Week 6: Undine and Marriage

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The way that the story of Undine discussed marriage was very telling about the way that women were looked at during this time. Throughout the section of the story that we read, how Undine changes and defers to her husband shows how women, no matter how powerful they might have been before, needed to become secondary to their husbands. I first noticed this when the story mentions how the three people who knew Undine best were waiting for “some whimsical vagary of her capricious spirit [to] burst forth” (pg. 102). The paragraph goes on to mention that she was “mild and gentle” (pg.102) which is a complete change from her previous personality. This change only comes the day after she is married to the knight Huldbrand, which hints that marriage has caused her change of spirit. The shift in Undine has two different representations because she is both a woman and a water spirit. I believe that calming her personality can represent men taming both women and nature. This story places men at the top of all hierarchies, they are the ones who control the estate and can impact how nature itself acts. During the 19th century, the man was the head of the family and the woman was supposed to answer to him, but this show of power was also extended to nature in some ways. As a water spirit, Undine acts like water, she’s unpredictable and wild. But once she is married and gains a soul, she calms and is “tamed”. Huldbrand notices this when they go to a stream and see it “rippling along in gentle waves, without a trace of its former wildness and swell” (pg. 103). Since Undine can control a certain body of water, that water would represent how she is feeling and her personality because it is an extension of her. In this case, this stream represents Undine and her new disposition. Before being married, the stream and Undine were free and wild, as nature tends to be, but after they are both subdued. This shows that men at this time were trying to find ways to control women and nature.

Undine

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While reading Undine, it is evident that there are some parallels between human and non-human relationships amongst various mermaid stores. It is interesting to me that most of these tales of love pertain to a female mermaid and a male nonhuman and their attempt at romance. If we are supposed to be learning a lesson from the patterns, it is understood they don’t mesh well. I am curious to know how dynamic character development will be surrounding these relationships. Will human non human romance always fail? Don’t mean to make a generalization, but from analyzing the texts we have already read and the films we have watched we can gather this as a common theme. Having talked about the idea of love and the different perspectives we create that come from influence, I am eager to see if these ideas connect. To be even more abstract, does the love fail in order to prove Undine’s connection with the natural world is too strong? She exclaims how the natural world is and “wonderful salamanders glitter and sport in the flames: lean and malicous gnomes dwell deep within the earth: spirits, belonging to the air, wander through the forests: and a vast family of water spirits live in the lakes and streams and brooks”(p. 104).

Week 6: Anthropocentrism in Undine and The Little Mermaid

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Something I noticed within the stories of Undine and Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid” are how anthropocentric these stories can be, especially when it comes to seemingly-simple concepts like tears and the human soul.

Undine tells Huldbrand that “there is one evil peculiar to [nature spirits]” (103) and this “evil” refers to the fact that nature spirits like her have no soul. Because of this, when they die, they are simple reborn back into the cycle of life on Earth rather than passing over into the afterlife, as human souls do. Undine goes on to say that while it is a satisfactory existence to live through, “all beings aspire to be higher than they are,” (103) which is essentially what drives her father to seek out a human for her to be wed to and thus gain a human soul in order to become a higher being than that of a spirit.

Anthropocentrism refers to the ethical belief that humans alone hold intrinsic value and hold power and importance over everything else in nature. Much of European/Western thinking tends to be very anthropocentric, especially with the ideas of “conquering the land” and seeing nature as something to be tamed rather than worked with. The concept of humans alone possessing souls and animals and nature possessing none is also an idea upheld by the Christian church. By placing the possession of a human soul as being above that of a powerful nature spirit, the character of Undine directly promotes these anthropocentric, Christian ideas.

