Paper 2 summative Grimm Tales

Paper 2 summative Grimm Tales

To what extend do the formal characteristics of genre influence meaning in two works that you have studied?

Grimm Tales is a book full of short fairytales written by Philip Pullman. These are all fairytales which were written long ago, but they were written in the style that Philip Pullman chose. These fairytales all have a similar structure, and so they all relate to one another. They are written in a formal language, though written in an old structure, a fairytale structure. The formal characteristics of genre influence the meaning in these fairytales, more specifically, Godfather Death, and The Twelve Huntsmen.

A formal characteristic, for example, is the language. When looking at Godfather Death, we can see the language from the narrator to be formal. In the line "Death appeared at the baptism just as he'd promised, and swore all the vows, and behaved with perfect propriety." we can see that the narrator's vocabulary is quite diverse, and uses a range of words to describe Death's behaviour. Words such as "withered", "tottering", and in The Twelve Huntsmen, words like "betrothed", "mortally", and "summoned". Most of the sophisticated vocabulary are descriptive words used to express the feeling of the characters in these tales. Using a more formal and sophisticated language establishes the time period the tale originated, thus helping convey the meaning of a fairytale, tales who's goal was to entertain during all periods of human existence.

Another formal characteristic that influences the meaning is the structure. The structure is written dramatic and expressive, containing chances for performances of these tales or dramatic readings for the public, this also explains the descriptive structure, describing the actions of the tale and its characters. We can see this in The Twelve Huntsmen where it says "They walked right over the peas like the manliest of men and not a pea rolled out of place". This shows the descriptive dramatic structure, talking about the details in certain sceneries and perceiving these men as the manliest men, because they did not touch any peas on the floor. The descriptive structure and the adjectives such as manliest creates characters, thus creating the meaning behind the tale. Strong characters often convey strong simple emotions, making it easier to understand the meaning. In the Twelve Huntsman it also says "'Fine advisor you are!' he said 'They walked exactly like men, every one of them.'". The exclamation mark shows the large expressions from the characters within the tale. We can also see this in Godfather Death, where it says "'What! I dont want you for a godfather.[...]", and "I fell in love with her at once - I couldn't help it! Please, dear godfather, let me live my life!" In the second example, not only is a question mark used, there is also pauses used for dramatic effect, the commas where it says "please, dear godfather, let[...]" Shows unnecessary pauses, which creates the effect of drama and strong emotions conveyed. This allows for a dramatic reading and performance of the fairytales, and it establishes the meaning. It influences the meaning because strong emotions and descriptive writing often creates a simpler meaning, due to it being easier to analyse and grasp by the audience.

To conclude, there are certain aspects of the formal characteristics, such as language and structure, that influence the meaning of these fairytales. For language, Using a more formal and sophisticated language establishes the time period the tale originated, thus helping convey the meaning of a fairytale. Tales have existed for a long time, but have always had a similar goal, to entertain people with magical unrealistic stories, written dramatically, expressive and descriptive since it also influences the meaning. Strong emotions and descriptive writing often creates a simpler meaning, due to it being easier to analyse and grasp by the audience.