Week 23- #GRIMMread2019
This week I'm focusing on the Goose Girl. I found The King of the Golden Mountain very interesting as well, and wanted to write something about it, but my response to the Goose Girl just ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would.
Blood Magic- The Queen slices her own finger and let's three drops of blood fall onto a white handkerchief, which she gives the Princess. This imagery is very similar to that of the three drops of the mother's blood on the snow in "Little Snow White". She advises the Princess to keep it carefully because it will help her on her way. It isn't entirely clear what sort of power the blood magic gives her. The drops of blood speak disappointment when the princess drinks from the stream like an animal. How does this help her? Is the blood just letting her know that the Queen would be distraught to see her brought so low? That doesn't seem very helpful to me. Or is it an admonishment to the Princess that she should stand up to the waiting-maid? That's a bit more constructive. When the Princess loses the blood-spotted handkerchief, she isn't even aware of it. She doesn't take care of her mother's gift, which indicates that it wasn't that important to her to begin with. The waiting-maid does notice, though, and she is glad because now she has power over her. It doesn't seem to me that the Princess had power to begin with, but this indicates that she did. So, this part got me thinking. The Princess did have power, but she chose not to use it.
Virtue or Vice?- The Princess is described as humble, meek etc. Well, so are Cinderella, Allerleirauh, etc. The difference is that Allerleirauh, for example, while practicing humilty, took action to fight against injustice. By fleeing her kingdom covered in animals skins and soot, she was protecting herself from evil, and she was clever in working for her restoration. The Princess doesn't seem to fight for herself at all. This begs the question. Are humility, meekness, and obedience virtues? In Grimm's day they were considered virtues, especially for women, but they are often considered weaknesses by today's society at large. Still, many Christians, including myself, consider these virtues. The Princess, while described as humble and meek, really isn't so, not in a virtuous manner. Here are the reasons why.
1) She has a responsibility to her mother, the Queen. Not only does she owe obedience to the Queen as her subject, she owes to her as a daughter to her mother. She doesn't take care of the Queen's gift, nor does she follow the Queen's advice.
2) She has a responsibility to her kingdom and the Prince's kingdom. While the Princess shows a lack of respect in regard to her mother, the Queen, she is quick to give blind obedience to her waiting-maid, over whom she has authority She allows the maid to have power over her. First, she allows it by immediately giving into the maid's demands, allowing herself to be humiliated. Next, she gives the maid future power over her by losing her mother's handkerchief. By doing this, she allows the vicious maid to take her place as a false bride, essentially giving the maid power over the kingdoms for which the Princess is responsible for.
I would argue that the Princess doesn't display the virtues of meekness, humility, etc. Showing the maid kindness and mercy, or gently correcting her when the maid treats her badly would be virtuous, but allowing the maid to take her power, place, and kingdoms without taking any kind of stand against her isn't virtuous at all.
Autonomy- So far the Princess, who is nameless, has given away her autonomy. (I find it interesting that the only named characters are Falada, the talking horse, and Conrad, the goose boy.) She is under oath at this point, under pain of death, not to speak to anyone about her situation with the maid. So, she is sent to help Conrad tend the geese. Her autonomy slips even further away, as she is no longer "the Princess". She is now "the Goose Girl". When she discovers that Falada is to be killed, she finally takes a bit of action. She bribes the "executioner" to hang his head at the end of the tunnel she uses every day (Why she didn't bribe him to save the horse's life is beyond me). Whever she passes him, he basically repeats what the drops of blood said to her before they were lost. This indicates that a bit of her power has been regained. When she is in the fields, she let's her hair down. Throughout history, women's hair has great significance. It's been considered a symbol of beauty, feminity, glory, etc. She sees that Conrad wants to take a few of her hairs. She tells the wind to blow Conrad's hat away to give her time to put up her hair to prevent him from stealing it. In this way, she regains some of her autonomy by defending her hair against Conrad. She does this three times. She is finally saying "No" and beginning to stand up for herself.
The Oath- Oaths are binding even today, but the Princess made this oath under duress. She was threatened with death. Therefore, I don't believe the oath would be binding, but she clearly does. Again, keeping an oath is a virtue, but keeping an unbinding oath that undermines your responsibilities and puts the kingdoms in danger is not.
The King- the Prince's father is basically the fairy godfather of this story. He is the one who takes an interest in her, and investigates to find the truth about her. He is clever, telling her to tell the iron stove what has happened, and listening on the other end of the pipe, while she spills her guts. This way, she is confident that she is not breaking her oath. He gives her a nice royal makeover, and he introduces her to the Prince, who is delighted that he doesn't have to marry the cruel maid. The king could be symbolic of God. He is a father figure to her. He sees her trouble, and her efforts. He hears her "confession" story. Finally, because of her faith in him to help her, he restores the Goose Girl to her true identity, the Princess.
Weakness vs. Malice-- The maid is asked by the king what punishment should someone who did what she did to the Princess be given? The maid, who doesn't recognize the Princess, nor recognize herself in the Kings question, says that person should be stripped naked, put in barrel studded with nails, and dragged by white horses until dead. The king then tells her that she has pronounced her own sentence. That punishment is torture. Torture is never acceptable, but in this story I think it is meant as an example. The princess and the waiting-maid are examples of the ways in which people sin. The waiting maid is driven by malice, as evidenced by her treatment of the Princess, and her cruel choice of punishment. She shows no signs of remorse for her actions, and her cruelty finally catches up with her. There is no evidence of malice in the princess. Her actions, or inactions, are a result of weakness. she is remorseful, as evidenced by her small efforts to regain her autonomy. Even though she is still too weak at this point to rectify the situation, she chooses to put her faith in the king, who has the power to help her, and she is restored and gets her happily ever after.
The Princess started out as a downright unsympathetic character to me, but then I realized that she is all of us. As humans, we all fall through weakness. We just need to acknowledge our brokenness, do our best, and leave the rest to God.
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