We all know the story of Hansel and Gretel. Two innocent little children who were walking in the woods and found a house made of candy. There was an ugly old witch inside who tried to bake them into a pie. Well that is only one side of the story. I am here to tell you what really happened.
Let’s get one thing straight here; I was not an ugly old witch. My name was Bertha. Also it really hurt my feeling and increased my insecurities when it said I was an ugly old witch. I thought I was a beautiful, middle aged woman. And I was not a, “witch”; I was simply a woman who enjoyed making and trying out new things. And who started the idea of cannibalism? I didn’t want to eat those children. So for the first time ever, I will tell you the true story of Hansel and Gretel.
One day I was baking an apple pie in my house made of candy. It was made out of candy purely because I loved baking. And please do not go thinking I am a fat, lazy pig. The pie that I was baking was for a brunch that I was hosting. My guests were going to be coming any minute and I wanted everything to be perfect, right down to the T. The parents of Hansel and Gretel, Gwendolyn and Augustus, were close friends of mine. Sadly though, those two fat, disrespectful, and obnoxious children had eaten all of their parent’s food, and since I was a warm-hearted person, I invited them over.
I went out in my garden to pick some fresh fruit when I heard two squeaky voices. I immediately recognized two those voices, it belonged to those two animals that Gwendolyn and Augustus called children. I really did despise them. They would always try to eat my home, and never had any manners. I continued to watch them, - not in a pedophilic way. Gwendolyn and Augustus weren’t with t...
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...urpose, Mama!” I swear these children were truly, a pair of manipulative sociopaths. They could lie straight through their teeth!
“And I thought we could trust you Bertha! You will never hear the end of this! I will get the cops here right now and make sure you pay for the horrendous scenes you caused our children to see!” Gwendolyn was a scary, temperamental woman. I prayed that it was just one of her mood swings, but that wasn’t the case.
Only moments later Augustus arrived with police men, and that led me to charges that I didn’t deserve. They made me go to a rehabilitation centre because they thought I had a mental cannibalism disorder. I had to go to therapy for no reason. Worst of all, when the story was published, it made me look like a psychotic person. And from then I was labelled, “The ugly old witch”.
That’s it.
The true story of Hansel and Gretel.
...n very human feelings of resentment and jealousy. Grendel was an unstable and saddened figure because of his outcast status. Though Grendel had many animal attributes and a grotesque, monstrous appearance, he seemed to be guided by vaguely human emotions and impulses. He truthfully showed more of an interior life than one might expect. Exiled to the swamplands outside the boundaries of human society, Grendel’s depiction as an outcast is a symbol of the jealousy and hate that seeks to destroy others' happiness and can ultimately cripple a civilization. This take on the outcast archetype ultimately exposes the Anglo Saxon people’s weaknesses, their doubts and anxieties towards the traditional values that bounded nearly every aspect of their life.
One night, as Grendel was sleeping soundly in his home in the swamplands, he was suddenly awakened by the sound of music. The music angered Grendel because he had been up late the night before entertaining his monster friends and was in need of his beauty rest. So he headed out the front door and headed to see what the commotion is all about.
For ages, humanity has always told stories of the classic struggle between man and monster. The battle between Beowulf and Grendel is a prime example of this archetype, but is Grendel only purely a monster? In his article “Gardner’s Grendel and Beowulf: Humanizing the Monster”, Jay Ruud makes a point that Grendel is a hybridization of both monster and man, particularly in John Gardner’s novel Grendel. In the poem Beowulf, Grendel is depicted as a purely evil monster who terrorizes Hrothgar and his people, but the novel provides a more humanistic backstory to the fiend. Throughout the novel, Grendel tells of his internal struggle between his thoughts of filling the role of the monster versus attempting to make amends with the humans. This conflict
Grendel exhibits human feelings and characteristics in many ways. Although Grendel is a monster “forced into isolation by his bestial appearance and limited imagination” (Butts) he yearns to be a part of society; he craves companionship while he is isolated. With his “ear pressed tight against the timbers [of Hart]” (43), he watches and listens to the humans and what goes on in Hart, the meadhall of King Hrothgar, to feel like he is a part of civilization. He also has feelings in relation to specific humans. Just like the citizens of Denmark, he is extremely affected by the Shaper and his songs that are “aswim in ringing phrases, magnificent, golden, all of them, incredibly, lies” (43). Grendel is profoundly “moved by the power of the Shaper’s poetry” (Butts). Queen Wealtheow shows Grendel the feminine, sweet, and kind side of life. “She had secret wells of joy that overflowed to them all” and her peaceful effect on those around her is a main cause of Grendel’s almost obsessive fascination with her and in turn, drives Grendel to feelings of rage. Grendel’s humanlike feelings show that his personality is similar to that of a human, helping those who read his story to relate to him.
