A Grim View on the Grimms’ Class Message Essay -- Literature Fairy Tal

A Grim View on the Grimms’ Class Message In one of Aesop’s most famous fables, the dastardly Wolf in Sheep’s clothing consumes a delicious meal of lamb and teaches the moral that appearances can be deceiving. Indeed, this principle is useful in dissecting the seemingly innocuous editing work of the Brothers Grimm. At first glance, it appears that the general changes enacted by the Grimms in their stories are nothing more than simple acts of censorship designed to achieve compliancy with the teachings of the Bible. However, a closer look reveals that these changes reflect a message about class status rather than piety. Christian ideas such as the preservation of the family unit and the burden of original sin are pervasive in the Grimms’ stories, but are used to induce fear in the audience rather than to attempt a spiritual explanation like in Romantic fairy tales. Themes of continued humility and hard work in the face of adversity replace notions of brashness and craftiness to escape poverty found in fol k fairy tales. Rampant xenophobia and anti-Semitism elicits fear of foreignness and the non-Christian, while frightened main characters are passive and must be rescued by saviors. While it appears that the Grimms cater their stories to the wellbeing of the middle-class, they deceptively and perhaps unintentionally convey the class message that one must remain stagnant in one’s position in life, and thus their stories serve as a social tool of class oppression contrary to the interests of the populace. To understand why the Grimms’ new class message is an important change, one must first understand the role of a story within society to understand how the Grimms take advantage of the fairy tale tradition and spread their dog... ...must be rescued from his or her problems rather than solve them, a significant paradigm shift from earlier genres of fairy tales that suggested at least some semblance of individuality. When there are problems, some outside authority will in due course come to the rescue. Given the ubiquity of the Grimms’ presence in German culture and literature, it is appropriate to consider the impact of this new ideology on the German psyche leading up to the Nazi era, if indeed this message permeated throughout Germany. Thus, while the Grimms’ motivation for their writing is worthy of further study and has not been addressed, the implications of their works are undeniably important. The Grimms have no intention of advancing fairy tales as a pure art form, but rather use their edited stories as a soapbox upon which to preach a new message of class subservience and vulnerability.