Basically, my project is to spend between now and November developing a character based on "The Tinderbox" by Hans Christian Andersen. The character must, however, fit a certain time frame - in my case, the Napoleonic period.
The story itself is a bit strange. The basics is that it's about a soldier who gets told by a witch he can have as much money as he can carry if he retrieves a tinderbox for her from a hollowed tree stump. To get the money, he has to set these three dogs on her apron and collect the money they're sat on. Each dog has a larger pair of eyes than the previous as it goes from bronze, silver and gold coins (they're separated in three separate rooms). He collects his money and retrieves the tinderbox (the last dog he neglects to set on the apron and he first forgets the tinderbox and has to go back to retrieve it). He then asks the witch what the tinderbox is for and, after refusing to tell him, he cuts her head clean off. He then takes what gold he can and becomes a very rich, popular man in a nearby city. He also hears mention of a Princess who is very beautiful but, because of a prophecy wherein she marries a soldier, the King and Queen keep her hidden.
The soldier proceeds to spend all of his money and soon is turned to rags. After he runs out of matches to light his candle, he tries to use the tinderbox and as it turns out, it summons the dogs for him (one strike for the first, two strikes for the second and three strikes for the third). The dogs are at his command, so he asks them to retrieve gold for him from the tree, becoming once again a very well known and respected man. Eventually, he asks one of the dogs to retrieve the Princess for him in the night, so that he may see her during her sleep. After a few times, the King and Queen notice, so they come up with a few different way to find out where she goes during the night. Eventually, they find that it's the Soldier's doing and arrest him and order him to be hung. While in prison, a boy passes his window. He asks the boy to fetch him his tinderbox, so that when it comes to his hanging, he could have his one last wish to have a cigarette lit by his tinderbox. Of course, this summons his dogs who he then orders to kill the King and Queen, as well as the advisers. He then marries the Princess and lives happily ever after.
It's a really odd story, and very amoral. I mean, he doesn't listen to the witch's instructions; steals gold; kills the witch; steals her tinderbox; kidnaps the Princess; and kills the King and Queen. He commits burglary, murder and high treason. But he gets away with it all, with only one consequence to any of his actions, which he recovers from on a stroke of luck. It defies almost any rule that any other writer has came up with. It defies the karma of consequence for action or inaction and defies that there should be no coincidence or stroke of luck for the main character to solve his dilemma. Yet somehow, Todorov's Narrative Theory (that is, equilibrium, disruption, resolution, restored order, new equilibrium, a formula that every story follows) is still followed, in a distorted way. I'm not really sure what to make of the story, whether I like it or not, but it does annoy me that these immoral acts of his aren't upheld. At the same time, it does represent the possibility of getting away with inactions.
Ref: "The Tinderbox" 1835 - Hans Christian Andersen, C.A. Reitzel
The soldier proceeds to spend all of his money and soon is turned to rags. After he runs out of matches to light his candle, he tries to use the tinderbox and as it turns out, it summons the dogs for him (one strike for the first, two strikes for the second and three strikes for the third). The dogs are at his command, so he asks them to retrieve gold for him from the tree, becoming once again a very well known and respected man. Eventually, he asks one of the dogs to retrieve the Princess for him in the night, so that he may see her during her sleep. After a few times, the King and Queen notice, so they come up with a few different way to find out where she goes during the night. Eventually, they find that it's the Soldier's doing and arrest him and order him to be hung. While in prison, a boy passes his window. He asks the boy to fetch him his tinderbox, so that when it comes to his hanging, he could have his one last wish to have a cigarette lit by his tinderbox. Of course, this summons his dogs who he then orders to kill the King and Queen, as well as the advisers. He then marries the Princess and lives happily ever after.
It's a really odd story, and very amoral. I mean, he doesn't listen to the witch's instructions; steals gold; kills the witch; steals her tinderbox; kidnaps the Princess; and kills the King and Queen. He commits burglary, murder and high treason. But he gets away with it all, with only one consequence to any of his actions, which he recovers from on a stroke of luck. It defies almost any rule that any other writer has came up with. It defies the karma of consequence for action or inaction and defies that there should be no coincidence or stroke of luck for the main character to solve his dilemma. Yet somehow, Todorov's Narrative Theory (that is, equilibrium, disruption, resolution, restored order, new equilibrium, a formula that every story follows) is still followed, in a distorted way. I'm not really sure what to make of the story, whether I like it or not, but it does annoy me that these immoral acts of his aren't upheld. At the same time, it does represent the possibility of getting away with inactions.
Ref: "The Tinderbox" 1835 - Hans Christian Andersen, C.A. Reitzel
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