“I shall give you a gift, as you have a good heart and give so willingly…”(Grimm). The tale of “The Golden Goose” by the Grimm Brothers is set in medieval times where there are kings/queens, despite being written by Grimm in the 1800s and taking place around Europe. They tell of a tale in which a simpleton becomes a king through a kind heart and resourceful mind that inspires many young readers. Originally told by The Grimm Brothers, “The Golden Goose” and all its variations is all about the moral of doing a good deed despite any reward or prize. While the original fable/folktale story “The Golden Goose” takes place during medieval times, different variations are told during different time periods and with many differences. A quote from a …show more content…
The first theme is shown in the text when it reads, “Then the stupid son said to his father, ‘Let me go for once and cut wood in the forest.’...the simple wood-cutter inherited the whole kingdom”(Grimm). Dummling is thought to accomplish nothing in life, be a nobody, and is untrusted, but he steps up to the plate. Dummling volunteers to go work and happens to become a king as well. Another theme that is in “The Golden Goose” is judgement. The text states, “The young man began cutting down a tree, but it was not long before he made a false stroke: the axe slipped and cut his arm so badly that he was obliged to go home...His punishment also came; he had scarcely given two strokes on a tree with his axe, when he hit his leg such a terrible blow… after the king’s death the simple wood-cutter inherited the whole kingdom, and lived happily with his wife”(Grimm). The mentioned quotes all show how the theme judgement and justice is used. The two first quotes show how the two eldest sons are hurt because of their inability to share and Dumpling is shown to be rewarded in becoming a King and wealthy. One final, but equally important theme in “The Golden Goose” is although you may be scorned upon or treated horrifically, if you are kind, you will be repaid. The theme is shown when it states, “After they had eaten and drank enough, the little old man said: ‘Because you have been kind-hearted, and shared your dinner with me, I will make you in future lucky in all you undertake. There stands an old tree; cut it down, and you will find something good at the root.’”(Grimm). When Dumpling shares his small meal the man becomes generous and gives him a gift. That gift was the golden goose. By getting the goose, it helps Simpleton to make the king’s daughter laugh. The little man again helps Simpleton by completing the tasks of eating a mountain of bread, and drinking a cask of wine and this help
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the story of a knight of Arthur’s round table who unbeknownst to him begins a supernatural game that will test his commitment to the chivalric code. The story written sometime around 1400 is an example of a medieval romance with a noble knight venturing forth to maintain the honor of himself and his court. Knights are supposed to be examples of chivalry and since chivalry is largely based upon the church, these same men must be examples for other Christians. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, while entertaining, also teaches readers one of the hardest lessons of Christianity, that to give into the temptations of this world is the one of the shortest ways to death.
The moral from the Golden Goose is to learned that human beings are greedy, and most of time we don’t respect the nature.
In closure, its plain to see a universal theme in a majority of the Grimm brothers works, even though in some stories it may lie a little deeper. With the element of violence added into the stories it makes the story seem more dramatic and the theme is illustrated a little clearer. At some point in all the stories, the main message comes out that the Grimm's want kids to learn how to use their heads at all times and you must learn from your mistakes or there may be harsh punishments for not stopping to think things out. Of coarse there are probably other themes to different stories, but these two are commonly used in conjunction with what ever the other themes might be.
During the Middle Ages, both “Beowulf” and “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” were epic stories that were chanted aloud to the public. Each story told about epic heroes who went on a long journey to face or conqueror someone or something. “Beowulf” is a poem about a young man, Beowulf, who slays a monster and his mother with his bare hands to protect the people he loves. As the years go by Beowulf becomes king and a dragon begins to stir. In response to this, Beowulf fights the dragon with a sword and one loyal companion. Beowulf’s life comes to end, but so does the dragons. From this epic poem you can see that good does triumph over evil, but sometimes it comes at a cost. Along with “Beowulf”, “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” was another popular poem. This poem was about a squire, Sir Gawain, who chooses to take on a game proposed by the Green Knight instead of his uncle, King Arthur. He took on the game because he believed King Arthur’s life was more valuable than his own and that King Arthur should not risk his own life. As a result, Sir Gawain became a knight because of his loyalty and bravery. Both Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’s and Beowulf’s characters share the same quality of courage, the desire to protect people and the involvement of supernatural beings.
Warner, Marina. From the Beast to the Blond on Fairy Tales and Their Tellers. New York: Chatto & Windus, 1994. Print.
"The Brothers Grimm were academics best known for publishing collections of folk tales and fairy tales, which became massively popular." (Zipes p. 7) "Born in Hanau, Germany, a year apart, with Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm born the oldest, on January 4, 1985, and Wilhelm Karl Grimm on February 24, 1786. Their family consisted of nine other siblings, six of which survived infancy, and their parents." (Zipes p. 9) Their early childhood was described as "idyllic" with them living in a beautiful countryside home while their father, Philip Wilhelm, was employed by the Prince of Hessen. However, when Jacob was eleven years and Wilhelm only ten, their father died, and their fortune dramatically declined to nothing. Their family was forced to move to an overcrowded urban residence which left their mother to struggle in supporting a large family in difficult circumstances. Some scholars have argued that that this is the reasoning behind the Brothers' inclination to idealize and excuse fathers, leaving a predominance of female villains in their stories, such as the infamous wicked stepmothers. (Grimm New World Encyclopedia p.1)
“All are born with extremely good and evil hungry desires. The question lies; in which of the two, do they take pleasure in starving the most?” –Enrique Vega. This quote asks a question that we don’t really think about. We never grow up and say that we want to be evil or good. It all happens from experience and choice. In Lord of the Flies many extreme events, like kill one another for thrill, happen causing the boys to choose between having an evil or good identity. Identity is one of the main themes in Lord of the flies by William Golding because it shows us the struggle of choosing to be a moral, honest good person or a dishonest, violent evil person through external conflicts, internal conflicts, and symbolism.