Children are common group of people who are generally mislabeled by society. In the short story “Charles’’ by Shirley Jackson and ‘’The Open Window” by Saki showed examples of the labeling of children. In “Charles” the concept of parents labeling their children as being pure and sincere was shown. As in “The Open Window” by Saki “used the notion that girls were the most truthful sex and gives her a name that suggests truthfulness to make her tale less suspect.”(Wilson 178). According to Welsh “Because the fantasy is so bizarre and inventive and totally unexpected from a fifteen-year-old girl, the reader is momentarily duped.”(03). This showed that even we as the readers were a victim of misleading labels of society.
...this is after she figures out whom he is. The Misfit has all of the Grandmother’s family escorted into the woods and killed. And as the story ends he takes the Grandmothers life when she touches him on the shoulder.
What comes to mind when one thinks of the word ‘puppy’? It is probable describe a puppy as a lovable, adorable, and cuddly companion. However, one might also identify the animal as a menace and a liability or even as a delicious source of food. Why does this single word hold so many meanings? One’s past experiences and biases influences these conflicting views and attitudes. For instance, an individual’s fond view of puppies may exist because they were raised with puppies and consequently grew affectionate toward the animals. On the contrary, if another individual has not bonded with puppies as pets, then they will share the latter point of view. In the short story “Puppy” by George Saunders, the multiple characters view single events and objects with contrasting perceptions. Therefore, instead of painting a precise picture of the characters and the plot, the story expresses several views regarding the morals of the characters, the motivations of their actions, and the meaning of the events that take place. In “Puppy”, George Saunders explores the theory that perception is not an elementary, universal definition of an object or idea, but a complex interpretation that is influenced by one’s unique and varying past experiences and opinions. The complexity of perception is evident in one the story’s narrator’s, Marie’s, vantage point.
Among all the copious themes of fairy tales, cannibalism was indeed a more ambivalent one. Despite the obvious manifestations of good karma, positive characteristics and amiable nature, the common depictions of cannibalism alluded that fairy tales were more than stories that were “too good to be true.” Fairy tales such as The Juniper Tree and Hansel and Gretel even presented cannibalism with an attitude of apathy, as if cooking human stew were nothing churlish but ordinary. However, those vivid descriptions of cannibalism, though appeared to be too cruel and baleful for innocent children, played significant roles. It completed their coming of age journeys, providing them masculinity while“relieving their preconscious and unconscious pressures”(Bettelheim,
Evil. It’s a concept that has baffled philosophers, religious figures, and the common man alike for thousands of years. In this millennium, people may exemplify evil as terrorism, genocide, or, perhaps, placing an empty milk carton back in the refrigerator. However, many remain conflicted about the exact definition of evil, as the dispute over the character Grendel, from the John Gardner novel, makes evident. To conclude that Grendel is not evil, readers must first operate under the assumption that the beast is unequivocally and thoroughly evil. Having done so, readers will notice the fallacies within this thought process. By asserting that Grendel is evil, readers blatantly disregard the ambiguity with which humanity defines its actions, as
as men. She has been sleeping down in her dark and dingy cave below the world
It was Christmas Eve. I sat, huddled in a ball, behind the armchair in my living room. I was trying to be as still and patient as I could be. I remember moments where I held my breath thinking if she heard me breathe, she would leave and I would never get a chance to see her. I could feel myself drifting off to sleep, but I tried to resist. All I wanted was to see her just once. Usually, I would be scared at the thought of a witch, but she was different. She was a magical witch who flew on a broom from house top to house top, visiting children and filling their shoes with candy and chocolates. Sure enough, I awoke the next morning to find myself still huddled in the same ball; I had fallen asleep before La Befana arrived. As I stood up yawning, I took a big stretch and noticed my Christmas shoes lying by my feet full of goodies.
Set in Poland during the German occupation, “The True Story of Hansel and Gretel” is told as a fairy tale, utilizing many of the elements that are common to fairy tales.
The children couldn’t accept what they thought was so horrible. There was a lot of ignorance and carelessness portrayed throughout this short story. The theme of ungratefulness was revealed in this story; The author depicted how disrespecting someone can inturn feed you with information you may wish you never knew and how someone can do one wrong thing and it immediately erases all the good things a person did throughout their
How did the cultural and socioeconomic status of the Grimm brothers as well as the conditions in 1800 Germany influence the theme of poverty and wealth in “Cinderella” and “Hansel and Gretel”
Fairy tales have been a big part of learning and childhood for many of us. They may seem childish to us, but they are full of life lessons and intelligent turnings. Components of fairy tales may even include violence, but always with the aim to provide a moral to the story. Hansel and Gretel is in itself a very interesting story to analyze. It demonstrates the way that children should not stray too far from their benchmarks and rely on appearances. In 2013, a film adaptation was produced. This film is produced for an older public and has picked up the story to turn it into a more mature and violent version. Hansel and Gretel is a German fairy tale written by the Grimm Brothers which has undergone several changes over the years and across the cultures which it touched, but for the purposes of this essay, I will stick to the original story. In the development of this essay, I will analyze the components of this tale by the Brothers Grimm based on the factors listed in the course syllabus (violence, interpersonal relationships, the function of magic and the ending), and I will then do a summary and comparison between the story and the film which was released in theaters recently.