The Tale "The Ugly Duckling": author, characters, content, reviews

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Which of us has not admired the proud and graceful birds - swans. These majestic and snow-white beauties with excellent posture immediately resemble the fairy tale of the Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen "The Ugly Duckling". This work is simply amazing! The story of an ugly duckling that turned into a beautiful swan touched the souls of many children and adults. The great storyteller was able to very deeply and sensually describe all the adventures of the poor, unfortunate chick, until he turned into a majestic bird.

The world of fairy tales of the great Danish master

Already from childhood, most recognize the author of "The Ugly Duckling" - Hans Christian Andersen. The world of his fairy tales is very diverse. "The Snow Queen", "The Little Mermaid", "The Princess and the Pea", "The Nightingale", "Wild Swans" are real masterpieces that are known all over the world. Many characters in Andersen's fairy tales became household names during the lifetime of the writer himself. Hans Christian did not consider himself a children's writer, many of his worksraise very deep problems of adults. What are they, the tales of the author of "The Ugly Duckling"?

Among the huge number of Andersen's works, there are many creations with a happy ending that children love very much. Also in the collection there are serious stories that only adults can understand. The minds of children and their parents are captivated by a beautiful story called "Thumbelina" about a tiny girl who grew up in a flower bud. The motive of the miraculous transformation of heroes is a favorite in the fairy tales of Hans Christian. So, in the fairy tale "The Princess and the Pea" readers see an inconspicuous girl who has become a princess.

True love and self-sacrifice is depicted by the writer in the fairy tale "Wild Swans". The girl Eliza, at the risk of her life, saves her brothers from the spell of an evil stepmother. This piece is more dramatic. But the story of the young Mermaid, who sacrificed her life for the sake of her beloved prince, is filled with a special tragedy. Andersen showed the great power of genuine art in the fairy tale "The Nightingale". The ostentatious grandeur and spiritual emptiness was reflected by the writer in the work "The King's New Dress". It is impossible to imagine the fairy tales of the great Dane without a mysterious little man who gives obedient children beautiful dreams - Ole Lukoye.

The concept of a literary fairy tale

The creative legacy of G. H. Andersen is mainly literary fairy tales. They brought the author of "The Ugly Duckling" world fame. At first, the Writer retold some folk tales, and then he began to create his ownworks in this genre. A literary fairy tale is a narrative genre that has magical and fantastic content, fictional or real characters, fabulous or real reality. The writers raised in these writings the moral, aesthetic, social problems of society.

G. H. Andersen's early fairy tales are similar to the works of the Brothers Grimm: they have a simple and natural intonation of folk narration. His first collection was called "Tales told to children", where there are a lot of similarities with folklore. As a basis for the collection, he took 10 tales that he was told in childhood. From these works, readers discover the beauty and spiritual essence of the world.

What is the main author's credo of the author of "The Ugly Duckling"? The writer appreciates sincere souls and immediate feelings. In the images of the tragic aspects of life, goodness still prevails. Andersen believes that the divine principle always wins in the person himself. The storyteller himself believed very much in a good God. He believed that every event in a person's life indicates that he belongs to the Lord. According to the writer, only he will see the light and become better who will survive many trials and hardships in life.

The most voluminous literary fairy tale by Hans Christian is "The Snow Queen". In it, the author touches on very deep problems. The main thing that the storyteller showed is the all-conquering power of love, capable of overcoming any obstacles. The brave girl Gerda not only saved her brother Kai from the halls of the Snow Queen, but also returned good things to him.heart.

The difficult fate of the writer and autobiographical moments in the fairy tale

In Denmark there is an ancient town of Odense. It was there that the author of The Ugly Duckling, Hans Christian Andersen, was born in 1805. His father was a simple shoemaker. He lived in a poor apartment, was surrounded by ordinary people, ate the most meager food. But he saw miracles in the simplest things, he loved to listen to the stories of older people. Often he stared at theater posters. He made homemade dolls and acted out entire performances.

Such fantasies led Hans to theatrical activity. He arranged a puppet theater right at home. He wrote scripts himself, made scenery and paper costumes. After the funeral of his father in 1819, the young man moved to the capital of Denmark - Copenhagen. Dreaming of becoming happy, he tries to fulfill his dream and become an actor. Kind people helped him get into the gymnasium. The fourteen-year-old boy had to sit at a desk with students much younger than him. A lot of ridicule and humiliation from classmates flew at Andersen's address. Hans passed the test and graduated from the gymnasium. Then he entered the university. It was this period from his life that the writer depicted in the book "The Ugly Duckling".