In Isaiah Berlin’s Agnelli Prize winning essay, “The Pursuit of the Ideal,” the British philosopher claims that, “we are doomed to choose, and every choice may entail an irreparable loss.” Berlin’s statement is proven true in The Way the Crow Flies by award winning author Ann-Marie MacDonald. Set in a post-war era, The Way the Crow Flies tells a captivating story of a wing commander, named Jack McCarthy, and his family after they move to a close-knit community called Centralia. Jack’s choices in Centralia eventually place him in a compromising position. His daughter, Madeleine, falls victim to her fourth grade teacher’s horrible abuse after school. These two main plots are then intertwined with the death of a little girl, and an innocent boy named Ricky Froelich is placed on trial for her murder. Now, both Madeleine and her father Jack find themselves doomed to choose secrecy or exposure and find that every choice they make has great consequences. Over the course of The Way the Crow Flies, the theme of choice and its consequences is developed by Cold War chicanery, sexual abuse, and confrontation.
I am making a comparison of the first book of the series of Unfortunate Events with the episodes. The first event is that in the book Mr.Poe takes care of the children for a couple of days before he finds a living relative of the children. In the episode they go strait to the evil villian Count Olaf. The second big event was when their parents died, in the book they went to the lake because they wanted to. In the episode their parents had sent them their for no reason. The third event was the money their parents had left for them, in the book Count Olaf revealed his plan to steal their money with no hesitance. In the episode he never wanted to reveal his plan, the children found out his plan.
The first theme I find important is: do not judge others and their intentions. This theme is shown in the book because of rumors about the Radley’s and how Scout’s family is also being treated the same way now. The first stanza depicts this theme by showing how your feelings are affected by the disasters that come with life. The second theme in the book is: always have courage, especially when you stand alone. Many parts of the poem correllate to the characters and their situations, and all the characters have to show an immense deal of courage at some point in their lives. It takes Atticus courage to raise Jem and Scout on his own, for Scout to hold back her anger and take humiliation, for Boo Radley to endure all the hatred for him, and for Mrs. Duboise to accept death willingly. All of them face it alone as well and deal with their feelings on their own. Therefore, it almost seems like this poem was made for the story itself and to symbolically show the troubles of all the
In most known fairy tales, the theme of good and evil is usually present. Many of these stories show heroic princesses, valiant knights, and kind fairy godmothers fighting characters like wicked witches, gruesome monsters or evil wizards. Some of the most classic tales show heroes and heroines fighting against all odds, but their choice to do good leads to triumph. Fairy tales like Grimm's "Snow White" and Perrault's "Cinderella" are some of the best examples of the theme of good vs. evil in fairytales. This essay will compare these two fairy tales and the struggles of good and evil in each. Both tales tell the story of daughters faced with the death of their mothers and must live with an evil stepmother. Both tales show Snow White and
The stories have the same purpose to teach young kids a lesson but can be seen as abnormally dark and frightening. In “The Golden Bird” from The Complete Fairy Tales of Brothers Grimm, follows a fox who tries to show a young boy the way to help his kingdom find a golden bird. The lesson in the story quoted by Brad’s review is “If you are the “Chosen One” you can eschew all advice, screw up constantly, and still come out on top.” In all of his attempts to retrieve the golden bird that was owned by another kingdom he had been caught by the king and sentenced to death unless he was able to retrieve a golden horse. This story continues with the boy being caught by other kingdoms and assigned to other tasks to steal items for the different kings. The boy still receives help from the fox even if he did not heed the fox’s advice, but simply because he was the one that was chosen to complete the task he does not need to listen to the advice of the fox since his fate is already chosen. In the end of the story the fox requests the boy to end its life, and when the boy kills the fox it transforms into a prince that was said to be lost long
Throughout time, mankind has forged stories and legends to explain the unknown. As years went along the stories and tall tales were passed down to each generation. Each recount of the inherited stories are always told differently, how the story was told usually depended on the person and their particular region of habitance. Thus leading to hundreds of different versions of a single story told throughout the world, written and told by different people. Not only are these stories told as pure entertainment, they serve as wise life lessons and set examples for children when they were eventually introduced to society. These stories are so prominent in human history that even to this day the same stories that were told to children centuries ago
Over centuries, fairy tales were passed down by word of mouth to portray a story with a hidden meaning. As these fairy tales were passed on they traveled to different destinations and were modified to conform to other cultures. One example of this is the story of Grapnel. Most people are familiar with the Brothers Grimm version of Rapunzel; however, an earlier variant that comes from Italy was the forerunner to the Grimm version. The Italian version, Petrosinella, written by Giambattista Basile, is an example of how culture has an influence on literature. Although this is the case, both fairy tale versions portray jungian archetypes that are often misinterpreted by mainstream portrayals of these fairy tales.
Oscar Wilde mentioned, "Society exists only as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals." Wilde states that people may influence your life, but only you can make the decisions. In Mark Twain's book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, where a teenage boy named Huck, becomes best friend with a runaway slave. Huck runs away from an abusive father, and floats down the river with Jim. They end up together, in Missouri in the late nineteenth century, trying to get freedom for the both of them. During the trip, they are isolated from society. Throught the time together, no one can influence what they think, and judge them for their thoughts. Along the way no one can tell them what