Outlining the plot of a fairy tale

 

For my Literary Criticism course, I gave an activity for the students to outline the plot of a short story—a fairy tale to be exact. I have only one instruction: “Be creative”. The following is an outline of the plot for the Hans Christian Andersen story “The Little Mermaid”. Here is a product of a group of my former students Bachelor of Secondary Education, Major in English. (They graduated last year.)

Introduction (Motivation). There was a Little Mermaid who lives in an utopian underwater kingdom with his father, her grandmother, and her five elder sisters.

 

Conflict. The Little Mermaid ventured to the surface of the water where he happens upon a handsome Prince.  She rescues him from drowning after he was knocked into the water by a storm. A temple girl came to retrieve the Prince.

Complications. The Little Mermaid, who fell in love with the handsome Prince, went to the Sea Witch to get legs—and an eternal soul. The Sea Witch gave her a portion that will give her legs. But to get an eternal soul, the Prince must fall in love with her and marry her. If not, she will return to the sea and disintegrate into sea foam.

Suspense. The Little Mermaid met the Prince who was immediately attracted to her, even though she was mute. The Prince’s father wanted him to marry a neighboring king’s daughter but the Prince refused. He only wants to marry the temple girl who he believed rescued him. It turns out that the temple girl is a princess. She eventually replaced the Little Mermaid in the Prince’s heart. The date of the wedding is announced.

 Climax. Heartbroken, the Little Mermaid contemplates death. But before dawn, her sisters appeared to her bearing a knife from the Sea Witch. The Sea Witch would give the knife in exchange for her hair. If the Little Mermaid slays the Prince with the knife and lets his blood drip on her feet, she will return to being a mermaid again and will be able to live out her full life.

Outcome/Resolution. The Little Mermaid could not bring herself to sla the Prince. So she threw herself into the sea. Instead of disintegrating into sea foam, she became a spirit, a “daughter of the air”. This was because she strove with all her heart to gain an eternal soul. Thus, she earned an eternal soul because of her good deed.