THE ROLE OF THE DEVIL IN GRIMMS' TALES: AN EXPLORATION OF THE CONTENT AND FUNCTION OF POPULAR TALES

Part of a doctoral dissertation, 'Dimensions of Meaning and Value in A Sample of Fairy Tales,' Princeton, NJ: Princeton U Library, 1965. It is noted that the Grimm Brothers began to collect their fairy tales in 1805 from a number of informants & literary sources not so much for their esthetic merits as in terms of the value they might have as an instrument of soc control. Such a stance closely approximates established positions in the soc sci's re folk literature. The focus here is on the role of the devil. His visible attributes as described in the fairy tales are discussed & the consequences of belief in the devil & the devil's intervention in human affairs are analyzed. The devil is mentioned in 22 diff tales, in 15 of which he makes a personal appearance. In 11 of these there is a detailed description of his physical appearance & behavioral characteristics. Unfortunate happenings may be said to derive from the devil; belief in the devil may lead to false perceptions. The devil may be a tempter, a Deus ex Machina, & a trickster. His patterns of interaction are diff with diff categories of humans (rich men, poor men, women, & children). Interaction involves most saliently men who are weak, unmasculine or greedy, & who, resorting to his aid, lose autonomy, control over their fam's & all their influence. By contrast, piety, living without sin, frequent washing, unconditional submission to the will of one's father (in the case of girls), courage, opposition to the will of one's father (in the case of boys), & persistent shrewdness prove effective in warding off the devil. It is concluded that folk tales & fairy tales function to rationalize the mores of a given culture & give symbolic expression to a culture's belief systems. Thus tales concerned with devils constitute an effective form of soc control. M. Maxfield.