The Little Mermaid Analysis Example

The Little Mermaid Analysis: Introduction

The Little Mermaid is a very recognizable story by many people around the entire world. Even though it was spread after the original Disney movie version in 1989, the story was written by Hans Cristian Anderson. The Danish writer wrote over 40 novels, which now have greatly influenced modern-day Disney films. This paper analyzes The Little Mermaid and presents insights into its elements. After all, one may infer that what makes us feel the story genuinely are the literary devices, and through them, our knowledge and emotions add up together. We find ourselves caught in a dramatic story.

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The Little Mermaid portrays the character of a young mermaid circling through the challenges of love. Princess Ariel, our young mermaid, is the daughter of the king of the sea. So she lives a royal life under the sea. The whole story revolves around the human prince she met while saving him which became the main reason for the mermaid searching for a way to become human. From a feminist point of view, it represents a young lady who is brave enough to face the problems and cruelty of the world, does whatever it takes to meet the love of her life. As much as there are many other paths to examine the story under various headlines, there's still one common theme: love and hope. Unlike many other fairy tales that usually end with a princess marries her savior prince, the wedding does not take place in the fairy tale, and it becomes clear that the primary goal of the little mermaid is not to marry the prince but to find an immortal soul. In this sense, the fairy tale has an optimistic end, because the little mermaid has hope. On the other hand, this tale also raises psychological problems. The reader observes how the mermaid is filled with conflicting feelings and emotions towards the prince and his wife, how she copes with them.

Not only the theme itself but also the literary elements help make this tale such as historical writing. For instance, an incredible metaphor pops up; "The fishes among the trees could sing so sweetly.". A metaphor is a figure of speech that describes an object or action in a way that isn't literally true but helps explain an idea or make a comparison. Of course, they are not actual fishes on the trees. As a mermaid-person who comes from the sea, on Ariel's sight of view, it represents the birds that sing on the trees. Since she has never met a bird before the metaphor fits just right in, secondly, another literary device shows itself, simile. Similes are used in literature to make writing more vivid and powerful. "Her skin was as clean and delicate as a rose-leaf and her eyes as blue as the deepest sea." In this sentence, a rose-leaf evokes the view of the skin of Ariel since it's as clean and delicate as a rose-leaf. Another literary element seen in the book is personification.

Personification means that the non-human objects are portrayed in such a way that it feels like they have the ability to act like human beings. In the book, "It seemed as if the crown of the tree and the root were at play, and trying to kiss each other." sentence tries to explain the happiness that takes place in that part. The writer gives human specialties to the tree to enhance awareness of the greatness of happiness. Lastly, one of the loveliest literary devices, imagery example takes place in the book. Usually, it is thought that imagery makes use of particular words that create a visual representation of ideas in people's minds. We can see the example in the book in the sentence "Flew a large flock of wild swans towards the setting sun, looking like a long white veil across the sea.". In this sentence, in the phrase 'white veil,' the word white is a visual image.

The Little Mermaid: Conclusion

After all, Ariel tried to attain eternal happiness through her efforts and failed, but she threw away all possibility of happiness and then gained more than she could have hoped for before. It is her sacrifice, a sacrifice that would quite literally end in her annihilation that, paradoxically, makes her worthy of eternal life. Were Andersen to end it tragically after the sacrifice she made, would be cruelty on the part of Andersen, and therefore he was right to consider the tragic ending a "mistake." Now, to critique literary elements and devices, it is evident that their existence beautified the story. Think about a story without all these elements. There would be no different from an academic essay. What makes us feel the tale genuinely are literary devices. Through them, our knowledge and emotions add up together, and we find ourselves caught in a dramatic story. As much as they sound as if the book is singing, too much use of them would simply create chaos, which will decrease the understanding level. Additionally, it has come down to me is that the most dramatically fitting conclusion Andersen could give this tale in addition to the great use of language that could ever be used for the story.

References

Analysis of “The Little Mermaid” By Hans Cristian Anderson, BartleBy Research

Classical literature summary and analysis, LitHelper, "The Little Mermaid," analysis of the tale by Hans Christian Andersen [online] Available at: https://lithelper.com/hans-christian-andersen/the-little-mermaid-analysis/

Dundes, Lauren, and Dundes, Alan. “The Trident and the Fork: Disneys ‘The Little Mermaid as a Male Construction of an Electral Fantasy.” Psychoanalytic Studies 2.2 (2000)

Definition and Examples of Literary Terms, Literary Devices [Online] Available at: https://literarydevices.net/