Grimm Brothers: Final Thesis

So as it turns out, I missed my submission window for the thesis by an hour and a few minutes. But the effort I put in still has some meaning, and so I share my views on my readings here with you. For the thesis, read below.

The stories in the collection seem to be set across the ages, with some talking about pistols while others talk about knights with swords. Despite these differences, there seems to be a significance given to the number three across these stories. Many repetitive actions get a different or favorable response the third time they are done, and three drops of blood give protection and brings back people from the brink of death. The protagonist in the three spinsters has to spin flax worth three rooms, and she cries three days before the spinsters show up to help.

Grimm’s tales give their characters agency but also defines their fate as outside their control. When the Goose Girl simply accepts her fate, she still emerges on the right side of the truth, through no action of her own. On the other hand, when in the Three Spinsters the girl cheats the queen, she actually manages to get away with it, by keeping her promise to the three spinsters.

There are a lot of connotations to sexuality in these stories. The act of sitting on the rabbit's tail and going to his rabbit-hutch can be interpreted as an act of sexual contact and investiture on the part of the girl. The act of 'taking' three drops of blood from the princess' right breast greatly enrages the king, suggesting the act is seen as sexual and therefore inappropriate for Faithful John. Even Conrad's attempts to pluck the princess' golden hair when she combs them in the meadows can be interpreted as a sexual advance.

The sexual undertones of the tales, along with the connotation of a sealed fate suggest a moral undertaking to these tales that aim to direct children towards conservative ideals held in the pre-1800s.