Is Hans Christian Andersen's, "The Emperor's New Clothes" a Moral Story?

When writing, whatever form it might take one always needs to ask who the audience is. When you can answer the question of audience you have begun to understand the focus behind your endeavor, and can begin to ask if you are effective in accomplishing your task. When you know the audience of a work you can begin to explore the motive of the work. When an author's work stands the test of time and is endeared to millions of readers across the globe, one can learn a lot about how to master the art of the written word from his writings. Hans Christian Andersen in one such writer, he is best known for his fairy tales. Most of us remember them because they were read to us as a child. We may even be attached to them in a personal way. Andersen's tales are a part of us. They are certainly a part of our culture. "The Emperor's New Clothes" is one of the better known stories.

In it Andersen appears to write a moral story while similar stories that appear in other cultures do not seem to be moral stories. They are more in lines with a genre of storytelling whose sole purpose is to entertain. If these tales have any weight at all they were written to expose social mores that aren't flattering: the gossipy women and foolish men. "The Merry Wives" is similar to the "The Emperor's New Clothes". It is from Denmark, but almost identical stories appear in Celtic, Scottish and Icelandic traditions. The politically correct version of "The Emperor's New Clothing" by James Finn Garner is a moral story in the sense it demonstrates a lack of moral character. "Vasilissa the Beautiful", a Russian wonder tale also similar to "The Emperor's New Clothes" is more spiritual in nature.

Although his fairy tales are entertaining, one can suppose Andersen's motive or inspiration is spiritual. Some believe he wrote with a philosophical view in mind. Rumer Godden in his biography on Andersen see his works as parables or teaching stories (147). Perhaps his desire was just to be famous. Whatever your view of Andersen's inner motive, all agree, there are many layers to his tales and a greater purpose than entertainment. They are technically written for children but crafted to an art suitable for the refined sensibilities of deep thinking adults. "The Emperor's New Clothes" is a moral story.

The story the "Emperor's New Clothes" was written in 1837 after Andersen's break through novel. He strove in this career to write serious works, to financially support himself and to become famous. Besides the fairy tales for which he is best known, Andersen wrote novels, poetry, travel books and plays. The tale "The Emperor's New Clothes" was placed in the first collection of fairy tales released at Christmas time in 1838. These collections met with great success. They were well read in Denmark, then spread like wildfire throughout Europe. They could be compared to the 19^th Century version of the Cabbage Patch Doll. Everyone who could afford to purchase them for their children, did.

Andersen's fairy tales were successful because there was a market for them and Andersen went after that market. A very famous, often quoted insight into his desire for fame is found in the preface of his book Fairy Tales Told for Children which the "The Emperor's New Clothes" is placed. Andersen speaks about himself, "A
By the time Andersen begins to write the fairy tales he is a mature writer. His construction of the tales is painstaking. Painting the extraordinary ability of Andersen to craft a tale biographer Godden explains; "each story has the essence of a poem, and a poem is not prose broken into short lines, but a distilling of thought and meaning into a distinct form, so disciplined and finely made, so knit in rhythm, that one word out of place, one word too much, jars the whole" (145). Although the tales were written in a few days and not as difficult to write as his serious poetry, the tales are as well written as his poetry.

In spite of the collections of fairy tales being well received, Andersen is criticized for the simplistic language they possess. His defense is to insist they were written to engage children. His "style and narrative voice... largely stayed close to colloquial speech and thus held a lively appeal for children" (Mylius) is what sets Andersen apart as a writer. His critics never understand the magic which catches the listening ears of children.

The fairy tales are also written with adults in mind. Andersen knew as the readers of the tales he has the adult's attention too. There are deeper meanings to the stories that only surface with repetition and reflection. We know he speaks to older children because:

"in Andersen's time, very little ones were kept in the nursery when visitors came to the house; it was not until they were eight or nine years old that they were allowed to go down to the drawing-room or into the dessert room to meet Mr. Hans Christian Andersen and perhaps hear his tale. Even then they did not understand the whole; they were not meant to; all Andersen wanted was that they should love them; presently as they grew up, they would understand... Let the children wonder; these are wonder tales" (Godden 151-152). In his contact with children of friends and supporters, Andersen never loses his child-like sensitivity. Many of his letters to the children have been preserved (Godden 152).

As time goes by, Andersen writes more fairy tales. He focuses more on writing for adults, engaging the child in us all. One can assume he wants the fairy tales to have lasting value not just artistically but because they contained truth about the world.