Being a famous master of words, Andersen himself understood that he was benefiting the world. Therefore, he felt happy. Each new fairy tale brought a lot of joyful emotions to its readers. Hans Christian himself began to read fairy tales in front of ordinary people. He was not at all ashamed of his inferiororigin, but, on the contrary, wanted his books to be read by children from the same poor families as himself. Most of all, the writer hated the empty, ignorant, boastful and lazy representatives of high society.

Noble persons, whom Andersen ridiculed in his books, were unhappy with his caustic ridicule. They could not understand how the shoemaker's son could play a trick on them. After all, he even has a surname of low origin. Only on his 50th birthday the author was recognized in his hometown of Odense. On the day he was awarded the title of honorary citizen, the townspeople lit the illumination.

Summary of the fairy tale "The Ugly Duckling"

Hans Christian published his fairy tale in 1843. Many children wonder who wrote "The Ugly Duckling" and this is not surprising. After all, the problems raised by Andersen in this tale are relevant today. The Danish version was translated into Russian by Anna Ganzen. In accordance with the plot and semantic sections of the fairy tale, the work "The Ugly Duckling" can be divided into five parts:

1. The hard life of a duckling in the poultry yard. It was on a sunny summer day. In one old estate, among the fluffy leaves of burdock, mother duck hatched ducklings. It is already becoming clear that the heroes of the "Ugly Duckling" are animals. The little kids looked at the big leaves around them with delight. The duck reassured the children that the world is much larger than these plants, and she herself has not yet seen all of it. An experienced duck approached the young mother andinquired about the situation? Mommy was happy with her cubs, only one chick from the largest egg still could not hatch. The ducks decided that a turkey egg had accidentally fallen into the nest. Finally, this moment has come. From the last egg a chick appeared, which was very different from the others, even the mother did not like it. She decided to see if he could swim like all the other ducklings.



2. Start of wandering. Duckling meeting with real friends. One sunny day the whole family went to the lake. All the kids were yellow. Only one last was gray in color, but he swam no worse than the others. After bathing, the duck decided to show off her brood and took everyone to the poultry yard to show it to the "society". Before that, she taught the children how to behave in front of the inhabitants of the courtyard, to bow to them. And what were the residents of the courtyard? Ducklings watched as duck families fought over the head of a fish thrown to them by their owners. There was a terrible scream in the yard. Then one duck of the Spanish breed positively evaluated the new family. Only one, the most "absurd" cub, irritated her and everyone else. The mother duck first came to the gray duck's defense, saying that it would outgrow it and become a prominent drake. Then all the kids went to play. Everyone wanted to offend the gray duckling. They kept pecking at him. Over time, even his brothers, sisters and mother hated him. The duckling was exhausted from humiliation and ridicule. He didn't know how to get out of this situation. The only salvation for him was to run away from home.



3. Meeting the geese. The duckling somehow managed to get over the fence. There he immediately met wild ducks, they also began to make fun of his unsightly appearance and worry that he would not ask for them to be relatives. A few days later, two important ganders flew to the lake. The appearance of the new one seemed funny to them, and they even decided to show it to their wives. Only this was not destined to come true: the hunters began to shoot at the geese, and two new friends were dead. Then a hunting dog ran to the lake to collect prey. The gray duckling was very frightened. But even the dog did not like him: she did not touch the chick. In fear, he sat in the reeds until the evening, and then decided to run.
4. The suffering of a duckling in a harsh winter. The poor chick wandered all day long. Finally he saw the hut. An old woman, a chicken and a cat lived in it. The hostess decided to keep the chick at home, hoping that he would lay eggs. The cat and the hen chuckled at the duckling in every possible way, but he never laid eggs. Once the chick felt that he was very drawn to swim, so he went to live by the lake. Once there he saw very beautiful birds. They were swans. They screamed and the chick screamed back. He did not dare to approach the important birds, fearing that they would reject him like everyone else. And then came the cold winter. In order not to freeze, the duckling had to constantly swim. But this did not save the poor man. He was completely exhausted and froze to the ice. One farmer saw a duckling and took it home. In the new environment, the chick was unusual. He was afraid of little kids who wanted tohim to play. Running away from them, the duckling spilled milk and got dirty in flour. He had to spend the winter in the bushes by the lake. It was cold and hungry.
5. Spring awakening and unexpected transformation of a duckling. One spring, the chick got out of the reeds and flew. Near the blossoming apple trees, he suddenly noticed proud and beautiful white swans. The duckling is sad. But then, remembering all his wanderings, he decided to approach these birds, even if they pecked him. The duckling descended into the water and began to swim quietly towards the flock of swans, and they swam towards him. The duckling sullenly lowered its head in front of the swans with the expectation that it would be killed. And suddenly he saw his reflection in the water. Who was the ugly duckling? It was a beautiful majestic swan! Other birds swam past the handsome young man and stroked him with their long beaks. They gladly accepted him into their flock. Children came running, began to throw pieces of bread to the birds and called the new one the most beautiful swan. The duckling never dreamed of such happiness before.

