The annotations for the Ugly Duckling fairy tale are below. Sources have been cited in parenthetical references, but I have not linked them directly to their full citations which appear on the Ugly Duckling Bibliography page. I have provided links back to the Annotated Ugly Duckling to facilitate referencing between the notes and the tale.
Special thanks to Christine Ethier, an adjunct teacher of English writing at both Community College of Philadelphia and Camden County College, for providing the annotations to this tale. Ethier's annotations are designated by CE.
Heidi Anne Heiner provided additional annotations designated with HAH.
1. The Ugly Duckling: Considered the most autobiographical of all his tales, Andersen first published "The Ugly Duckling" in 1844 when he was 39 years old. He admitted on many occasions that the tale mirrored his own life. The tale appeared in Nye Eventyr (New Fairy Tales). The collection was critically well-received. HAH
The Franks write:
It is not only among his most famous stories — the title itself has become part of several languages — but the one that readers correctly identify most closely with its author. Andersen spent his summers with aristocratic friends, going from one castle to the next; in the summer of 1842, at Gisselfeldt Castle, south of Copenhagen, he had been in a bad mood because a new play had done poorly. But he went for a walk, a diary entry notes, and “got the idea for a story about a duck. Improved my mood.” In late July — he was now a guest at the castle of Bregentved — he says, “Began the young swan yesterday” — a hint that the idea had not quite worked itself out (156). HAH
The story is also called "The Cygnet". It was started in 1842 at Bregentved Manor House (Wullschlager 213). Andersen was a guest at the manor. Bregentved is about 30 miles south of Copenhagen (Wullschlager 212). Both Bregentved and a neighboring estate that Andersen also visited had swans (Wullschlager 212). The tale was finished on October 7, 1843 and was published in Nye Eventyn (New Fairy Tales) (Wullschlager 230). It is considered one of Andersen's most autobiographical tales. Maria Tater points out that the title has become a catchphrase (Ann. 288). CE
It should also be noted that "The Ugly Duckling" ". . . is the Cinderella idea enacted by farmyard inhabitants" (Drinkwater 858). In addition, "The Ugly Duckling" is a "classic fable" (Langford 972). A fable is "a short narrative which is often a commentary upon society or the human condition presented as an allegory or parable, almost always with a hidden (though not obscure) message" (Ashley 327). The use of animals in a fable is to "symbolize aspects of humankind" (Ashley 327) and so that the tale appeals to children (Ashley 327). CE
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2. Summer weather: The story starts in summer as the time of physical birth instead of spring. According to Wullschlager the opening setting is "like that around Gisselfeldt and Bregentved" (213), the two estates that Andersen visited when he started writing the tale. CE
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3. Looked beautiful: The farm and its surroundings are prosperous, not poor. The farm is, perhaps middle class. CE
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4. The stork: Andersen makes use of storks in other stories. Maria Tater states that storks were believed to be men who returned to Egypt during the winter months (Ann. 290). Storks are associated with Christ and the Resurrection, from which the story of the stork delivering babies comes from (Biedermann 328). Storks are considered good fortune and associated with the soul and fertility (Biedermann 329).
Egypt is "a symbol for everything ancient and secret" (Biedermann 112). CE
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5. Old farm house: The farmyard can represent "Odense, Copenhagen, Slagelse and Elsinore" (Tater, Ann 292) and their hierarchies (Tater, Ann 292). Andersen was born in Odense, lived in Copenhagen, and attended school in Slagelse and Elsinore.