What is truth? Does "The Emperor's New Clothes" strive to define truth? Does it define correct behavior leading to character? According to the Online Etymology Dictionary a moral story is concerned with character or temperament; good or bad. It defines proper behavior of a person in society. A fable is "a short, comic tale making a moral point about human nature, usually through animal characters behaving in human ways." There are no animals in "The Emperor's New Clothes" although Andersen's other tales are full of them. A parable is a "saying or story in which something is expressed in terms of something else". "The Emperor's New Clothes" does not fit this genre either. By definition it is a moral story.

By examining "The Emperor's New Clothes" and related stories we can discover the themes of each work and classify it further as to the nature of the work. In "The Emperor's New Clothes" the Emperor's passion for clothing is met with the swindlers equal desire for the Emperor's money. In order for the swindlers to have a victim someone has to be vulnerable. What made the Emperor a target for scandrals? The Emperor's great attachment to appearance and his use of pretense to sustain appearance make him an easy target for the rascals who prey not only on the Emperor's money but his pride. The very thing that he fears, being a fool, makes him in the end look foolish in front of the whole kingdom.

In this story Andersen writes an entertaining lesson on the foolishness of pretense. The Emperor is also caught by the lure that the clothing will give him wisdom. He will "know who is stupid and unfit for his post" (Andersen). In the pursuit of wisdom the emperor becomes a fool. When discovering he does not have any clothes on, he decides to continue with the ruse, thus making him a complete fool.

Andersen is able to tell a moral tale without moralizing. In the reading and rereading of the story we see that Andersen is concerned with wisdom and truth. He exposes people's tendency to be fearful, proud and pretentious, thus causing them to do things that make them foolish. The child is the hero in this story; he is the only one who can see the truth. No wonder children love his stories.

Foolishness is the theme of"The Merry Wives", which is found in a book of fairy tales by English author Andrew Lang published 60 years after "The Emperor's New Clothes" is written. An old wife's tale is idle talk that is told for amusement. "The Merry Wives" is a traditional Danish folk or wives tale similar to the stories Andersen heard as a child from the weaver women he is fond of listening to. There has never been a direct link made between these stories and Andersen's tale. Andersen is known for originality in his fairy tales. When Andersen borrows a story he completely redoes the storyline and introduces new characters.

In comparison to Andersen's mastery of telling a tale, "The Merry Wives" is a one dimensional story. The wives make a bet on whose husband is the most foolish. They proceed with their plan and succeed in making fools of them. One wife decides to trick her husband. She rubs charcoal on him while he is drunk, wakes him up and sends him to a funeral naked. She convinces him he has clothes on. This trick is what connects the tale to "The Emperor's New Clothes."

The theme of the "Merry Wives", like Andersen's Emperor involves an exploration of foolishness. We can ask why the husbands are able to be made fools of. On further inspection we find in both the husbands and wives a litany of vices and personality flaws. The wives are gossips, prone to drink, hypocrites who enter the tavern upon leaving church. They argue and wager and have an overwhelming desire to make their husbands look foolish. The men are vulnerable to be made fools because one is "always ready to give in" to his wife, another "believed everything that his wife said" (Lang) and the third drank too much. One can assume these are the despised characteristics the wives complain about as they sit in the tavern and drink. They use their husband's weaknesses against them to participate in a wager. All the characters are fools in this story. This cannot be called a moral story, instead it is repeated for amusement.

Compared to Andersen's tale, the politically correct version "The Emperor's New Clothes," is also one dimensional. It deals with basically one theme, the need to lie in order to fit in to society. It argues that we are expected to lie and better off if we do. When we are confronted with a moral dilemma it teaches that the best solution is to embrace the dilemma instead of standing for something. The goal of the author is to remove all bias from the traditional tale. It is a moral story only in the negative sense. It is designed as satire to bring awareness of an issue to the forefront.

The politically correct version questions the whole question of questioning the Andersen's tale. The parent's concern is their child has not learned to lie, gossip and be deceptive. The result of the child's revelation to the adults is to excuse the King's behavior, (nudity) to accept it and join in by endorsing a "clothing-optional" (Garner 8) lifestyle. It promotes a further deterioration of morals.

It asks, what are we teaching our kids? There is a modern concern is that we are Euro centric and biased. The politically correct version hit the nail on the head in exposing how we think. It is a modern work in that it depicts reality more than tells a story. The purpose is to expose the culture in which we live.

In contrast the lessons of the Russian fairy tale "Vasilissa the Beautiful" from Post Wheeler's 1912 collection, Russian Wonder Tales are spiritual. It has a portion of the story that is similar to "The Emperor's New Clothes" and like many Russian tales it is long with many story lines within it.

