Abstract
The Robber Bridegroom is one of the most memorable stories in the entire collection of the Brothers Grimm. It is a tale in which a young woman must resist the advances of someone who is intent on killing and eating her. Unlike the 31-function fairy tale, the 29-function structure of The Robber Bridegroom does not end with a marriage but concludes more simply with the survival of the Reluctant Bride and the Punishment by execution of the Robber Bridegroom and his Godless Crew. This 29-function plot structure was entirely overlooked by Propp, even though it follows from his groundbreaking work.
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Notes
Roman Jakobson and Krystyna Pomorska, Dialogues, 1983, p. 97.
Vladimir Propp, Morphology of the Folktale, 1968, p. 67.
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© 2015 Terence Murphy
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Murphy, T.P. (2015). The Robber Bridegroom Genotype. In: From Fairy Tale to Film Screenplay. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137552037_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137552037_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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