was not a major character or one of significant influence. I get that the tale is not exactly pushing the Fisherman to the forefront, but he's the one that catches the flounder! And what does he get in return? He plays Messenger for his power hungry spouse. This is most likely intentional in order to emphasize the focus on the wife. If the Fisherman had more intense interactions with his wife or the flounder, the focus on the wife (and the central theme of greed in the story) would be compromised and diminished.

The previously mentioned religious overtone is strong when one examines the decision of the authors to make God the final step. The flounder is fine about changing their shack to a cottage.

"What's that? Cottage to Castle? No Prob! What now? You want to be am empress? Done! Wait, the Pope? We already have one of those but sure! Wait... now you want to be God?" *scoff* "aaaaaaand you're back in your shack".

 This brings the focus onto both the unrelenting greed of the wife and God's unattainable status.Overall, the themes present here are as follows: "God is perfect and you cannot be no matter how many magical fish you catch" and "Please have the decency to appreciate what you're given." The wife was never going to be content with Earthly pleasures, and so they vanished as if by magic. ;)







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