Hansel and Gretel in pictures by Franz Muller-Munster
Hansel and Grethel is a world-known fairy tale with countless retellings and adaptations. Two centuries after their first publishing in the famous collection by Brothers Grimm this story about two lost kids in the woods facing the evil and eventually overgrowing their own limitations still inspire numerous artists.
There are many stories with similar themes yet Hansel and Grethel stands out in the world cultural heritage. But a more detailed looked shows many important differences in seemingly almost unimportant details by which the versions in different books differ. Let's walk through the story with a help of beautiful illustrations by Franz Muller-Munster.
The story starts with a dark and tense dramatic situation. Parents don't have enough resources. Shall they stop spending the food on kids and focus on their own survival? Children overhear this conversation and are rightly worried.
Different authors decided on different approaches. Some focus on guilt - only one of the parents is so cruel to propose such a thing. In older versions it's the father, later it became the mother and in Grimms' its the stepmother.
But in the 20th century, many writers rewrote the story. Children simply get lost in the forest. We find a similar situation in many other fairy tales, including the ones with a brother and sister (like Babes in the Wood, Brother and Sister, ...). Such an approach is less dark but it doesn't provide one of the most important benefits of this fairy tale - facing the fear of being abandoned by somebody close.
The wandering of the kids in the forest offers several opportunities to expand the story. Authors can build some additional tension with the presence of beasts, children's fear and of course their hunger. There are also versions with more comforting tones - while they fall asleep fairies appear and show somebody still care about the safety of Hansel and Grethel.
The scene with the ginger house is not just the most famous in this fairy tale but one of the most recognizable scenes in the literature of the world. Their careless eating is sometimes justified by their hunger, sometimes by their recklessness and sometimes by the invitation of the witch who shows a very friendly face at first.
We have another dark scene here. Hansel is locked in a cage with Grethel forced to help the witch. Her brother needs to put on some weight before the witch eats him. Most of the variations ignore the question about her destiny, but we somehow expect she will follow her brother's fate. Is she fat enough already? Will she go into the cage later?
Some of the writers lighten up the situation with dialogues or trialogues between the kids and the witch. They show her a chicken bone instead of Hansel's finger to convince her about his bony body. It's clear this can only postpone the inevitable but discloses at least one of the weak points of the witch. She is short-sighted and not very smart.
The final solution with a dramatic turnaround where the predator becomes a victim is also one of the strongest finales in the history of fairy tales. The witch dies in the same oven where she intended to end the lives of the kids. Yet we can find many modern authors who find such solution too harsh. We live in times with abolishment of the death penalty after all.
Another interesting fact is the role of Grethel. She is totally dependent on her brother in the beginning but becomes the stronger part of their relationship during the story. She is the one who gives a chicken bone and instructions to mislead the witch to her brother. She is the one who pushes the witch in the oven. And in the final scene (not illustrated in this case) she is the one who finds the way over the lake where their home is. This makes her one of the most powerful female characters in the canon of classic fairly tales.
Enough to think about a bit about the Hansel and Grethel? If you want to find more, go here:
https://owlcation.com/humanities/hansel_and_gretel
Just a few words about the illustrator ...
Franz Muller-Munster (1867-1936) was a successful German painter, lithograph, mural artist and illustrator. He studied at the Berlin Academy under Hugo Vogel, Friedrich Bokelman and Waldemar Friedrich between 1886 and 1894. We know he took several study trips with his friend and fellow painter Franz Stassen to Italy and France. He also exhibited his work at World Fair in Saint Louis in 1904.
Franz Muller-Munster was an active member of different artistic societies in Berlin, Munchen, and other cities. He excelled at animal paintings with horses as his favorite subjects. Muller-Munster illustrated numerous magazines and books, at least 60 titles, especially fairy tales by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, among which we present five full-color illustrations for famous Hansel and Gretel. First editions of his books in solid condition may be valued up to several thousand dollars.