Godfather Death

Godfather Death

Jakob and William Grimm's, "Godfather Death," is a short story

illustrating how one's greed can overtake anything in life. The doctor, the

protagonist, shows these actions of greed in his own ways. The

spindle-legged Death shows in the story how these main tools are of

significance to the story: symbolism, theme, and the title. A summary

analysis of these three tools will show how "Godfather Death" achieves its

interesting effect.

The first tool, symbolism, and how it goes along with the doctor and

Death, will be discussed. This device gives the reader glimpses of some

symbols and their associations. The father tells what God, the Devil, and

Death represent to him. When he speaks of God, he accuses, "You give to

the rich and let the poor go hungry." The father suggests of the Devil: "You

deceive and mislead mankind." He views Death as the least discriminating,

saying,"Then you're the one for me; you take the rich and poor without

distinction.

Another example of symbolism in this story is the picture of Death

standing at a man's head which signals healing and Death standing at a man's

feet which means he cannot be cured. The positioning of Death allowed the

doctor to tell instantly whether or not the patient could be saved. If he saved

them with his herbs, that symbolized his christening gift, given to him by

Death.

The final example of symbolism is illustrated in the underground cave

where there were thousands of lights jumping back and forth from being lit to

not being lit. These lights represent the life lights of mankind. "The big ones

belong to children, the middle-sized ones to married couples in their best

years, the little ones belong to very old people," states Death. Since these

lights represent life and longevity, the children had bigger lights because they

had more years ahead of them than the adults. The doctor wanted to see the

measure of all of his accomplishments which turned out to be symbolized by

barley lit then knocked over by Death.

The doctor's character is revealed more in the theme of this short

story. He is the son of a wise man let his son face his own challenges in life.

First the doctor had to choose to follow Death into the woods and believe in

him. Death told him he would make him a famous doctor which he became

in the story. He had the ability to know instantly if the patient would live

or die. He became so well-known and famous that people would come from

everywhere to see him and he became wealthy as a result.

Then theme really comes into place when the king becomes very ill

and the doctor comes to see him. The doctor knew instantly that he was going

to die. He decides to trick Death and save the king. In his attempt, the

doctor shows his greed for power and fame. The doctor thought Death

wouldn't be angry since he was his godchild. But Death was angry and

warned the doctor,"You have tricked me. This time I will let you pass

because you are my godchild." Then Death tells the doctor if crosses him

again, he will die. Then the king's daughter becomes ill so the doctor visits.

Once again, he knew she would die, but he decides to save her because he

wants to be rich and marry the princess as promised by her

father, the king. Once again, the doctor's greed shows which seals his own

fate of death. "Thereupon the doctor sank to the ground and had himself

fallen into the hands of death."

The third and final tool is the title. When I first read the title, it

reminded me of the mofia or of a crime leader. After reading the

short story, I now appreciate how important the title is to the story.

"Godfather Death" basically represents the whole story. The title describes

the doctor's godfather, Death. It also explains that death can come at anytime

if someone chooses a sin over doing what is right. The title is also shown

when Death kills the doctor, "Death made as if to grant his wish, reached for

a tall new taper, but because he wanted revenge he purposely fumbled and

the little stub fell over and went out."

Death had already made up his mind to kill the doctor for betraying

him twice and after warning both times. Without this title, it would be

difficult to imagine why people would want to read the story. This story

caught my eye because of its title. I discovered the story was different than I

imagined, but it taught a good lesson after all. Death says early in the story,

"I will

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