This is the summary of "The Ugly Duckling". The sad tale had a happy ending.

Analysis of "The Ugly Duckling": genre, theme, writer's style

It is believed that in this tale Andersen veiled his biography. The very name of the creation is very unusual and is an oxymoron. One and the same hero is both ugly and beautiful. Who wrote "The Ugly Duckling" and in connection with what - is already clear. What genre is the work written in? Of course, this is a literary tale. But she has othersdistinctive features. There are motifs of myth in it, since the theme of the exile was very close to ancient myths. Very often the hero of such works cannot control his own destiny - other forces rule over him.

The fabulous duckling is a wild animal that instinctively survives even in the harshest conditions. Wild natures are desperately fighting for existence. The reason for the expulsion of the duckling was not its ugly appearance, but that it was different from the others. No one knows how the swan egg ended up in the nest. The author shows what tests the hero had to go through before everyone began to admire his beauty. The main theme of "The Ugly Duckling" is the struggle between good and evil. The transformation of a nondescript chick into a snow-white handsome man is only a shell, but not the main meaning of the tale. Andersen showed that the soul of a little duckling is open for love and kindness.

There is a special dynamism in the author's style. All events develop with special tension. For a skillful and lively narration, the writer uses a wide variety of turns: "dead fell", "the reeds stirred", "the hunters surrounded", "the fog shrouded", "the reeds swayed".

Psychological coloring of a fairy tale

The work "The Ugly Duckling" is very unusual. Andersen not only shows the fate of the hero, but describes his state of mind in different situations. He did this with monologues. The duckling is constantly thinking about why he is so ugly. The author shows him now tired, thensad. The psychological state of the duckling at the moment of transformation into a beautiful swan is especially clearly shown. His joy knew no bounds. Andersen's fairy tale "The Ugly Duckling" is very sensual, it overwhelms readers with feelings for the little hero.

Idea and problems of the work

The hero of Andersen's book "The Ugly Duckling" had to suffer a lot and humiliate himself, but after going through such a lonely and difficult life, he was able to truly appreciate his happiness. The ideological meaning of the tale is expressed by the following concepts:

• In life, not everything is simple and easy, sometimes there is suffering and joy, rudeness and beauty.
• For a sharp perception of happiness, a person needs wandering and suffering.
• The sensitivity of the soul and inner talent are necessarily rewarded by fate.
• Nobility and generosity comes after suffering and unexpected happiness. After all, this taught the duckling to forgive his offenders.

It should be noted that in allegorical form the tale shows the struggle that Andersen had to lead on his way to glory.

Conclusions about the personality of the author himself

The name of the fairy tale has long grown into a metaphor. Such a common term as "ugly duckling" is called unsightly teenagers, whose appearance is still being formed. The following conclusions about Andersen emerge from this autobiographical tale:

• The writer, like his hero, suffered a lot of suffering, misunderstanding and ridicule of rude people.
• Andersen had a very vulnerable and sensitivesoul.
• Like the hero of a fairy tale, the author was a generous person, forgiving his offenders and enemies.
• Andersen had great faith in the victory of goodness, beauty and justice.

Reviews on the product

Many adults and children leave feedback about "The Ugly Duckling" by Hans Christian. Parents immediately see educational background in the fairy tale. They believe that it is impossible to guess how a child will grow up. Perhaps in childhood he is ugly and unsightly, but as an adult he will achieve a lot. Readers conclude that everything comes to those who know how to wait. Don't be in a hurry to judge someone. The fairy tale "The Ugly Duckling" teaches parents to love their children not for their appearance, but to educate them in a beautiful soul. Many readers like the unbroken character of the fragile duckling, who was not overcome by many difficulties.

Children after reading the fairy tale "The Ugly Duckling" think about how difficult it is to be different from others. They condemn domestic animals that were not friends with the swan and teased him. Good deeds of a person can overshadow all the shortcomings of his appearance.

"Ugly duckling" in culture

Andersen's "Ugly Duckling" deserves to be filmed by filmmakers, composers wrote music. The famous virtuoso Sergei Prokofiev wrote a musical tale of the same name for voice and piano. W alt Disney made two animated films based on this work. Soviet cinema in 1956 released the cartoon "The Ugly Duckling".

In Denmark and around the worldthere are a lot of monuments to Hans Christian Andersen and his fairy-tale heroes. In 2010, an amusement park dedicated to the tales of a Danish writer was opened in Shanghai, China.