Traditionally, fairytales have been thought to have originated from oral tales passed down by women from generation to generation. One popular theory is that these oral stories were not meant only to entertain children with too much time on their hands, but also to socialize or teach important lessons of survival in an often unforgiving world (Davies 119). Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm claim to have written many of their earliest stories exactly as the narrators recounted them to the brothers. Therefore, the first tales, as written in the Grimms’ first edition of Kinder-und Hausmärchen or Children’s and Household Tales, are considered to be the most authentic versions of the tales and, by extension, one of the best examples of medieval socialization. These morals are usually seen in the extra narrative, literary description, and use of violence that are found in the later Grimm editions. Continue reading “From Wild Beasts to a Barrel of Nails: Recreating Grimms’ Fairytales Through Violence”