Hansel and Gretel

enfour

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　　    Pigeons are considered death omens in some superstitions. "A strange pigeon, especially if white, alighting on the house or flying in front of one indicates death" (Opie & Tatem 1989).
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　　    30.  Birds:  Birds are predominant throughout this story. They keep the children trapped in the woods by eating the breadcrumbs. A bird leads the children to the witch's house. A bird also provides the final means of their escape by helping them cross the water (Tatar 2002).
　　    A bird can symbolize air, wind, time, immortality, the female principle, aspiration, prophecy, love, and freedom (Olderr 1986).
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　　    31. Third:  Three symbolizes hope and resolution of conflict. It is generally a favorable number (Olderr 1986). Three is a popular number in fairy tales, usually offering change or resolution in the third instance of a certain event or series of actions. Since it is the third morning in the story, we know that Hansel and Gretel are about to have a new experience.
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　　    32.  Snow-white bird:  Following an animal in a forest and being led to a confrontation with an evil being occurs in other tales (von Franz 1970). Because the bird represents salvation, joy, and peace through its color, Dieckmann states that the children are supposed to meet the witch with positive results. The encounter is for their good (Dieckmann 1986).
　　    Julius Heuscher believes the white bird or dove symbolizes the need to never forget home after one has left it (Heuscher 1974).
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　　    33.  Cottage was made of bread and roofed with cakes, while the window was made of transparent sugar: Note that gingerbread is not used in the description of the house, only bread. Germany's rich tradition of creating gingerbread houses and other items has caused the house to be described as gingerbread in subsequent rewritings and tellings. To read an excellent history of gingerbread as a food, visit The History of Gingerbread.
　　    Cake is the food of the rich, a symbol of feasting and plenty (Olderr 1986). In a land where bread is a precious food, cake would be a luxury beyond the children's imaginations. Sugar would also be a precious commodity in time of famine, especially appealing to children with their reputation for sweet tooths.
            
            

enfour

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　　    The witch's cottage is one of the more popular elements in illustrations of the tale. To see several illustrators' visions of the house, visit the Illustrations of Hansel and Gretel page.
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　　    34. A regular blow-out: Blow-out is a colloquialism from the UK meaning "An excessive spree of drinking, eating, spending or sex" (Duckworth 2003). Andrew Lang considers phrase this to be an example of Hansel's vulgarity in a footnote to the story in The Blue Fairy Book.
　　    The children would get physically sick if they gorged on the house after being near starvation for so long.
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　　    35.  "Nibble, nibble, little mouse,/Who's nibbling my house?":  Note the woman's gentle words despite Hansel and Gretel's wanton destruction of her house. The children are literally eating her out of house and home, but she is not upset. She only becomes abusive later after she has locked up Hansel and is sure of her prey.
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　　    36.  "Tis Heaven's own child,/The tempest wild,":  The children are trying to make the woman believe the wind is causing the noise outside her house. I prefer Jack Zipes' translation of the children's reply for clarity:
　　    "The wind, the wind; it's very mild,
　　    blowing like the Heavenly Child" (Zipes 2001).
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　　    37.  Ancient dame leaning on a staff: The woman has the appearance of a venerable grandmother or village wise woman. The children are placated by her harmless appearance.
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　　    38.  No ill shall befall you: This promise provides a sense of foreboding. Hansel and Gretel's good fortune seems too good to be true and it is.
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　　    39.  Old witch:  Belief in witches exists in nearly every culture worldwide (Leach 1949). In Jungian psychology, the witch is a personification of evil which eventually consumes itself. The witch symbolizes the destructive power of the unconscious (Luthi 1976).
            
            

ensix

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　　    According to Hans Dieckmann's Jungian interpretation of the tale, the witch is evil incarnate with no hint of good in her (Dieckmann 1986).
　　    Jack Zipes finds it interesting that the children never blame their parents for their abandonment. He states that the witch symbolizes the feudal system with her greed and treasures. When the children kill her, the story shows the "hatred which the peasantry felt for the aristocracy as hoarders and oppressors" (Zipes 1979).
　　    In other tales of the "Children and the Ogre" Aarne-Thompson classification, the children do not necessarily encounter a witch. The villain may be a giant, ogre, or other monster. You can read more on the Tales Similar to Hansel and Gretel page.
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　　    40.  She killed, cooked, and ate him: The witch is a cannibal. Cannibalism is one of the most reviled crimes in the world. It is considered the quintessential expression of savagery and evil. Charges of cannibalism have long been used as justifiable reasons for enslaving or destroying a population or person.
　　    Gerhard Mueller discusses cannibalism in his criminological analysis of the tale. He cannot find laws concerning cannibalism and its punishment in Europe during the Middle Ages. However, he finds it interesting that cannibalism appears often in fairy tales suchas this one. He states that "in the minds of the people, cannibalism lived on, if only as a nightmare" (Mueller 1986).
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　　    41.  A regular feast-day: A feast-day is a day designated for feasting usually associated with a religious holiday or festival. Feast days are often associated with the Roman and Anglican churches. For example, the Feast of the Circumcision is a feast day celebrating the circumcision of Jesus; it is celebrated on January 1st (WordNet).
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　　    42.  Red eyes, and cannot see far: Red eyes are an image associated with sorrow and with demonic fury. Eyesight is associated with mental perception, indicating that the witch's poor eyesight means poor reasoning ability, which allows Hansel and Gretel to best her (Olderr 1986). The Grimms are setting up the circumstances for Hansel and Gretel's escape from the witch.
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　　    43.  A keen sense of smell: The giant in Jack and the Beanstalk is another popular fairy tale villain with a keen sense of smell.
            
