Hansel and Gretel with Angela Carter-esk feeling?

Question

I'm writing a creative paper for my Gothic literature course and one of the options is to write a gothic fairy tale, because we read Angela Carter's feminist re-writings of classic fairy tales. I decided to do the same thing with Hansel and Gretel. I've renamed them Hunter and Grace, but I'm not sure how to start it off. Angela Carter's stories have a creepy, uncontented-like feel, but I'm not really sure about how to do that with my story. Any tips?

Answer 1

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Maybe you could write it from Gretel's (Grace) point of view. Angela Carter did that with The Tiger Bride and it was the only fairy tale I ever read from the first person narrative and it was so much more captivating and you could really relate to the character. Also take the oppurtunity to describe the actual woods and the witch's house in a more creepy way than the Grimms' version does, because these settings can be terrifying from a child's point of view if you describe them the right way.

P.S. I also had to rewrite Hansel and Gretel, I did it from the p.o.v. of Hansel and had him at the end never forgive the father for deserting them, maybe you could elaborate that aspect of parental abandonment and decide whether or not Hunter and Grace forgive their parents. Good Luck!