The Frog Prince by
the Brothers Grimm
Genre: Traditional Literature, Folklore, Fairy Tale (Children's)
I read this
classic fairy tale in the Classics of Children’s Literature (6th Edition) by
John W. Griffith and Charles H. Frey. Published by Pearson in Upper Saddle
River, NJ in 2005.
My initial
response to the Grimms’ The Frog Prince
is that it clearly follows the mythos, or master plot, that structures many
fairy tales. For instance, the Prince was victimized by a “wicked witch” and
altered into a frog (p. 45). The Prince’s loyal servant was so distraught by the
alteration that his heart had to be protected with iron belts—this information
not only promotes a message of loyalty but also offers evidence to reinforce
the wickedness of the witch. Her act was so ghastly it had dire repercussions
beyond the Prince. The Prince, now a frog, spent his time in the woods,
assumingly encountering adventures until the King’s daughter comes along to
offer a resolution. The King also contents to the Prince marrying his daughter,
which consequently results in the familiar fairy tale ending of a restructured
family. In contrast, The Frog Prince
is different from other fairy tales because the King had to order his daughter
to hold true to her word and free the Prince from his altered state.
The Grimms’ must
have had some purpose or alternative function in mind when writing the story in
this way. To better understand this, I asked myself, how would the story have
been different if the King did not influence his daughter? What if we deleted
the lines: “that which thou hast promised must thou perform,” “so go now and
let him in,” and “That which thou hast promised in thy time of necessity, must
thou perform.” (p. 45)? I have a sneaky suspicion that the daughter would have
left the Prince (the frog) sitting on the doorstep and she would have been
punished in some monstrous way for her deception. The King’s influence was
critical in the movement of the plot and ultimately led to the resolution being
possible.
Knowing the
Grimms’ lost their father early in life,
it could be they sought to make the King (a father) a hero. Especially due to
the fact of the daughter being the youngest. In fairy tales, the youngest is
typically disadvantaged and despite her grand beauty, she lacked understanding
and wisdom and her struggle with this ethical dilemma might not have been
overcome without intervention from the father. She needed a hero and the King
served that function. It could also be that the King serves as a divine force
or hero for the Prince, in addition to his influence over his daughter. The
Prince overcomes his frog state because of the daughter learning about
integrity and setting aside her own discomfort to repay a good deed.
The King’s influence corresponds
to the influence the Cat held in Perrault’s The
Master Cat, or Puss in Boots. The youngest son would not have been able to
overcome his misfortune without the cleverness of the Cat to manipulate
others and help the youngest son achieve a higher status in society. However,
there is an obvious difference here. In The
Frog Prince, the King was intervening to prevent deception and in The Master Cat, the Cat was intervening
to assert deception. The Brothers Grimm seem to be more meticulous in ensuring
that their tales taught values, while Perrault’s emphasis might have been more
directed on the art of storytelling. However, I do prefer the Grimms’ stories
and the language is very much a cause of that.
