Analysis of Rumpelstiltskin

An Analysis of Rumpelstiltskin
1857 Version by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

Themes: Power and Greed

1. Power:

The story of Rumpelstiltskin opens with a conversation between a poor miller and a king. The miller wants to impress the king, and appear more powerful in the king's eyes. He boasts, "I have a daughter who can spin straw into gold." The king, who understands the link between wealth and power, invites the daughter to the castle to put this skill to the test.

The first two nights, the king demonstrates ultimate power over the girl when he threatens to kill her if she fails to spin all the straw in the rooms into gold. On the third night, he informs her that if she again succeeds in spinning the straw to gold, she shall become his wife. He does not ask her opinion; she has no power to refuse his decision.

2. Greed:

The king's greed for more gold keeps the miller's daughter in the castle for three nights under threat of death. When he takes her as a wife, he thinks to himself, "Even if she is only a miller's daughter, I will not find a richer wife in all the world."

The little man who comes to the girl's aid each night and spins the straw into gold is very greedy. He takes no pity on the girl and her plight, but asks each time what she will give him if he helps her. He takes the only two possessions she owns, her necklace and her ring. When she has nothing more of value to give him, he makes her promise to give him her first born child.

Imagery and Symobolism:

1. Turning Straw to Gold:

The classic rags-to-riches storyline seems at play here. The miller is poor, so his claim that his daughter can spin straw into gold represents his desire to get-rich-quick without earning his money. It also foreshadows the overnight transformation of the girl from the poor miller's daughter to the queen.

2. The Number Three:

The number three appears several times throughout this fairy tale. "(The little man) sat down before the spinning wheel, and whir, whir, whir, three times pulled, and the spool was full." The king insists the girl spin all the straw in a total of three rooms, therefore giving her three chances to prove her talent. After the birth of the queen's first child, the little man returns to collect what she owes him. He gives her three days to figure out his name or he will take the child.

"The number three is a very mystical and spiritual number featured in many folktales (three wishes, three guesses, three little pigs, three bears, three billy goats gruff)" - (Britannica Online Encyclopedia). In Christianity, there is the Holy Trinity - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. When talking about time, there is the past, present and future. The significance of the number three can be analyzed in almost any context, and in almost any subject. The fact that the number three occurs so often in this, and many fairy tales emphasizes the importance of the number to societies of the past and the present.

3. 'If by then you know my name, then you shall keep your child.'

Many German fairy tales, like Rumpelstiltskin, include the challenge of finding out the antagonist's name. It may be that superstitious people felt unnamed evil was more powerful or dangerous than evil you could put a name to; as if knowing the name gave the evil definition, bringing it out of the darkness and into the light where it wasn't as scary as before.

When the Queen reveals that she has figured out Rumpelstiltskin's name, he screams, "The devil told you that!" He stomps his right foot so hard that the ground swallows him up to his waist. His demise comes when he takes hold of his left foot and rips himself up the middle in two. This, I think, demonstrates how he/evil cannot exist once it has been named.

Note: I don't know where this final observation fits in with the analysis, but a line in the story caught my attention:

The queen took fright and offered the little man all the wealth of the kingdom if he would let her keep the child, but the little man said, "No. Something living is dearer to me than all the treasure of the world."

I thought it was interesting that the miller cared more about power than his daughter when he offered her services to the king; the king cared more about acquiring gold than the life of the girl; but the little evil man valued something living above material wealth. I wonder if this was the storyteller's way of slipping this lesson in for children, or if it was a later addition to round out the villain of the story?

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I received a review of this assignment by a wonderfully talented writer, Olivia - Happy New Year WDC , who is German and a long-time fan of the Brothers Grimm and their work. She offered an interesting commentary in response to the question in my final 'Note'. I wanted to include her insight here:

If you don't mind I might have an explanation for why Rumpelstilchen (the German spelling of his name) rather wanted the child than all the treasures the Queen had to offer.

Evil - personalized in Rumpelstilzchen - always aims at the weakest spot of the individual it haunts. The weakest spot of every individual is either its own life or that of the ones dearest to it. Ergo it would hurt the Queen most and increases evils pleasure the most when she suffers most. Material values can always be somehow replaced - although not always to extent it was before - but a human life and especially that of one's own child can never be replaced. See?

It's the same with criminals taking hostages and requesting ransom. They know that it will be paid because the adressed don't want to lose their loved one(s) and do anything they need to do to get them back so that their worst fear won't come true.

Exactly that did Rumpelstilzchen do to the Queen: finding her weak spot and triggering her worst fear. You are a mother yourself. Isn't it your worst fear to lose to child and wouldn't you do anything to prevent that?

Thank you, Olivia! Your thoughts are much appreciated!