The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Anderson essay
The fairy tales written by Hans Christian Anderson, the famous Danish fairy tale writer and poet, attract attention of millions of children from all over the world. Many of his stories have been translated into more than 150 languages. It is known that “all fairy tales are the stories from the old tradition passed through the generations by storytellers since the dawn of time” (Windling 1). Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tales can be regarded as magical adventures with unique characters drawn from the storyteller’s own life as well as from numerous countries he visited during his remarkable life’s journey. It is not a secret that Hans Christian Andersen’s own life was full of magic elements. He was born in a poor family of a cobbler, but “he died a rich and famous man, celebrated around the world, the intimate of kings and queens” (Windling 1). Although today Hans Christian Andersen is well known as a writer of many fairy tales and stories for children, during the writer’s lifetime he was also known as an author of many other literary works, including novels, poems, plays and travel journals. Some of the most popular Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tales are The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, The Nightingale and Two Maidens. Although Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tales have very much in common, there are certain differences between them. My goal in this paper is to compare and contrast several fairy tales by Anderson, discuss the major aspects of enchantment and define what these stories teach us.
In Anderson’s fairy tale The Little Mermaid (1837), one of the major themes is the theme of love and interpersonal relations. The main character of the fairy tale is a young mermaid who lives in the underwater kingdom and who falls in love with a young prince. During the storm, the Little Mermaid saves the young prince and makes up her mind to gain a human sole in order to love the young prince. The Little Mermaid comes to the Sea Witch who uses magic and gives her a special potion due to which the Little Mermaid can walk, but cannot speak. In this fairy tale, enchantment is used in the name of love. The young mermaid wants to be happy and uses any methods to be closer to her prince. However, there is one more important theme – the theme of family relations. The young mermaid who becomes a beautiful girl and can walk, has no opportunity to return to her father and sisters living in the underwater kingdom. The fairy tale is full of episodes that describe love and hate, betrayal and kindness. The prince marries another girl. The Little Mermaid throws herself into the sea, but she does not die, she becomes the daughter of the air. Moreover, she is given a chance “to gain an eternal soul” (Anderson 57).
In the fairy tale The Ugly Duckling (1843), a little bird born in some barnyard is abused by his neighbors because of his ugliness. However, the Ugly Duckling matures into a beautiful white swan that is considered to be the most beautiful bird of all. The major theme in the story is the theme of personal transformation for the better. Some other themes revealed by the writer include the theme of personal relations and social inequalities, the theme of loneliness and friendship. The fairy tale demonstrates different characters and personal relations between birds in the barnyard who abused a small ugly duckling in the verbal and physical forms. The theme of loneliness is revealed in the story when the ugly duckling spends winter alone finding a hiding place in the small cave on the lake which partly freezes over. Finally, the ugly duckling turns to a beautiful swan and finds his new family.
In the fairy tale The Nightingale (1844), the Emperor of China prefers to hear the songs of the bejeweled mechanical bird to the songs of the real nightingale. The mechanical nightingale “made to look like a living one, and covered all over with diamonds, rubies, and sapphires” (Anderson 204). Although the mechanical bird is wound up and can sing like the real nightingale, “and can move its tail up and down, which sparkles with silver and gold”, this bird has no soul and cannot not treat human souls (Anderson 207). When the Emperor falls ill, the song of the real bird helps him to recover. The major themes represented in the fairy tale include the theme of authoritativeness and the theme of humanity. The nightingale helps the Emperor to recover although he kept the nightingale in captivity when the bird lived at the court. Moreover, the nightingale decides to sing to the emperor informing him of any event that occurs in the empire.
In Anderson’s fairy tale Two Maidens (1853), a maiden is a special tool made of wood that is used by the pavers to ram down paving-stones that can be found in the roads. This story describes two maidens who do not want the pavers to call them “hand-rammers”. They say, “Maiden is a human name, but a “stamp” or a “hand rammer” is a thing, and we certainly do not want to be called things; that’s insulting us!” (Anderson 117). The major theme of this story is the theme of subjection to the law. It means that everyone should obey the law even if it concerns the name. “People have to adapt themselves to circumstances, limit themselves, give in to the needs of the times. And if there is a law that the “maidens” are to be called “stamps” or “hand rammers,” then by that new name she must be called. There is a measuring tape for everything” (Anderson 118). The fairy tale Two Maidens discusses the role of social norms in the society where everybody should obey the established rules. People depend on the social norms, rules and laws.
The fairy tales discussed in this paper have very much in common. In all stories, one can find different aspects of enchantment. The nightingale that can sing and speak, two maidens that can think, speak and feel, the ugly duckling abused by his neighbors in the barnyard, the Little Mermaid who becomes a beautiful girl and can walk, but cannot speak – all these characters are alive and have human characteristics. The differences between these fairy tales are focused on different themes revealed by Anderson. The theme of love is discussed in The Little Mermaid, but is not found in the other stories. However, the common themes in all four fairy tales include the themes of personal relations, social inequalities, authoritativeness and humanity. All four fairy tales teach us to be kinder and respect others, to love nature and be honest. Anderson’s fairy tales are always very educative as the situations described in the stories can occur in our life. For example, in The Two Maidens, it is required to obey the law. In our society, it is also required to obey the law. In The Ugly Duckling, the situation when somebody is abused by others in the group occurs rather frequently in our society. The change in attitude in the group of individuals can also be found in many situations when an individual who holds the lower position in the society becomes a honored member of the society. Moreover, it is necessary to notice that some of Anderson’s stories have been changed over the years. For example, the fairy tale The Little Mermaid was used as the basis in the popular American animated musical film The Little Mermaid (1989), which was produced by Walt Disney. The end of the story has been changed, but the initial plot remained the same. It is known that this film was a great success with the public.
To sum up, the fairy tales written by Hans Christian Anderson are not only rather interesting and absorbing, but also they are very educative as they teach readers to be better in this world, live honestly and be ready to meet magic. Without fairy tales, our life would be bore and uninteresting.
