Homosexual Heinrich; that's the way of Grimm's world
The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich
The Companionship of the Cat and the Mouse
The Virgin Mary’s Child
Although “Happily ever after” has been attributed ad nauseum to the genre of the fairy tale, much of the structural journey of the Grimm’s fairy tales manipulate the idea of the fantastic to make certain statements evident of life, morals, values, and the way of the world in general without being overly didactic. However, although two of the three tales (The Frog King; The Virgin Mary’s Child) do have satisfactory endings, the notion of happily-ever-after seems a structural device much rather than an implicit part of the story. In the case of The Companionship, there is no “happy ending”. Rather, the dichotomy of oppressor and the oppressed as symbolized by the cat and mouse respectively is played out till the end in full cruelty with the cat devouring the mouse, a statement to emphasize the “way of the world”.
The question that arises is one of function. To what ends do the means of the fairy tales achieve? More precisely, to whose ends? The tale of The Companionship closes with an unembellished harsh reminder of the meaning of the circumstances which unfold: “You see, that’s the way of the world”. The question therefore extends to: the way of whose world? Arguably, the tales point at the ‘real world’, but is it the real world, or simply a projected worldview upon the young receivers of these tales in order to achieve extraneous social aims?
In its own style, each of the three fairy tales appear to conceal a moral or social lesson aimed at either revealing the “way of the world”, or to instill a sense of moral civic-mindedness. The Frog King is a quaint example of how Grimm’s tales bridge these two agendas of revelation and instruction. First of all, the tale is immediately split between two courses thought as indicated by its title: “The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich” (my emphasis). It seems to be unable to make up its mind about its own narrative theme, and, perhaps, never reconciles with its apparent indecision. The story itself follows two narratives that are apparently discontinuous: from whence the narrative of the Frog King and the princess seemingly ends, the narrative of The Frog King and Iron Heinrich picks up. The sudden leap in narrative is disorienting, even irrational, threatening to break away at the traditional unity of narrative structure. However, the authors’ decision to leave both narratives in the structure of the story seems to suggest an implicit binary.
The narrative of The Frog King traverses a moral path not unlike The Virgin Mary’s Child. Allusions to the voices of reason are made to authorial figures of Church and King. In The Virgin Mary’s Child, the child’s redemption from death at the stake is accentuated with overt undertones of the Catholic Doctrine, first through the use of the Virgin Mary as a centre of power and instruction, and second, through her ecclesiastical agitprop: “Those who repent their sins and confess will be forgiven.” Likewise, it is the underwritten authority, wisdom and power of the King in The Frog King that first persuades the princess to stay true to her promise made to the Frog. Both tales set about their moral agendas by through disturbing accounts on how the morally and ethically astray undergo great suffering for their wayward deeds. By intercessions in both narratives, a twist of fate occurs – the Frog turns into a prince; the prodigal daughter is redeemed. Here, the functional narrative of The Virgin Mary’s Daughter draws to a close, ends has served means and children are persuaded to pursue the truth. However, The Frog Prince’s narrative transcends the happy-ending narrative and spills forward into Iron Heinrich, rudely disrupting the linear.
Moral and ethical agenda complete, Iron Heinrich seems to pick up a sense of the tragic evident in The Companionship in contrast to the first half of The Frog Prince. However, the device of tragedy is not explored as an aggravation of the protagonist as literally as The Companionship. Whilst The Companionship may draw parallels between the doomed relationship of abusive husbands and their hapless wives, tragedy in Iron Heinrich is explored as the obliteration of its previous narrative. The Frog Prince, having developed its material between the princess and her newfound prince, sets up a narrative of hope. That same hope that fuels the completeness of the traditional ‘happy-ending’ is subverted when the narrative is discontinued. Instead of expounding upon the post-matrimonial affairs between the princess and her prince, the story leaps into the narrative of the exoneration of Heinrich’s iron-banded heart. Ultimately, the blissful matters of the princess and the prince take no share in the end of the story; all focus is averted upon Heinrich and his unrequited love for his master. In fact, it is as though they have become secondary characters to give Heinrich’s tale perspective, virtually completely neglected by the author himself.
