Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Heroine

In both of the Grimms' tales ("Fitcher's Bird" and "The Robber Bridegroom"), the heroine ends up in her predicament accidentally. In "Fitcher's Bird," a sorcerer goes to town, and captures the girls one by one. In "The Robber Bridegroom," the heroine is promised in marriage.
Their reactions are what distinguish them. In "Fitcher's Bird," all three women are disobedient (And rightfully so, as they're thrown inside of a bread basket). However, the third one plans ahead of her disobedience, and is successful.
In "The Robber Bridegroom," the heroine is harder to read. On one hand, she is disobedient, as she ignores the voice of the forest. However, she is obedient by going through with the marriage on her father's orders. It seems like her virtue, like many fairy tale heroines, is her silence. Because she remains silent while witnessing the murder, the evidence is practically handed to her (no pun intended), and she comes out successful.

1 comment:

  1. I hadn't thought of the importance of silence in "The Robber Bridegroom," but I agree that this is probably another time when the Grimms advocate silence in women as a virtue.

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