When on reads the Grimm Fairy Tales, one comes to the conclusion that Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are attempting to express their feelings about the world and the contradictions that exist within it. This collection of stories reveal the irony of living the human life as well as those of other creatures, some being happy with their lot in life while others remain sad due to their poverty as well as the tragic events that happen in their lives. The Grimm brothers use their stories to display the true nature of human beings; that nothing is ever permanent and that changes occur once in a while. Throughout their stories, one comes to the realization that there is the extensive use of imagery, symbolism, figurative language, style and tone in relation to the development of the themes involved.
The use of imagery is very extensive in throughout the Grimm Fairy Tales especially when making contrasts between the beauty of the world and the ugliness which is contained within it. This can be seen when, in Tom Thumb, the two men, not caring that their offer to buy Tom from his father would end up separating them. In fact, their only concern seems to be able to make a lot of money using Tom and they do not care at all concerning the feeling of alienation that they would be subjecting him to. The image of Tom as a tiny individual is used to show just how much individuals look down upon the less privileged individuals in society and how they make every attempt to exploit these people. It can be said that the image of Tom Thumb as a little fellow shows that despite his size, he is able to survive in a world that is hostile to his existence as Tom uses his wits to ensure that he is able to survive within it. This image may also be used to show the price which human beings have to pay because of their greed as well as their unthinking ambitions, and this instance can also be perceived in Hans in Luck. The image that is presented of Hans attempting to make his life better as well as to have something useful shows how human ambitions can at times be detrimental instead of helpful because he ends up losing all of his wages as well as all that he attained through barter. While this is the case, in most of the Grimm Fairy Tales, the image of happiness is continuously displayed with very few instances where there is any form of sadness, showing that most of these stories were written for the purpose of entertaining children.
Symbolism is a major style used in the development of the theme of the Grimm Fairy Tales and an excellent example of this, is in The Fisherman and His Wife, where the wife, despite having everything wants more; a symbol of her greed. The fact that she continues to demand more from her husband despite having everything that she needs can be considered to be symbolic of human nature, where we are never satisfied with what we have but continue to aspire for more. In addition, in the story Old Sultan, Sultan the dog can be considered to symbolize unwavering loyalty because despite the favor which the wolf did him in saving his life, Sultan decided to bark at the wolf whenever he comes to steal his master’s sheep. Furthermore, the fight between domestic animals and wild animals in this story shows that despite the poor treatment that the former receive from their masters, they are extremely loyal, while the latter are very cowardly creatures.
The Grimm brothers use figurative language to depict the contrasting characteristics of the characters that they depict in their stories, and a good example of this is that of the talking wolf in Tom Thumb which is an oxymoron used to depict the possible unique ability of Tom to communicate with animals. It is well known that wolves do not have human speech and the Grimm brothers depicting it as talking clearly shows the contrast in a situation where it would normally be impossible for normal conversation to take place. Figurative language can be seen all over the Grimm Fairy Tales and it is used to express the points or instances which can be considered to be the most important in the stories.
The tone of the stories can be considered to range from either being neutral to ironical. This is because of the contrast which the Grimm brothers attempt to make between the different characters in their stories, often depicting extreme good and extreme evil. The tone of the stories can be said to show that the world is a very beautiful place to be born into if one does not mind there not being any happiness all the time. The tone in these stories can be said to bring about quite a number of ironical scenarios, where an environment which is described as being beautiful is infested with evil people such as the thieves in Tom Thumb. In addition, the tone of the stories, such as that of The Elves and the Shoemaker, displays the advantages of doing good because eventually, these good acts are going to be rewarded. It can further be said that the tone of the stories depict the true feelings of their writers about the world and how the situation within it affects the different people living in it. The irony in the stories, such as The Fisherman and his Wife, helps to deliver the writers’ message to the reader as well as fostering an understanding of the subject matter involved.
In conclusion, the use of imagery, symbolism and figurative language in these stories greatly contributes to a greater understanding of the stories. They create situations which are familiar to the reader and they allow him to decipher the true meaning of what the stories is saying. Despite what many people who read it may think, they are not the kind of stories to be taken lightly because they are full of lessons. Instead, they have many lessons to give about the reality of human life in the world and the main message which can be made out of it is that there is not guarantee of happiness in the world and that we should live in it as best as we can.