The Nutcracker and the Mouse King: Difference between revisions

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The Stahlbaum children are given a toy nutcracker for Christmas from their godfather Drosselmeier. This nutcracker turns out to be more than he seems; he's really Drosselmeier's nephew transformed by a mouse queen's evil curse. With the help of young Marie Stahlbaum, the nutcracker is eventually able to overcome his foe (the queen's vengeful son), regain his true form, and take Marie to the doll kingdom. After taking a grand tour, Marie falls asleep and wakes up in her own bed. When she tries to tell her parents, they think she's dreamed the entire thing and forbid her to speak of it again. However, Marie goes to her nutcracker in the cabinet and vows she would love him if he were real, even if he were ugly. This breaks the curse, and he asks her to marry him. Marie accepts, and in a year he takes her to the doll kingdom, where she is crowned queen.

 

 

A fan translation of Hoffmann's original fairy tale can be found [http://www.springhole.net/writing/the_nutcracker_and_the_mouse_king/index.html here.]

 

* [[A Child Shall Lead Them]]: Young Drosselmeier is the king of the Land of the Dolls. He's probably 14 at the ''most.''

* [[All the Little Germanies]]: The setting - and this story is one of the leading causes of the whole ''gemütlich'' reputation of this period and setting.

* [[Curse Escape Clause]]: Two - Princess Pirlipat could escape her curse of ugliness if a young man who had never shaved nor worn boots cracked the nut Krakatuk between his teeth, presented it to the princess with his eyes closed, and took seven steps backward without stumbling. The second is the curse on the Nutcracker: his curse is broken when Marie announces that she would love him even if he were ugly.

* [[The Dreaded]]: The inhabitants of the Land of Dolls believe in a cruel spirit they call [[Fluffy the Terrible|Pastrycook (Konditor)]], who has total power over mankind. Just mentioning his name will quell any uproar, as everyone would suddenly be preoccupied with pondering man's place in the universe.

* [[Eccentric Mentor]]: Godfather Drosselmeier.

* [[Eek! A Mouse!]]: Averted; Hoffman specifically mentions that Marie isn't afraid of mice, though her mother seems to assume she is. (In fact, she's only afraid of one, and for [[Complete Monster|good reason.]])

* [[Evil Matriarch]]: The Mouse Queen.

* [[Gem-Encrusted]]: The boat/sea chariot Nutcracker and Marie cross the lake on; a room inside Marzipan Castle.

* [[Theme Naming]]: The Drosselmeier family - we have Christian Elias Drosselmeier and Christoph Zechariah Drosselemeier. In other words, Christ(something) (Old Testament prophet) Drosselmeier.

* [[Vague Age]]: Young Drosselmeier. He probably wasn't any older than fourteen when he was transformed into a Nutcracker, given the facts we have to work with. Then when you account for the fact that upward of seven years must have passed before he was given to Marie, he would logically be in his early twenties. But at the end of the story, Drosselmeier refers to him and Marie collectively as "children" and expects them to play together, so apparently he's still quite young.

* [[The Wise Prince]]: The nutcracker prince.

* [[You Have to Believe Me]]: After the Nutcracker kills the Mouse King and they visit the Land of Dolls, Marie tries in vain to convince her parents that it wasn't just a dream. To her credit she actually has evidence to show for it (the Mouse King's crowns), but they still find her story too ridiculous to believe.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Fairy Tale]]

[[Category:The Nutcracker]]