our project
project overview
The Grimms’ Fairy Tales were published in 1812 contained 86 tales, which were to pay tribute to the German culture. The goal for these stories was not for them to become bedtime stories. During the early 1800s, the Napoleonic Wars inspired them to write and share these stores to display and preserve their heritage of their country. The Grimm Brothers, Jacob (1785-1863) and Wilhem (1786-1859) Grimm were born into a fairly wealthy family, until their father died in 1796. After this, they were forced to pave their own path. The brothers attended the University of Marburg and were to study law and continue their civic duty, like their father, but their love for language and country overtook their interests. The tales have since been translated from German to English. The German Tales that have been explored here are the orginial 1812 versions, and the equivalent English Tales that are from D. L. Ashliman, which were translated from 1998-2020. The scope of this project is to compare the original German Tales to the translated English version. We are focusing on the female characters to determine these comparisons. A major distinction between these versions is the difference in time period. This leads us to questions, such as how are women portrayed differently, if they are? Our analysis of these tales have lead us to better understand how time and culture is a factor in these versions of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales.