The Hard Facts of Grimms’ Fairytales

Intriguingly, Maria Tatar begins to explore similarities and reoccurring themes in Grimms Fairytales that reveal the nature of the tales themselves.

Violence
Violence is a particular element of Grimms’ tales favouring violence over the whimsy. Translating and adding more graphic imagery ‘He is so beside himself with rage that he tears in two’. Later editions become more vivid in violent scenes becoming a hallmark in their many tales.

Sex
The brothers Gimm were careful to filter sexual profanities, particularly incest. The tale ‘The Girl Without Hands’ introduces the deity of the devil replacing the father’s incestural desires.

Victims
In real life, every unhappy familiar maybe unhappy in it owns unique way; wherein fairytales, unhappy families appear very much alike. Nearly every sibling is a rival and at least one parent an ogre identifying the child as the hero against the grudges and reprisals of their parents. Often, the hero suffers extreme hardships and misfortunes.

Good & Evil
In Grimms’ tales, the presence of evil or the absence of good is often the driving force of events, functioning almost identically despite appearing in different narrative guises.

Characters
Characters are defined solely by their relationship to the protagonist, each decisively belonging to the side of good or evil. These characters either aid or hamper the protagonist hero.

With an understanding of the themes and concepts behind Grimms’ tales, this will ideally provide a greater sense of depth and meaning to my design concepts envisioning the world of Grimm fairytale.

Tatar, Maria. (2003). The Hard Facts of Grimms’ Fairytales. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University Press.