"Hansel and Gretel"

Paper Summary:

The paper examines how in "Hansel and Gretel" hunger perverts the normal relationships between parents and children, husband and wife and even stranger and guest. The paper then looks at the Chinese Han folktale of "The Gold Colt and the Fire Dragon Shirt" and how the long drought perverts the relationship of landlord to tenants. The paper discusses how both stories act as a warning to people who ignore their obligations to others and illustrate how ruthlessness as well as cleverness is often required to survive during desperate, hungry times.

From the Paper:

"One of the most striking things about reading the original Grimm Brothers' tale of "Hansel and Gretel" is the relentless focus on hunger of the tale, and the way that children or vulnerable people in general are treated cruelly by adults or by people in power. In the original tale, the two children are sent into the woods to starve to death, not by a cruel stepmother, but by their natural mother. Their father, a weak man, acquiesces unwillingly, but because of the terrible famine the people are enduring, he grudgingly goes along with his wife's plan."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Grimm, Jacob &Wilhelm. "Hansel und Gretel." Kinder- und Hausmarchen (Children's and Household Tales -- Grimms' Fairy Tales). 7th ed. Berlin, 1857. No. 15.3 May 2008. http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0327.html#grimm
• "The Gold Colt and the Fire Dragon Shirt." Favourite Folktales of China. Translated by John Minford Beijing: New World Press, 1983. pp. 39-48. 3 May 2008. http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/china.html#goldcolt

More papers on "Hansel and Gretel":

• Essay # 73768 : "Hansel and Gretel"
• Essay # 44377 : "Hansel and Gretel"
• Term Paper # 98059 : "Hansel and Gretel"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: