Godfather Death

A deal is a deal, someone helps you and you do something for them in return, easy. Not always... sometimes a deal isn’t what it seems, especially when you’re dealing with death. In “Godfather Death” by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm this is very much the case as a poor man deals with Death to get his newborn son a godfather. Death doesn’t discriminate and may seem fair, but he can be as evil as the devil, he will only keep you alive as long as he sees necessary, and you never know what will come next.

Grimm’s fabulous story would be nothing if not for its plotline in reference to the ironic mode of literature. A chaotic world is obvious as the poor man searches for a godfather; not the Lord God, not the Devil, but Death, yes, someone who he believes to be fair. But wait the boy will soon be seen struggling as Death makes him a deal: the boy will become a doctor and get a herb that can cure all diseases, but whenever Death is seen at the feet of a patient, he must die no matter who it is or Death will come to our dear boy.

All is well as our boy takes his burden and saves those who will live and leaves those who must die; until he finds the king on his table, with Death at his feet. Our poor boy suddenly found himself struggling for life as he second guesses his mission and thought, “If I cheat Death this onetime he will be angry, but since I am his godson, he will turn a blind eye.”(pg.11). And turn a blind eye death did as he spared our boy, but he warned him never to cross him again. But cross him our boy did as he saved the king’s daughter came onto the boy’s table with Death at her feet. A horrible mistake indeed as Death showed no mercy as he knocked down our boy’s candle
and as the flame went out so did the life in our dear boy, ending the story on death.

After looking at the mode, you have to look at the very small details that make up the few symbols in the story. We will first look at the king’s daughter, why would he save her if our dear boy knew that his life lay in his decision? The answer lays in what drives all men, greed; if he saved the princess he would undoubtedly be rewarded with a vast sum of money. Also he may have ended up marrying the princess and becoming king where he would have everything that he could possibly imagine. But by taking that temptation he found himself in a room full of candles lit with a glowing flame. An obvious symbol of how long to live, a representation of a clock winding down to your last sunrise.

Dealing with Death may seem wise due to his fairness and lack of discrimination, however with the fairness of Death comes the question of what its next move will be and who he will take next. Deals can be murder if every aspect is not carefully examined as we saw throughout “Godfather Death” as our boy struggled for life and then fell to his sticky death; let this be an example to you as your life progresses and you find yourself in the same sticky situation.