Sierra Suelzle
Dr. Pressman
ECL 305
April 14, 2024
In Hans Christian Andersen’s short story, The Little Mermaid, the audience follows a young mermaid through her journey of adolescence. Andersen wrote this story in 1836 Europe when Christianity was the dominant religion and people were just beginning to question the scientific validity of said religion. Christianity’s main teaching is that in order to achieve eternal life and reach heaven, a person must believe in God and follow His commandments. Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid (1836) utilizes religious symbolism in its ending to subvert the religious belief of the time that to achieve eternal life one needed to believe in God. Instead, Andersen sought to convince children readers that the key to eternal life is selflessness.
The Little Mermaid contains a lot of Christian imagery and ideology throughout the story because Andersen understood that many parents at the time would have some association with Christianity and would therefore want their children to hear stories that perpetuate similar teachings. In this story, mermaids are a symbol of hell where souls are not present. Mermaids are described many times as not having an immortal soul which signifies that they cannot live in an afterlife. For instance, the grandma of the little mermaid explicitly tells the little mermaid that their “souls are not immortal. [They] shall never enter upon a new life” (Andersen, p. 116). This means that a mermaid’s soul is returned to the earth and is not meant for anything further than that. In Christianity, a person who has been “saved” by Christ is seen as having an immortal soul that will continue to exist in another plane after death. However, people who are not saved by Christ are not allowed to experience eternal life. In this way, mermaids represent those who were considered unholy and destined for hell at the time. Their souls will never be able to experience the “greatness” of the “unknown and favoured regions” (Andersen,p. 116) humans enter after death. Andersen includes these explanations of creatures without immortal souls as a way to introduce children readers to the idea of eternal life and to entice parent readers to continue reading this story. If parents did not believe that this story contained Christian teachings, Andersen ran the risk of parents deeming it immoral and a bad influence on their children. By including these teachings, Andersen increases his audience and cements himself as a credible children’s author.
Following the establishment of the Christian ideology in the main portion of the story, Andersen then begins to challenge all of those ideas. The story ends with the mermaid protagonist being presented with a choice regarding her future. The mermaid’s sisters plead with her to “plunge [a knife] into the prince’s heart” (Andersen, p.127) and inform her that “He or [the mermaid] must die before sunrise” (Andersen, p. 127). The little mermaid then goes on to jump overboard, committing suicide. The lack of souls in mermaids should have made this decision easy for the little mermaid because she should have been able to murder a man who never loved her and return to her family to live happily for the remainder of her life. However, she is unable to cause that unhappiness to the prince’s wife and instead chooses to sacrifice herself. Since mermaids are a representation of hell and nonbelievers in Christianity, they lack immortal souls which should allow them to do what they want in “mortal” life as there will be no consequences for their actions. They should not worry about the feelings of others or how their actions could impact other people. Andersen wields this conflict to demonstrate to readers that a person’s religious background does not indicate whether or not they will be able to obtain eternal life. He showcases that assuming people who are nonbelievers of Christianity are destined for hell is wrong and naive because good/selfless actions are not limited to those who believe. This pushes children to reframe their opinions of people who differ religiously from them because it creates an understanding that people cannot be confined to just one box.
Furthermore, Andersen continues to challenge the religious ideals of the time by introducing a new creature to the audience: aerial spirits. The aerial spirits are a clear representation of heaven and godliness. The imagery of the aerial spirits resembles angels who are messengers of God in Christianity. The aerial spirits exist to do good deeds for humans and are given the chance to live in the human afterlife. It is explained to the little mermaid that “the daughters of the air, although not possessing an immortal soul by nature, can obtain one by their good deeds” (Andersen, p. 128). This opportunity to get an immortal soul is the closest that un-human entities can get to being human. The little mermaid did not believe in a higher power that would save her when she sacrificed herself, she planned on turning into seafoam and ending her life. Andersen’s decision to make her an aerial spirit highlights how all people have an opportunity to obtain an immortal soul that would allow them to have eternal life, not just people who are believers of God. The idea of eternal life being available to all is emphasized when Andersen explains what aerial spirits exist to do. The existence of an aerial spirit is a completely unselfish one, as the spirits solely exist to ease the pain and suffering of humans. The spirits “fly to warm countries, and fan the burning atmosphere” (Andersen p. 128) to get rid of diseases that kill humans and also “diffuse the perfume of flowers through the air to heal and to refresh” (Andersen, p. 128). Everything that the spirits do is to serve someone other than themselves which teaches them how to be selfless and how to better the world. Andersen uses these actions to educate children readers on how they can become selfless and thus achieve eternal life.
Along with all that Andersen does before to enlighten his readers, he leaves the children reading the story with one last lesson. Andersen includes a warning by the aerial spirits to the little mermaid at the very end of the story as a way to remind children to be mindful of their actions. The aerial spirit reveals to the little mermaid that when the spirits “have met with a good child, who is the joy of his parents, and deserving of their love” (Andersen, p. 128) the time of their trial before they reach eternal life is shortened but if they meet “an ill-behaved or naughty child” (Andersen, p. 128) their trial is extended. While these descriptions of children being naughty or good are vague, with all that Andersen had previously hinted at, readers can understand that naughty means being selfish and uncaring of others’ feelings. One can then interpret that being a good child who is deserving of their parent’s love means being a selfless person who is willing to do tasks to assist other people. Andersen employs this last warning to encourage children to be selfless people because that will help them achieve eternal life. The concept of harming nice mythical creatures is a frightful one to most children, so when this is used as a warning children are more inclined to follow the advice of the author. This also appeals to the parents choosing to read this story because it promotes behavior that most parents of the time hope for: obedience.
The religious symbolism in this short story is crucial to effectively convincing children that eternal life does not depend on religious beliefs but rather on actions. The little mermaid only can obtain an immortal soul and reach eternal life after refusing to commit a harmful action and being altruistic. Andersen imparts to the audience how important this decision is, as the mermaid sacrifices her life to save someone else. Children who read this story are forced to think crucially about the religious values being taught to them and instead understand the importance of selfless actions.
Work Cited
Andersen, Hans Christian. “The Little Mermaid.” The Penguin Book of Mermaids, edited by Christina Bacchilega and Marie Alohalani Brown, Penguin Books, 2019, p. 107-130.