Andersen's paternal grandmother told him tales of a farm that the family had lost due to enclosure (Prince 16-17). His grandmother claimed to be descended from a noble Germany family from Kassel, where the Grimms hailed from (Prince 17). She wasn't (Prince 17). CE
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6. Burdock: An ugly plant (Tater, Ann 290). It is "a course, board-leaved weed with prickly heads or burs which stick to the clothing" (Barnhart 160). CE
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7. A duck sat on her nest: The Ugly Duckling's mother could be a stand-in for Andersen's own mother, Anne Marie Andersen. CE
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8. "Peep peep" "Quack Quack": Sven Rossel writes in A History of Danish Literature "What really makes Andersen unique in world literature is not the topics he chose but his inimitable style, his rejection of the conventional literary diction of the romantic era in the favor of everyday colloquial language" (235). CE
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9. Green is good for the eyes: Green represents hope and is a meditation color (Biedermann 158). CE
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10. I have never ventured: Andersen's mother did not travel far from Odense for most of his life. Andersen, however, traveled throughout Europe. This could be a comment on those Danes who like to stay at home. CE
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11. An old duck: The mother duck's willingness to sit on the egg so long could be a reference to the fact that despite the local scandal concerning Andersen's lack of work as a young boy, his mother did not force him to work as soon as she should have (Prince 33). Alison Prince describes Anne Marie Andersen's attitude to her son as "one of boundless admiration and protectiveness" (37). CE
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12. Image of their father: Possibly a reference to his step-father. While Andersen never described his step-father as an evil man (Wullschlager 29), his mother's remarriage might have hastened his desire to leave home (Wullschlager 29). Regardless, after her remarriage, Anne Marie Andersen fell further into poverty (Wullschlager) 29). Prince suggests that the stepfather did not like Andersen's paternal grandmother, whom Andersen loved, and refused the woman entry into the house (38). Prince also says "Gundersen [the stepfather] had no sympathy for an overgrown lad of approaching fourteen who still behaved like a dependent child" (38). Prince points out the marriage that Andersen portrayed in Only a Fiddler was similar to his mother's new marriage (38). CE
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13. Large: Andersen was unusually tall and eccentric as a child (Wullschlager 20). It should also be noted that the Ugly Duckling is the last to hatch (Bettelheim 105). CE
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14. He is not so very ugly: Could be another reference to Andersen's mother, see above. CE
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15. Carried off by the cat: The sequence of the eel shows the hierarchy of the farmyard. The ducks are overruled by the cat. It could also show Andersen's disdain for the lower classes (Zipes 102). CE
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16. Spanish blood: Spanish soldiers were in Denmark as part of Napoleon's army and were well liked by the Danes (Prince 23). The old duck could also represent people in Odense. CE
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17. It is a drake: A drake is a male duck. Andersen's early childhood was dominated by both his grandmother and mother. CE
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18. He is too big: The mistreatment of the Ugly Duckling mirrors Andersen's own treatment at the hands of other children and adults in Odense. Alison Prince refers to two incidents. Andersen was once chased home by boys "pelted and shouted at like his mad grandfather before him" (36). He was also treated badly at a cloth mill where he was sent to work. At first he was treated well, but when teased he cried (Prince 34). The other workers than stripped him to see if he was really a boy (Prince 34). CE
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19. The turkey cock: The turkey is full of self-importance and abuses his position. The turkey could be Andersen's teacher Simon Meisling. When Andersen was sent to attend grammar school he was far older than the other boys in the class (Andersen was 17). Meisling treated Andersen badly, so badly that Andersen lived in fear of the man (Prince 74). Even 30 years later, Andersen still had nightmares about the man (Wullschlager 79). Andersen referred to the time at the school as "the darkest, most unhappy time of my life" (qtd in Wullschlager 79). CE
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20. He ran away: Similar to Andersen's leaving Odense (Wullschlager 232). CE
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21. Wild ducks: These ducks are more accepting than the ducks in the farmyard. The level of those he has associated with has gone up. CE
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22. He had no thoughts of marriage: Tater points out that " . . . the duckling aspires to social acceptance rather than social evolution though marriage" (Ann. 292). Andersen never married and at one point said "Now I shall never be married" (qtd in Wullschlager 193). CE
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23. Wild geese: The geese are close to the duckling in age. According to Tater, the wild geese represent Bohemian poets (Ann 294). Geese can also function "symbolically like a smaller version of a swan" (Biedermann 156). The geese offer acceptance unlike the ducks. CE
The Franks write: "Andersen did not have much of a wild youth, but two of his close friends did. Fritz Petit, who would later translate Andersen to German, and the writer Carl Bagger, to whom the volume containing “The Ugly Duckling” is dedicated, were bohemians who drank and pursued women and encouraged Andersen (unsuccessfully) to do the same" (167). HAH
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24. Fell dead among the rushes: Will Roscoe believes that the death of the wild geese supports the idea that the story is an analogy of the repressed homosexual (Prince 211).