Iron Heinrich when contrasted with The Frog Prince presents a paradox. Although Heinrich usurps the focus of the narrative, robbing the initial narrative of its proper place as the happy-ending, Heinrich is unable to partake in the ‘narrative’, so to speak, of his master and his newfound bride. Worse, their marriage seems to be a marriage of convenience effectuated by a spell; nothing of love or devotion or change of heart is spoken of between the prince and the princess. Their fate is of the tragedy of circumstance, and because of previous mystical witchcraft, two individuals are forcefully match-made. Much, however, is made of Heinrich’s devotion and love for his master, a relationship that was taken to fantastical lengths of expression:
“He had been so distressed when he had learned his master had been turned into a frog that he ordered three iron bands be wrapped around his heart to keep it from bursting from grief and sadness.”
Heinrich’s love for his master can never be reciprocated because of his new occupation. The prince appears to have been transferred from a less preferable bond to a more preferable one, but his incarceration (and that of the princess’) remains beyond their control. The semblance of “happy-ending” is fulfilled with Heinrich’s wistful thoughts of joy at his master’s apparent salvation. The prince, to the end, remains more preoccupied with the sound of iron bands breaking that his newfound wife. Such is the way of life, as natural as cat devouring mouse as to the ills of love and devotion.
When combined with an attempt to illustrate the harsh realities of life, the moral instructions written into the narrative of fairy tales are more readily received. Often, the mirror that reflects these harsh realities also distorts these realities in order to give form and purpose to its moral-instructive couple. The tragedy of The Companionship builds tension by setting up expectations of conflict over the ways of nature. In many ways, if The Companionship had taken the “happy-ending” detour, its didactic functions would probably have suffered. The Companionship draws its strength precisely by stating the obvious, a macabre reminder to individuals who trust too easily, and tragedy serves as a powerful tool for instruction that the mouse should have been more alert to the crooked intentions of the cat. Conversely, The Companionship also wags a finger at those who seek trouble by ignoring the advice and laws of the world; all the cajoling in the world would not have transformed the fundamental relationship between predator and prey. As long as these pillars of power and submission exist, nature abides by these rules and so should we.
In recreating the narrative describing “the way of the world”, all three fairy tales inevitably take certain liberties with their depictions that are not necessarily faithful to the idea of reality. However, by bending the narrative to the will of the instructive, these fairy tales may prove to have the power to incite change, change that may, in fact, literally transform reality as well. So, perhaps the imagined worlds of fairy tales may not be far from our realities. Each world informs the other, and in all good hope, seeks out the happy endings in each other.
The Companionship of the Cat and the Mouse
The Virgin Mary’s Child
Although “Happily ever after” has been attributed ad nauseum to the genre of the fairy tale, much of the structural journey of the Grimm’s fairy tales manipulate the idea of the fantastic to make certain statements evident of life, morals, values, and the way of the world in general without being overly didactic. However, although two of the three tales (The Frog King; The Virgin Mary’s Child) do have satisfactory endings, the notion of happily-ever-after seems a structural device much rather than an implicit part of the story. In the case of The Companionship, there is no “happy ending”. Rather, the dichotomy of oppressor and the oppressed as symbolized by the cat and mouse respectively is played out till the end in full cruelty with the cat devouring the mouse, a statement to emphasize the “way of the world”.
The question that arises is one of function. To what ends do the means of the fairy tales achieve? More precisely, to whose ends? The tale of The Companionship closes with an unembellished harsh reminder of the meaning of the circumstances which unfold: “You see, that’s the way of the world”. The question therefore extends to: the way of whose world? Arguably, the tales point at the ‘real world’, but is it the real world, or simply a projected worldview upon the young receivers of these tales in order to achieve extraneous social aims?
In its own style, each of the three fairy tales appear to conceal a moral or social lesson aimed at either revealing the “way of the world”, or to instill a sense of moral civic-mindedness. The Frog King is a quaint example of how Grimm’s tales bridge these two agendas of revelation and instruction. First of all, the tale is immediately split between two courses thought as indicated by its title: “The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich” (my emphasis). It seems to be unable to make up its mind about its own narrative theme, and, perhaps, never reconciles with its apparent indecision. The story itself follows two narratives that are apparently discontinuous: from whence the narrative of the Frog King and the princess seemingly ends, the narrative of The Frog King and Iron Heinrich picks up. The sudden leap in narrative is disorienting, even irrational, threatening to break away at the traditional unity of narrative structure. However, the authors’ decision to leave both narratives in the structure of the story seems to suggest an implicit binary.
