Horror and hope in fairy tales

Abstract

This dissertation is the study of the portrayal of Horror and Hope in Grimm fairy tales. Historically, the tales might have started with no particularly strong incentive to lean towards either horror or hope, yet the Brothers Grimm might have experienced pressure from society to lean towards hope for the sake of the tales’ suitability to children. However, what is deemed worthy for children has evolved, and continues to evolve throughout the ages. The first chapter of the dissertation shows how the Grimm tales follow no particular pattern when it comes to the use of horror and hope. Horror and hope in a tale can prove to be great tools with which to teach morals to children. By having a moral, the tale would then, in turn, provide hope to the child’s protector – hope that the child would grow up to be an upstanding citizen in society. Yet, a guardian might find it horrifying that by reading a random Grimm fairy tale they could be giving their child the wrong impression as to what is right and wrong since some tales do not necessarily follow moralistic principles. The second chapter of this dissertation analyses a classic adaptation of a fairy tale by Disney and discusses the fact that Disney seems to lean towards hope to such an extent that horror is eliminated. However, there is a possible horror element when one analyses the message the tale could be delivering to young children. The third chapter of this dissertation explores just how much children might be influenced by what they see in fairy tales anyway.