When
I was reading the Grimm fairy tales I could not help but think, “Wow, these
outcomes are extreme”. I do not think that the punishment fits the crime for
all these stories. In addition, there are some cases where there is no
punishment at all.
For instance, the story Rapunzel: the witch
steals a baby and locks her in a tower. On top of that, the witch makes
Rapunzel haul her up and down the tower with her hair. Then she cuts off her
hair banishes her, and pushes the prince out the window and blinds him. Once Rapunzel
and the prince are reunited the story ends. Well, what about the Witch? Shouldn’t
she get her comeuppance? However, on the complete opposite end of the spectrum,
there is the story of Cinderella.
Cinderella’s mother died and her
father remarried before the snow melted. The stepmother and stepsisters were
cruel to little Cinderella. However, the father showed no compassion towards Cinderella,
he did not even let her go to the ball, let her sit home, and pick lentils out
of the ash. In the end, the stepsisters were invited to the wedding only to
have their eyes pecked out by birds. In some instances, they cut off their toes
and heels to fit in the shoes. I think this is extreme. Moreover, the father
and stepmother, they were cruel to her too but they were allowed to keep their
eyes and toes.
I always wondered how the endings to these
stories were thought up. Rumplestiltskin, I think he technically had every
right to take the child, but the hero of the story is the queen who guesses his
name. He ends up being stuck in the floor, ripping in half, and dying. On the
other hand, in some versions he just falls through the floor and dies. What is up
with that? I guess they are called Grimm tales for more than just the names of the authors......
Blog 3 of 5
I really feel for Rumplestiltskin much more than the Queen. In my opinion, he shows her compassion by making her another deal to guess is name in order to keep her child, and she was sneaky, so she found the answer. If I was a mother, I would probably do the same thing, which does make her the hero of the tale, but I don;t think he was treated fairly either.
ReplyDeleteI also keep thinking of the Once Upon A Time Episode, which makes me understand even more why he was so desperate for a child. I'm more sympathetic towards him.