The Symbolism of the Woods in Fairy Tales

A forest is a place of peace, protection, and an opportunity to explore and enjoy. It's a perfect playground for Snow White and Rose Red who make friends with animals, including a huge bear, and can even spend nights outside their hut without trouble. Until they meet a nasty dwarf...

Woods can offer so much. One life can't be enough to make the best of all possibilities. Yet sooner or later a lovely forest can and will show its darker side. It's a place where all kinds of survival battles are going on. Only the strongest, most adaptable, and most cruel will survive. And the next day it all starts over.

You never know what can happen in the woods. When Red Cap leaves her home, we all know where she is going and why. Still, the main focus of the story is her path, not her goal. We all expect something will happen in the forest. While we are informed that Red Cap's granny has lived there for some time, which obviously means it's not very dangerous, we still anticipate bad news.

The main reason for that is probably an age difference. If granny can safely live there, maybe it's not the same for the young girl. She clearly lacks life experience. She is heading into the unknown. When she parts with her mother, she is not just bringing food and drink to her ill grandmother. She is symbolically leaving her home to learn something new and life-changing. When she meets the wolf, she becomes a new person.

The forest is great for hiding. If somebody wants to escape, the forest might be just a perfect place to go. The title characters from Little Brother and Little Sister escape to the woods from their evil stepmother. Snow White also uses it as a hiding place from her stepmother. For some time everything works fine. Woods can hide everybody for some time but nobody forever.

Both evil stepmothers are witches. Both eventually find their stepchildren. Both are willing to kill. Woods only delayed the inevitable confrontation. You can use woods just to gather strength, maybe grow up a little bit, or find an ally or protector. It's impossible to hide indefinitely.

Woods can also offer protection. We have seen how Snow White stayed hidden until she was found and forced to confront her nemesis but in some cases, the woods can offer even more. In Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty) the title character falls asleep. Being asleep exposes her to different dangers which is solved by the woods around the castle. The thorns protect the sleeping princess and everybody else in the castle until the right person appears in the right place.

Many heroes and 'heroes' try to enter the castle with the sleeping beauty but only Mr. Right can find her. Of course, the sole action of waking up is rarely enough but the Grimm Brothers ended the story right after. Charles Perrault, who based his version on even older tales with the same plot, introduced new dangers. To find out more, read the article about the differences between numerous variations of Sleeping Beauty.

Woods often represent danger. A typical example is Hansel and Gretel. When their parents decide to take them into the woods and leave them there, it sounds like a life sentence. If they will not be torn and eaten by wild animals, they will die of hunger. It's so simple. While going to the woods means an earning opportunity for their father, it also means death for them.

Death in literature has many faces. In the case of Hansel and Gretel, it materializes as a cannibalistic witch. Somehow it sounds even more horrifying to be eaten by a witch than by a wolf or a bear. On the other hand, such a situation gives you a completely different set of tools for fighting. Danger works both ways. The predator can turn into the victim and this is exactly what happens to the witch.

Woods offers perfect settings for all kinds of tests. In most cases, a hero of the story needs to show the quality of his or her character. A fine example is a bit less-known fairy tale by (who else) Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm with a meaningful title: The House in the Woods. Three sisters, one by one, are lost in the woods and each one of them gets to the same house. Each one is exposed to a simple test of politeness and gratitude.

Only one, of course, passes the test, which none of them is aware of. Be careful - every moment is the right moment to be tested especially when you are lost in the woods.

The woods hide so many secrets you can't be surprised to find all kinds of magic there. There are talking wolves, cannibalistic witches, dwarfs with precious treasures, wild men, dangerous unicorns, and aggressive giants. They are also filled with enchanted trees, poisonous brooks, glass mountains, and healing springs.

But magic is never the focus of the story. It's the hero's reaction. Will the magic be used for a good cause or will be abused?

No matter what happens in the woods, one thing is for sure. Everybody who enters it is changed after return. Red Riding Hood meets the wolf and she learns responsibility. Snow White hides there from her family until she finds a suitable life companion. A tailor enters as a fake hero, defeats different monsters, and becomes a prince. In another less-known Grimms' fairy tale, Iron John (Iron Hans) young prince learns essential life skills from the wild man to become worthy of his royal position.

Everybody came into the woods as young, inexperienced, and naive persons. All of them irreversibly changed. They became grown-ups.

While we like to look at fairy tales as stories with happy endings, many older, now out-of-fashion tales don't end with happily ever after. Just a century ago today almost forgotten ballade Babes in the Woods was very popular. It's a story about a brother and sister who lost their parents and their uncle wants to get rid of them to gain control of the family wealth. A sad, but very true situation we are all aware of in real life.

The uncle in Babes in the Woods hires two criminals to take the kids into the forest and kill them there. One of the criminals repents before the act and kills the other. But the kids stay alone in the woods and die there of hunger.

Woods are always intertwined with changes but you don't always have to leave them and death is not the only reason to stay there. Bremen Town Musicians, for instance, find a new opportunity when they chase the robbers from their hut and start living there. All four animals have one thing in common. They are not wanted in their old environments and none of them is ready to surrender.

Woods offers new conditions and the wannabe musicians are ready to use the opportunity for new life with new companions, and in new settings.