Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen was born in Denmark in 1805 into a poor social class. His father was a shoe maker and his mother a washer woman. Despite his humble upbringings his greatest desire was to be famous.
Next to the Bible and Shakespeare, Andersen’s tales are the most translated in the world and have been translated into100 languages (Hastings 2003: 1).

Andersen’s upbringing meant that throughout his childhood he was exposed to oral folktales, so that unlike many folktale authors ‘he did not have to collect or read the folk tradition; he acquired it naturally’(Hastings 203:1).
Throughout his life Andersen strived for acceptance from the upper-class society. It is also well known that he was always thwarted in love, falling for women and men beyond his reach who were unable to return his sentiments. The feeling of being an outsider, someone who was always striving to, but never fitting in, is a reoccurring theme in Andersen’s stories. Characters such as The Ugly Duckling and The Little Mermaid echo his own character and feelings and reveal much about his personal struggles and pain.

Origins of the story

Andersen’s fairy tale was first published in the collection of 1836-37. In a letter to a friend Andersen described it as ‘the only one of my works that has affected me while I was writing it’. (Wullschlager 2000: 167) In many folk stories about mermaids they are depicted as hostile to humans either luring them to a watery grave with their singing or tempting men with their sexual appeal and beauty.
While The Little Mermaid contains common fairy tale and folklore elements, including those about mermaids, this tale is the literary creation of Hans Christian Andersen. It is connected to various folk traditions about mermaids and water sprites but unlike many folktales which are reworked through history and cultures The Little Mermaid has no direct oral forerunner. Andersen, however, does admit to his knowledge and consideration of Undine , a story by Friedrich de La Motte Fouque and Goethe’s Mesuline. 

The Little Mermaid.

Much of the popularity of Mermaids today and the continuence of their appearance in literature, can be attributed to Hans Christian Andersens classic story of a little mermaid who longed for an immortal soul. Andersen reverses the common depiction of mermaids as treacherous 'by making his heroine in love with the surface world and actively rescue the prince' ( Hastings 200?)

Synopsis.

1. A widowed sea king lives at the bottom of the ocean with his wise mother and his six delightful daughters. The youngest was the prettiest of them all.
2. Nothing made this youngest of the mermaids happier than to hear about the world of people up above.
3. When she is 15 the youngest daughter finally is allowed to swim to the surface and see the world she has long dreamed about.
4. She observes a young prince and rescues him from drowning when his ship is wrecked in a storm
5. In questioning her grandmother, the little mermaid learns that unlike her kind, who can live for 300 years, human beings have an immortal soul. In contrast to this the sea folk, when they die, will turn into foam on the sea. She declares that she would give up her 300 years for a chance to be human for one day and get a place in the heavenly realm.
6. The little mermaid visits the sea witch who grants her wish that her fishtail be turned into legs. However there is a price to pay. To walk on legs would be terribly painful and the sea witch cuts out the mermaids tongue as payment. She is also told that she will never be a mermaid again and that unless she wins the prince’s love and marries him she will not receive an immortal soul. However should he marry another the little mermaid’s heart would break and she would turn into foam on the sea.
7. Once in human form the little mermaid is found by the prince who becomes very fond of her but his love is reserved for another whom he thinks is responsible for his rescue.
8. The prince eventually finds this princess and marries her. The mermaid is given one last chance to save herself by killing the prince. Instead she chooses self sacrifice and throws herself into the sea where she is turned into sea foam. However, her soul does not perish as has been foretold. Instead she becomes a daughter of the air who through good works will gain immortality after 300 years.

Undine
Undine is the story of a young girl who is actually a changeling water-sprite. She lives with her foster parents who brought her up after the mysterious loss of their own daughter. Undine is incredibly beautiful, her nature wild, mysterious and mischievous. At the same time she exudes an aura of innocence. She desires to gain a human soul of which she lacks. Undine marries a knight, Huldbrand, who becomes enraptured with her after he stumbles upon their isolated forest home. Huldbrand takes his wife to live with him in his castle but gradually falls out of love with her at the same time being drawn to another. Undine returns to her watery element. On the day of Huldbrand’s wedding to Bertalda, the woman who has stolen his heart, Undine returns and drowns Huldbrand in her embrace, though she does not wish to.