            

enthree

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　　    44.  When he's fat I'll eat him up: Fat on animal meat is considered to add flavor and tenderness to the meat. Lean meat is considered tough and less of a delicacy in culinary circles.
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　　    45.  Finger:  "The forces of the unconscious that can emerge without warning and hinder efforts of the conscious" are represented by the finger (Olderr 1986).
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　　    46.  Bone:  A bone can represent either life or death. It also represents the indestructible part of man (Olderr 1986). At this point in the story, Hansel's life is in greatest jeopardy. His fate is not known, but the trickery and symbolism associated with the bone foreshadows that he will survive the danger presented by the witch.
　　    Joyce Thomas comments on the trickery and imagery of the bone. The bone provides the imagery of deprivation and starvation, one of the primary themes of the tale. Also, the bone Hansel uses "imitates the fate awaiting his flesh (the bone could well be the gnawed remains of the cage's previous occupant)" (Thomas 1989).
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　　    47. Fattened so slowly:  Trickery is one of the most popular methods for dealing with the evil in fairy tales. This implies that the trickster has experienced and accepted evil within him or her self, allowing "insight into the strategy of the adversary" (Jacoby 1992).
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　　    48.  Kind heaven help us now!: Gretel prays for heavenly assistance. Once again, these religious references were added by the Grimms.
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　　    49.  Oven:  Hans Dieckmann's Jungian analysis interprets the oven as a womb symbol or symbol of birth and transformation (Dieckmann 1986).
　　    Derek Brewer considers the oven to be both an ally as a form of destruction and a trap as a symbol of the witch/mother's womb. Consider this provocative statement from Brewer: "The womb will be a tomb if the growing individual is forced back into it" (Brewer 1980).
            
            

enfive

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　　    Jack Zipes also points out that the story of the oven as a means of execution in a German tale has been particularly disturbing for adults since the Holocaust (Zipes 1997). In 2003, author Louise Murphy wrote, The True Story of Hansel and Gretel, a book set during WWII and the Holocaust using elements from Hansel and Gretel.
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　　    50.  Iron door: Superstition has long credited iron with the power of driving away witches and evil spirits (Waring 1978). Locking the witch behind the oven's iron door perhaps prevents her from escaping.
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　　    51.  Perish miserably:  Burning occurs often in fairy tales. It is symbolic of purification (Matthews 1986). The witch being burnt can also represent evil destroying itself (Luthi 1976).
　　    Gerhard Mueller, who has studied the criminological aspects of several tales, considers the death by fire to be suitable for the witch. In the Middle Ages, the charge of witchcraft was punished by fire. In other words, the witch's demise supports the due process of law in real life during the time of the tale (Mueller 1986).
　　    In The Magic Circle, by Donna Jo Napoli, the Hansel and Gretel tale is told from the witch's perspective. The witch is under a spell that makes her eat children. She crawls into the oven knowing that Gretel will push her in and burn her, thus freeing her from the life she despises.
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　　    52. Then Hansel sprang like a bird out of a cage when the door is opened: Here we have more bird imagery with this simile describing Hansel's release from the stable.
　　    Gretel is not the only fairy tale sister to rescue her brother. Also read Brother and Sister and The Six Swans on SurLaLune to read tales in which sisters rescue their brothers from spells or death.
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　　    53. Pearls and precious stones:  Hansel and Gretel feel no guilt for taking the witch's treasure, similar to Jack with the Giant's treasure in Jack and the Beanstalk. The witch's attempt to kill them and subsequent death is implied as justification for taking the jewels.
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enone

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　　    54.  Lake:  Bettelheim considers the crossing of the water to be a journey to a higher level of existence for the children. He finds the crossing to be similar to the rite of passage represented in baptism or other riturals associated with new beginnings (Bettelheim 1976). In my opinion, this is one of the few elements of Bettelheim's analysis for the tale that "holds water," pun entirely intentional.
　　    Water is a symbol of the feminine and of the unconcious in psychoanalysis (Matthews 1986).
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　　    55.  White duck: According to Diann Rusch-Feja, the duck represents a maternal replacement since it represents a feminine aspect in Germanic tradition along with swans and geese (Rusch-Feja 1995). The duck rescues the children when their own mother figures fail them.
　　    The duck is a sign of fidelity and of freedom from worry (Olderr 1986). The "helpful animal" is a fairly common fairy tale motif.
　　    The duck was added by the Grimms. It was not in the version of the tale they originally collected.
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　　    56.  Carry us across separately: Gretel appears to have achieved a new maturity with her defeat of the witch. She no longer needs to hold Hansel's hand, but can cross the lake separate from him. This also shows that she is thinking beyond her own needs and considering the abilities of someone--or something--else. She does want to overburden the duck, a compassionate thought when she has had few previously.
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　　    57.  The woman had died:  The stepmother's death allows the children to come home to live with their father and share their new wealth without the threat of the stepmother. Her death also serves as a punishment for her ill treatment of the children.
　　    Many critics state that the witch and the stepmother actually represent the same character or threat to the children. The witch is an extension of the horrible stepmother. The death of the witch also means the stepmother is dead. Their deaths are simultaneous in the story. The stepmother want