Week 6: The Mermaid Craze

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Although I wanted to touch on the idea that this week, at least in the section we read, we finally see a cute love story between a man and mermaid, the overwhelming amount of aha moments I had reading about the mermaid boom essentially warrants its own blog post. The readings pertaining to “The Feejee Mermaid Hoax” (Penguin, 239-244) and “Freakshows and Fantasies” (Vaughn Scribner’s Merpeople) opened my eyes to the answer of why humans are, and have been, so fascinated by mermaids for centuries. As we’ve been reading throughout this class, mermaid tales have been told and recorded for a very long time but I think the Feejee mermaid hoax boosted its popularity for the 1840s. This showman was able to gain a lot of traction on his “discovery” as the Enlightenment was not too far before this time; an era of new thinking and ideas, surely a hybrid human would take the worlds interest with both hands. Although, like we all know, this discovery was a hoax, it did the job on captivating the world once more of this hybrid creature as one of the papers covering the story only discusses the Feejee mermaid in its’ first paragraph while “—the rest is essentially a chronology of mermaid sightings” (Penguin, 240), sparking conversation once again.

Then the transition from learning about this worldwide hoax to reading chapter 4 “Freakshows and Fantasies” you get a clear understanding on how curiosity and curiosities were able to captivate the minds of many people around the world. During this era, 1800-1850s, many Americans were certainly advancing as a nation but still had much to learn as they introduced coal powered engines but weren’t wearing gloves for surgery until a bit later. Therefore with this sort of contradicting, mindset era, playing out the idea of a hybrid beast being out there, but not actually seeing it was somewhat more close to reality than it might be today. Also, the press had a big factor in the culture of this time; there was no Internet, so the newspaper was as bad as real factual information you could receive. Therefore, if the newspaper said there was a mermaid sighting then maybe there actually was. This chapter also mentions how even in the scientific third wave of this mermaid craze people still hoped “—for a brief escape from their hard realities of their daily [lives] more than a peek into mystical wonder.” That quote says it all: essentially we have used this mermaid symbol to teach, to push religious values, to warn, and now for an escape. The mermaid wether it be real or not physically never ceases to legitimize that creative, wondrous spark of hope in our minds and hearts. That’s why myths and legends weather they’re real or not, are able to craft morals and values because of the magical element they hold, and therefore mesmerize a reader.

Week 6: Tricked by the Feejee Mermaid

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Good evening, everyone.

This week’s reading took me on a trip through time, back to when I was about 6 years old. In elementary school, I would always listen to The Show on Rock 105.3 – a talk show hosted by younger people talking about things I was far too young to be hearing about – on my way to school every morning. I remember one day, they talked about the Feejee Mermaid – they were trying to figure out whether it was real or not. I think it was a bit, often the cast of the show would poke fun at how gullible and silly Boston Rob (one of the hosts) was – so perhaps they were trying to gaslight him into believing the hoax. But to me, I was sold on the idea that the hideous half-man, half-monkey they would make jokes about existed. When I got home from school I hopped on the family Mac and looked up the hoax for myself. Seeing as I was 6, I expertly ignored all the big words that disproved the Feejee mermaids existence. I was amazed and proceeded to tell everyone I saw and met about it for about a week – and then I forgot about it and moved on with my life until this weeks reading. Even reading the words “Feejee Mermaid Hoax” didn’t connect those dots in my head until I looked it up on google images. It was fun reliving that really small but exciting time of my life.