The narrative of The Frog King traverses a moral path not unlike The Virgin Mary’s Child. Allusions to the voices of reason are made to authorial figures of Church and King. In The Virgin Mary’s Child, the child’s redemption from death at the stake is accentuated with overt undertones of the Catholic Doctrine, first through the use of the Virgin Mary as a centre of power and instruction, and second, through her ecclesiastical agitprop: “Those who repent their sins and confess will be forgiven.” Likewise, it is the underwritten authority, wisdom and power of the King in The Frog King that first persuades the princess to stay true to her promise made to the Frog. Both tales set about their moral agendas by through disturbing accounts on how the morally and ethically astray undergo great suffering for their wayward deeds. By intercessions in both narratives, a twist of fate occurs – the Frog turns into a prince; the prodigal daughter is redeemed. Here, the functional narrative of The Virgin Mary’s Daughter draws to a close, ends has served means and children are persuaded to pursue the truth. However, The Frog Prince’s narrative transcends the happy-ending narrative and spills forward into Iron Heinrich, rudely disrupting the linear.
Moral and ethical agenda complete, Iron Heinrich seems to pick up a sense of the tragic evident in The Companionship in contrast to the first half of The Frog Prince. However, the device of tragedy is not explored as an aggravation of the protagonist as literally as The Companionship. Whilst The Companionship may draw parallels between the doomed relationship of abusive husbands and their hapless wives, tragedy in Iron Heinrich is explored as the obliteration of its previous narrative. The Frog Prince, having developed its material between the princess and her newfound prince, sets up a narrative of hope. That same hope that fuels the completeness of the traditional ‘happy-ending’ is subverted when the narrative is discontinued. Instead of expounding upon the post-matrimonial affairs between the princess and her prince, the story leaps into the narrative of the exoneration of Heinrich’s iron-banded heart. Ultimately, the blissful matters of the princess and the prince take no share in the end of the story; all focus is averted upon Heinrich and his unrequited love for his master. In fact, it is as though they have become secondary characters to give Heinrich’s tale perspective, virtually completely neglected by the author himself.
Iron Heinrich when contrasted with The Frog Prince presents a paradox. Although Heinrich usurps the focus of the narrative, robbing the initial narrative of its proper place as the happy-ending, Heinrich is unable to partake in the ‘narrative’, so to speak, of his master and his newfound bride. Worse, their marriage seems to be a marriage of convenience effectuated by a spell; nothing of love or devotion or change of heart is spoken of between the prince and the princess. Their fate is of the tragedy of circumstance, and because of previous mystical witchcraft, two individuals are forcefully match-made. Much, however, is made of Heinrich’s devotion and love for his master, a relationship that was taken to fantastical lengths of expression:
“He had been so distressed when he had learned his master had been turned into a frog that he ordered three iron bands be wrapped around his heart to keep it from bursting from grief and sadness.”
Heinrich’s love for his master can never be reciprocated because of his new occupation. The prince appears to have been transferred from a less preferable bond to a more preferable one, but his incarceration (and that of the princess’) remains beyond their control. The semblance of “happy-ending” is fulfilled with Heinrich’s wistful thoughts of joy at his master’s apparent salvation. The prince, to the end, remains more preoccupied with the sound of iron bands breaking that his newfound wife. Such is the way of life, as natural as cat devouring mouse as to the ills of love and devotion.
When combined with an attempt to illustrate the harsh realities of life, the moral instructions written into the narrative of fairy tales are more readily received. Often, the mirror that reflects these harsh realities also distorts these realities in order to give form and purpose to its moral-instructive couple. The tragedy of The Companionship builds tension by setting up expectations of conflict over the ways of nature. In many ways, if The Companionship had taken the “happy-ending” detour, its didactic functions would probably have suffered. The Companionship draws its strength precisely by stating the obvious, a macabre reminder to individuals who trust too easily, and tragedy serves as a powerful tool for instruction that the mouse should have been more alert to the crooked intentions of the cat. Conversely, The Companionship also wags a finger at those who seek trouble by ignoring the advice and laws of the world; all the cajoling in the world would not have transformed the fundamental relationship between predator and prey. As long as these pillars of power and submission exist, nature abides by these rules and so should we.
In recreating the narrative describing “the way of the world”, all three fairy tales inevitably take certain liberties with their depictions that are not necessarily faithful to the idea of reality. However, by bending the narrative to the will of the instructive, these fairy tales may prove to have the power to incite change, change that may, in fact, literally transform reality as well. So, perhaps the imagined worlds of fairy tales may not be far from our realities. Each world informs the other, and in all good hope, seeks out the happy endings in each other.
posted by HT, with T for Teh at 10:44 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home