Date of Award

4-4-2024

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Department

English

First Advisor

Sonia Badenas

Abstract

During the nineteenth century, the Brothers Grimm undertook the task of preserving German folklore during a time of cultural upheaval and struggle for national identity. One such tale, Briar Rose, emerges as a site of ideological interplay between Christian themes and Teutonic traditions. By analyzing the Grimms’ 1812 (first) and 1857 (last) editions, this thesis investigates how the text reflects and synthesizes these distinct belief systems into a coherent narrative.

The research explores how Christian and pagan elements co-exist within Briar Rose and what these interactions reveal about the cultural and religious dynamics within the folktale. The study argues that Briar Rose demonstrates how oral traditions evolved to reconcile spiritual paradigms under the Grimms’ editorial strategies. The symbolism of motifs such as the curse, the spindle, and the thorns illustrates the tension and harmonization between Christian notions of redemption and resurrection and Teutonic concepts of fate and nature.

This thesis builds on previous research on folklore as a medium of cultural preservation, extending the discussion to focus on the Grimms’ role in constructing a shared German identity, positioning Briar Rose as a cultural artifact embodying the evolution and merging of the ideologies that it traversed.

Subject Area

Fairy tales--Germany--History and criticism; Christianity in literature; Grimm, Wilhelm, 1786-1859; Grimm, Jacob, 1785-1863

Download

Share

COinS