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Folklore StudiesArticle 5 · Vol. 1, Issue 4, June 2026 · pp. 46–54
The Apotheosis of Thanatos: Displacement and Assailment in the Fairy Tale The Poor Boy in the Grave by the Brothers Grimm
Avan Kabrajee
Research Scholar, Department of English, Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, Surat, Gujarat, India
Dr. Dilber Mehta
Assistant Professor, Department of I.C.T., Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, Surat, Gujarat, India
Abstract
In connection with the pain it brings, death is generally used as a means to depict bereavement and despair. But in the fairy tale The Poor Boy in the Grave, the Brothers Grimm have used the idea of repeatedly seeking death to depict the protagonist’s hope for a better afterlife. The reason for pain, thus, for the protagonist, is not the fear of death, but simply his very existence in a world where he is tortured beyond measure. The objective of this research is to study the idea of death in The Poor Boy in the Grave as the culmination of Thanatos, or negative emotions, in light of Sigmund Freud’s concept of ‘Death Drive’, given in his work Beyond the Pleasure Principle, published in 1920. It also aims to assess the strangulation of hope in the protagonist’s psyche, that culminated in his belief about death being the only mode of escape from his trauma. The research methods used in this paper are mainly Textual Analysis and Folklore Studies, in addition to the above-mentioned concept of Freudian Psychoanalysis. The symbolism and archetypes in fairy tales make them a function as portals between the conscious and the unconscious aspects of the mind, in an attempt to study the repressed desires. The relevance of this research lies in the critical analysis of the tale, in terms of psychoanalytic perspectives, along with the cultural dynamics in which it functions, in order to study, through the protagonist’s trauma, the ingrained pessimistic emotions of the human mind, in an attempt to further enhance studies concerning the application of fairy tales for psychoanalytic literary criticism.
Keywords:
ApotheosisThanatosDisplacementAssailmentFairy Tale
How to Cite
Avan Kabrajee, Dr. Dilber Mehta (2026). The Apotheosis of Thanatos: Displacement and Assailment in the Fairy Tale The Poor Boy in the Grave by the Brothers Grimm. Veritas: A Multidisciplinary Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 1(4), 46–54.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21194765
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