Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Question 2 Response: Heroine in the The Robber Bridegroom
The Grimm’s The Robber Bridegroom presents the heroine as an intelligent, versus disobedient, female. For instance, the heroine recognizes from the very beginning that her bridegroom should not be trusted, even though she is going against her own father’s judgment: “The maiden, however, did not love him the way a bride-to-be should love her bridegroom, nor did she trust him. Whenever she looked at him or thought about him, her heart shuddered with dread.” Also, in no way did the heroine disobey her bridegroom—if anything she was obedient for him against her own intuition. For example, she did not want to visit her bridegroom, but he asked her to and she obeyed. It was not her fault that she saw the terrifying sight that she did. If I remember correctly, the bridegroom returned home drunk and never even mentioned his bride-to-be’s expected visit, as if he had forgotten. Lastly, it was clever of the heroine to save the finger and present it at the end of her dream recap, in front of all her guests on the day of her wedding.
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I also liked the way the heroine was presented in this story. While the bridegroom was a drunken murderer, she was clever and worked her way out of her situation while still being a dutiful daughter.
ReplyDeleteI do agree. This was my argument for Mr. Fox as well. There is no disobedience, just cleverness
ReplyDeleteI agree that it was cleverness, not disobedience, however it is very fitting for it to be disobedience since it is a female character in a fairytale.
ReplyDeleteyou make a very good point about the bride being clever. I had forgotten that she was asked by the bridegroom to come visit him, and then he comes home drunk and never mentions that his bride was supposed to be there. The only thing I can see is...maybe in this case disobedience is her deception/hiding in the corner. Just a thought...
ReplyDeleteI would have to disagree. I think that this story is about obedience and I don't think that the girl is that intelligent. First of all the house is in a spooky part of the woods. Common sense should tell her not to go there at all and at the very least with an escort. Secondly she is warned not to go in the house by a talking bird. You should listen to magical guard animals especially birds. But she doesn't and explores the WHOLE house in the middle of the creepy woods. The only reason she gets out of the house is because she listens and obeys the old woman. I also feel like the death of the cannibal can not be contributed solely to the bride because we are note told who came up with the idea of cornering the murder and the telling of the story. It could have been the father's idea.
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