Week Six: Undine

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When doing this weeks reading, I was very interested in the deception of Undine and her knight suitor Huldbrand. When the tale begins we get background into their relationships, and how it ends with Huldbrand leaving Undine for Bertalda, another human. This is the ending we get from the other version of the tale, but as I went on to read the start of the story it was different. Undine and Huldbrand did get married, he did not quite betray her in the same way. Except in this depiction of the tale Undine tells her new husband what she is, a mermaid adopted by humans, and he accepts her. One line that stood out to me was “All rose to meet her, and all stood with surprise, for the young wife seemed so strange to them and yet the same” (102). This quote is referring to Undine meeting her knew husbands friends and family- it seems- after they are married, so they were taken aback by her appearance. It is unclear why, but I believe that maybe it’s because of her being a mermaid and they can somehow sense or feel that she is different from them. It might not be apparent to the eye, but they can feel that Undine is the same as them but different as the same time. This stood out to me just because I think that if they had seen her mermaid form, they might be more astonished than repulsed. Another aspect of Undines story that intrigues me is her description of not having a soul because she is a mermaid. “Our condition would be far superior to that of other human beings – for human beings we call ourselves, being similar to them in form and culture,- but there is one evil peculiar to us……Hence we have no souls” (105). This was Undine describing why mermaids feel a connection to humans, or sometimes group themselves in the same categories. I thought this was an interesting connection between the two and how humans and mermaids have similarities. Undine describes her desire to have human experiences, a big part of why she fell in love with her human husband. the struggles she describes how the elements move her – mermaids- and they have no souls, is why she desires so much to have a connection with a human soul, like Huldbrand. Overall, I found her story to be quite sad, and I pity that her affection she craves so badly from the human world. Although she gained a soul by marrying and falling in love with her husband, it still seems bittersweet to me.

Week 6 — Freakshows

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This week, the reading that stood out to me most was the chapter “Freakshows and Fantasies” by Vaughn Scribner. This chapter was interesting because it didn’t necessarily contain any mermaid stories, but instead described the evolution of the term through the detailed accounts of mermaid sightings in the early 1800s. Interestingly enough, Scribner uses contradicting terms throughout the whole passage to demonstrate the opposing views of merpeople that have laid the groundwork for economic benefits associated with mermaids today. Scribner contrasts the differing approaches as: “science and wonder” (129), “discovery and superstition” (131), “scientific credulity and capitalistic profit” (131), and many others. Viewing merpeople from these two opposing perspectives can show how rapidly it gained attention and ultimately resulted in large profits in the economic sector. Bits and pieces that stuck in original works were pulled and reused for similar symbolic purposes, but the flashy bits that attracted coin seemed to be the most prominent.  This also shows how the concept of merpeople has changed over time to reflect our present day values as these concepts sell the best. In the 1800s, the attractive bits were sexualizing women with a large bit of emphasis on the male gaze. Originally, mermaids had been used by the church to signify our temptations/desires as things to avoid, while present day mermaids are used by large corporations to represent body positivity and acceptance. Both of these views result in large profits, however there is a large disconnect between what merpeople resembled 300 years ago and what they resemble today; it is simply a reflection of society’s values and morals. 

Another interesting little bit about this reading is that one of my favorite types of wine is called Freakshow, by Michael David. And for comedic purposes I went and looked at the label of wine and low-and-behold, it was a mermaid on the cover! Here’s the link!

Week 6: Undine

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Right off the bat I can see the similarities between Undine and Melusina: two water spirits/mermaidesque creatures who get married to mortal, human men and then eventually reveal their true selves. But it deviates because Undine willingly revealed it to her husband, whatever his name was (Huldbrand?) after they had gotten married. There’s still that strong element of The Other infiltrating (through the dreams): “Wonderful and horrible dreams had disturbed Huldbrand’s rest; he had been haunted by spectres, who, grinning at him by stealth, had tried to disguise themselves as beautiful women, and from beautiful women they all at once assumed the faces of dragons….” (102)

This could be some sort of premonition, but also to me it reflects the fear the patriarchy has with women who are also pretty. Thats a very surface level interpretation, I know. At the same time, I think it’s also a reflection of how people are afraid of their true selves, or the true selves of other people. That there is a nasty side, a dangerous side. There’s a huge contrast between these really scary nightmares Huldbrand is having, and then how pretty and dainty and lovely Undine is. It could be a testament to how the true nature of things is something people fear? Coming back to comparing Undine and Melusina, the thing they have in common is this fear of the Other, even when a couple are married. Discovering your wife (because we have only seen stories where the wife is a Creature and not the husband) is not what she seems is a reoccurring thing.

