Hansel and Gretel

The tale by The Brothers Grimm of “Hansel and Gretel” brings us back to the world where the female character is this kind of weak, whiney, scared little girl, and the character needs to be protected and taken care of by her brother. 

“The two children had not been able to fall asleep because of their hunger, and they heard what the stepmother had said to the father.”

“Gretel cried bitter tears and said to Hansel, "It is over with us!"”

"Be quiet, Gretel," said Hansel, "and don't worry. I know what to do."” (Grimm 1857)

In the beginning of the story she is just that, she depends on her brother 100 percent, and has no wit or capabilities to come up with plans to rescue them when being left alone in the forest to die by the parents. She is crying and being comforted by her brother at all times. He is the strong one; she is the one just being able to follow her brother’s lead.

But something happens towards the end of the story, when the children are trapped in the evil witch’s house, and Gretel is forced to feed her brother week after week to fatten him up for the witch to cook and eat him eventually. There is a moment when I saw the scared little girl that Gretel was in another light. When she was called upon by the witch to the fiery oven, another side of Gretel came out: 

"Climb in," said the witch, "and see if it is hot enough to put the bread in yet."

“And when Gretel was inside, she intended to close the oven, and bake her, and eat her as well.”

“But Gretel saw what she had in mind, so she said, "I don't know how to do that. How can I get inside?"

"Stupid goose," said the old woman. "The opening is big enough. See, I myself could get in." And she crawled up stuck her head into the oven. Then Gretel gave her a shove, causing her to fall in. Then she closed the iron door and secured it with a bar.” (Grimm 1857)

Gretel showed that she was clever even smart, and also very brave. She saw the witches plan to kill her in addition to her brother, and decided to outwit her. And she did by pushing the witch into the oven after pretending that she did not know how to climb in. She ended up being the one rescuing her brother, a great way to end the story in the feministic perspective. Compared to other folk and fairy tales we have read, such as “Little Red Riding Hood”, “Snow White”. This is the first one where the female character turns out to be the heroine of the story, saving the day.