In "Vasilissa the Beautiful" Vasilissa, the heroine loses her mother while she is young. Before her mother dies she gives her daughter a doll. The mother then gives Vasilissa instructions and a blessing that she will inherit if she follows the advice of the doll. The mother's instructions detail how to get the doll to talk. Vasilissa is to never tell anyone about the doll but to take the doll from her pocket, give it something to eat and drink. After the dolls eats and drinks Vasilissa is to tell the doll her troubles and ask for advice. The doll gives her the advice that her mother is not there to give herself. Vasilissa is to do this "when evil besets thee [her] or sorrow befalls thee [her]." (Wheeler) These instructions help the heroine through a series of trials.

In the first trial Vasilissa is oppressed by an evil stepmother and sisters. This part is a similar to "Cinderella". Next, Vasilissa is sent for fire when the fire goes out and is captured by a witch who wants to have her for diner. The story line is reminiscent of Hansel and Gretel. She finally escapes but her step mother and daughter perish at home for lack of fire. Next, Vasilissa is adopted by a kind old lady. Her troubles seem to be over, but she becomes bored and asks for flax to spin. She creates the finest and most rare linen which the adopted grandmother decides to take to the Tsar. This part of the story finds its similarity with "The Emperor's New Clothes". The linen is real and rare and so beautiful the Tsar looks for someone to sew a shirt from it. Vasilissa is sent for and when the Tsar sees her he "falls in love with all his soul" (Wheeler). This story points to spiritual realities because the theme is we will have blessings if we are obedient. It teaches that there is judgment for the wicked.

When reading "The Emperor's New Clothes" one might be tempted to see spiritual lessons in them. In practice Andersen has only a cultural reference to Christianity. We know that:

the Bible also stood on the bookshelf of their humble home, even though his father, in keeping with the spirit of the eighteenth century, declared himself to be a freethinker and, much to his wife's dismay, insisted on regarding Jesus as a great man, but not the son of God. As an adult, his son also accepted this understanding of who Jesus was. (Mylius)

Contrary to this description, in his diaries, when Andersen writes his audience is often God. (Andersen The Diaries of Hans Christian Andersen 103) He seems to hold himself accountable to the God he addresses, so one finds it hard to call him an atheist. When in Rome he visits church after church to find solace in the art and architecture and is also know personally by bishops and church officials. He is not unfamiliar with the church, however there is no real evidence he is trying to teach spiritual lessons in any of his works.

Andersen considers himself a modernist not really believing in God but in man's potential and in science. As a child he is influenced by Holberg, a playwright, Danish historian and philosopher of morals. (Mylius) His spiritual mentor Orstead is a physicist and scientist. Andersen's interest in science no doubt influences his writing. (Mylius) He takes numerous trips to Germany. His serious writing is always better received in Germany then in his home land Denmark. One may conclude his thought and beliefs are more in line with contemporary German thought of the time.

The fairy tales are of a moral nature, but not Biblically influenced. The morals are the morals of western civilization as define by Greek and Rome and embrace by the Germans in their second Renaissance. These thought systems are what drive Andersen.

In conclusion, Andersen's Emperors exposes lack of morals and through the eyes of a child teaches us pure behavior. The Russian tale rewards moral or virtuous behavior while the politically correct version excuses the lack of moral behavior and embraces it.

We now ask, what is a fairy tale? Andersen creates them to be engaging but they are more than entertainment. Kai Munk spoke of Andersen's fairy tales and explains: "there are two kinds of writing: writing of entertainment, which is ephemeral, and writing of existence, which has a life of its own and can be very entertaining as well. It would seem that a fairy tale must of necessity belong to the first, but Andersen's Tales are writings of existence, and potent existence at that; for all their fantasy, they are life, universal, eternal; for all their lightness of touch, they are serious" (qtd. in Godden 7).

A book review written in 1990 about an English translation of forty two of Andersen tales for The Academy called Andersen's fairy tales spiritualized writings. What the reviewer points out is the enduring quality of the works, the way they live on in our memories and reoccur as favorites in each new generation. They have a life of their own. This is what elevates them to the realm of the spiritual ("The Spiritualized Fairy Tale"). Andersen's tales have become eternal, a part of us that lives on. On December 6, 1867 Andersen's home town illuminated the city for him in honor of his "contribution to Danish literature" ("Hans Christian Andersen"). Andersen recalls his humble beginnings while biographer Godden records the prophetic words of an old woman. While Andersen's parent's laugh at her utterances, she insists "He will have a better fortune than he deserves... He will be a wild bird who shall fly high, great and noble in the world...One day the whole of Odense will be illuminated for him" (qtd. in Godden 10). For one to attain such honor his works must have a breath and a width that defies the limits of entertainment and speaks to us as humans, vulnerable to our weaknesses, humbled even by our successes. Andersen illuminates our souls and teaches each new generation the noble parts of our existence.

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