Also side note: very interesting seeing this story and having played Undertale becuase there is an NPC called Undyne who is a fish monster (could you call her a merperson?) who is the literal opposite of how Undine is described in her folklore. Interesting to see how meanings deviate or how people take inspiration from old things and make them into new things.

The Modern Era: 19th C Industrialism & Capitalism

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For this week’s reading I found it to be a fairly easy to understand and straightforward reading. I really enjoyed reading the story of Undine, and its parallels to the story of The Little Mermaid. Being such a big fan of the film and the story of The Little Mermaid it was interesting to see kind of similarities and origins of that story in the reading this week about Undine. “In both stories, a beautiful mermaid is loyal to her human love object and inspired by the prospect of acquiring a soul,” although in Hans Christian Anderson’s version we don’t see that side of acquiring a soul and more of giving her voice to be able to be with her love (Penguin, page 101). As well we saw a parallel with Undine and how she portrays her true form to Huldbrand and how although she is not human he still loves her, similarly to Hans Christian Anderson’s version. But the part of her story that stuck out to me is when she says to Hulbrand, “Our condition would be far superior to that of other human beings, – for human beings we call ourselves, being similar to them in form and in culture, – but there is on evil peculiar to us. We and our like in the other elements, vanish unit dust, and pass away, body and spirit” (Penguin, page 105). I thought this quote stuck out to me because it reminded me a lot of what the Bible says about humans, “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). I think this is important and connects to point of the class because as much as people want to separate humans from mermaids and other beings and argue that they are different, they are still half human and because of that they as well like us return back to dust; and thus we have to be able to respect them and treat the idea of mermaids (and to an extent the environment) with equality as we do with people. 

Week 6: Undine

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The story Undine from the Penguin Book of Mermaids was the most interesting of the readings this week. While the other readings focused more on accounts of mermaids in the past few centuries, this story was of romance between a human and a mermaid. What I found most important in this story was the connection between mermaids and nature. As we have discussed in class, there are many connections between mermaids and nature throughout many stories. Mermaids often embody or represent nature, and how humans interact with them can represent their attitudes toward nature and the environment. This story has some of the most explicit connections between nature and mermaids that we have seen so far. During Undine’s speech, she states: “We and our like in the other elements, vanish into dust, and pass away, body and spirit, so not that a vestige of us remains behind; and when you mortals hereafter awake to a purer life, we remain with the sand and the sparks and the wind and the waves. Hence we also have no souls” (p. 105). This quote shows the difference between mermaids and humans, and the connection that mermaids hold with nature–they are one and the same, and mermaids will eventually return to the earth. Another important part of this quote to note is the choice of words ‘purer life’. This reveals the Christian nature of the text, as purer life is implied to be heaven. Toward the end of this chapter, Undine also makes a comment about her uncle that furthers strengthens this melding of mermaid and nature: “I will dive into this brook, which is my uncle; and here in the forest, far removed from other friends, he passes his strange and solitary life. He is however powerful, and is esteemed and beloved by many great streams” (p. 106). This quote also reveals the deep connection between nature and merpeople. Not only is Undine’s uncle a brook, but she is also able to recognize him in his nature form (unless this knowledge was acquired previously). It seems to imply that when a mermaid dies and goes back to the earth, they become some sort of water, as Undine will do on her husband’s grave when he dies. Perhaps the overarching storyline described in italics at the beginning of this chapter is supposed to represent man’s troubled relationship with nature–at one moment, in love and full of respect, the next having betrayed her.

Another interesting part of this story was the elements of Christianity–the gaining of a soul, the inability to go to Heaven/any sort of afterlife without one. I also found it interesting that similar to Melusine, Undine is not upfront about who she is to her romantic partner. Although she does willingly tell her husband of her mermaid side (unlike Melusine), she still decides to hide her true self before they marry. Is this to add a lack of trust to mermaids? Or to make commentary that one does not need to fully divulge every bit of one’s self to be in love? That some things can be kept secret without hindering a relationship?