Gretel in Darkness Essay

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While comparing the two poems, "Gretel in Darkness" by Louise Gluck and "Hansel and Gretel" by Anne Sexton with the original Brothers Grimm tale "Hansel and Gretel", different perspectives, point of views and messages are shown. In "Gretel in Darkness" Gretel is reciting the poem. It is written in the first person. In this poem Gretel is overcome with certain darkness in her life. Something is haunting her from the past. Gretel describes an experience that she and her brother have shared together. The experience is Gretel killing the witch, saving herself and her brother, Hansel. At first it seems life is perfect and all troubles are forgotten, but the memory seems to haunt Gretel. Gretel is alone, suffering, …show more content…
We are reminded of the three days Christ lay in the tomb before the Resurrection. To bring the "white bird" symbol to closure we see the white duck at the end of the fairy tale leading the children to the safety of their home and their father's protective arms. Sexton and Gluck afford us the opportunity to look deeply into the childhood story of Hansel and Gretel. We are made to see the implications Gretel's actions have on her adult life – the murder haunts her nights. They don't sit down to supper without remembering "the smell of the cooking witch". Both poets seem to be pointing to the horror of the tale's plot. The moral of the story remains the same - good triumphs over evil, but at what expense. As a father of two young children, the poets have given me something to think about, how fairy tales can affect children's minds. We are made to examine the implications our actions have on our adult lives. Of the three versions of the story, I prefer the Gluck version, "Gretel in Darkness". It has made me think about the choices and actions we commit in our youth and how they affect us in every day life as an adult. It also makes me rethink my thoughts about fairy tales, and how appropriate they are for children, who are exposed to them at an early
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