It is also equally possible that the hunters are critics for Andersen was sensitive to any criticism about his work (Wullschlager 102). CE
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25. Sportsman surrounded: Even the moor is not a safe place. The moor and its dangers could represent Copenhagen. CE
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26. A large terrible dog passed quite near him: Andersen was afraid of dogs himself. HAH
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27. Even the dog will not bite me: The Ugly Duckling misinterprets the hunting dog's training. The dog rejects the duckling not because of looks but because the duckling is not what the dog should retrieve. This shows the reader the depth of the duckling's despair. CE
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28. Ran over field and meadow: The duckling's travels are a version of a night journey. A Night Journey is usually a physical act of travel (Kaveney 686). Usually the hero "travels to a dark land" (Kaveney 686). Sometimes the journey is an interior one. During the journey "matters of significance to that protagonist's life are met, confronted, or defeated (or possibly not defeated)" (Kaveney 686). A Night Journey is awesome and instructive (Kaveney 686). "NJs [Night Journeys] are undergone by obsessed by seekers and accursed wanderers . . . "(Kaveney 686). CE
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29. Storm: A storm can represent "a powerful manifestation of the gods and their will" (Biedermann 329). Storms also represent "the blows of fate, the sorrows of life on earth" (Biedermann 329). CE
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30. Poor little cottage: The arrival of the duckling at a place of shelter could be similar to Andersen's meeting Jonas Collin, the man who arranged for Andersen's education. This is possible because of who the hen represents (see below). CE
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31. Tom cat: A cat can be an evil force, and can represent darkness and cruelty (Biedermann 59). Here the cat only says two sentences to the duckling and tells him to be quiet so it is possible that the cat functions as a stand in for Edvard Collin who would not allow Andersen to use the familiar "Du" to address him. "Du" is the Danish informal "you" pronoun; the formal is "De" (Wullschlager 106). Wullschlager writes that Edvard's refusal of "Du" was a "devastating blow" (109) to Andersen. While Andersen would later refer to Edvard as "my most trustworthy friend" (qtd in Wullschlager 83), Andersen's first impression of Edvard was as someone "so cold, so inaccessible . . ." (qtd in Wullschlager 83). Several critics speculate that Andersen loved (in varying degrees) Edvard. Andersen's relationship with Edvard also forms a part of "The Shadow" (Wullschlager 291). Edvard and his wife were buried with Andersen in a triple plot, but the couple was than moved years later to the family plot (Wullschlager 440). CE
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32. Hen: A hen is usually a symbol of a good mother (Biedermann 171). The hen in this story represents Ingeborg Drewsen (nee Collin) "who laughed at his ambitions" (Wullschlager 232) and who was a "stay at home" person (Wullschlager 232). This was not the first time Andersen cast her as a hen. She is the hen in A Poet's Bazaar (Wullschlager 209-210). She was also kind to Andersen when he first met the Collin family (Wullschlager 83). CE
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33. When sensible people: The conversation between the hen and the duckling is reminiscent of Andersen's relationship with the Collin family. Jonas Collin (father of Edvard) saw to Andersen's education and sent Andersen to school so he could write correctly (Wullschlager 62). Collin and other supporters of Andersen also sided with Andersen's teacher Meisling when the teacher forbade Andersen to write creativity (Wullschlager 62). At times, Andersen wanted to move away from the Collin family dominance (Wullschlager 134). CE
The Franks write:
"All of Andersen’s benefactors — the Wulif and Collin families in particular — felt that they had the right to educate him, even when he was a grown man. Their good intentions drove Andersen to distraction. On September 26, 1834, when he was twenty-nine, he wrote to his close friend Henriette Wuiff, whose mother frequently corrected him, saying that 'if once in a while a didactic preacher turns up, one of those who used to be so eager to ed ucate me, then first I listen to find out if it is nonsense, and if I find that it is, then I snub him. . . Nobody treats me like a boy anymore'"(167). HAH
34. I advise you, therefore, to lay eggs, and learn to purr as quickly as possible: The Franks write: "When Andersen was a boy in Odense, several people suggested that he should learn a trade. Later, as a young man, he was told to forget about writing and think about becoming a solid citizen" (167). HAH
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35. Into the world again: Jonas Collin arranged (pushed, prodded) Andersen to travel due to his relationship with the family and society once in 1831 (Prince 108) and again in 1833 (Prince 120-123). CE
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36. Autumn came: Roz Kaveney states "because of the turning of the seasons is an apt symbol for the process of turning from ignorance to wisdom NJs [Night Journeys] may be associated with solstices" (686).CE
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37. They were swans: A swan is a "symbol of noble purity" (Biedermann 333). Here and elsewhere in the tale, the swans "are the great writers of Europe" (Tater, Ann 294). The duckling's attraction to them is similar to Andersen's attraction to great writers such as Sir Walter Scott. CE
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38. The space on which he swam became smaller and smaller: The Franks write: "In 1822 in Copenhagen the teenage Andersen was running out of choices. He had failed in the theater and as a dancer, singer, and writer"(167). HAH
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39. Frozen fast in the ice: Maria Tater points out that "on occasion the frailty of Andersen's protagonists takes a form so extreme that it manifests itself in some form of immobility" (Classic 213). CE
The scene of freezing to death is reminiscent of Andersen's Little Match Girl in which the title character dies when no one rescues her from the cold. Andersen, born in a cold climate, uses many images of ice and snow in his tales, especially the Snow Queen. HAH
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40. The children laughed and screamed: Andersen disliked children (Tater, Ann 299). The section in the house could also be a reference to Andersen's time with Simon Meisling whose children he babysat. CE
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41. All the misery and privations: Tater notes, "For Andersen, a turn away from carnality (sometimes taking the extreme form of mortification of the flesh and physical paralysis) becomes the prerequisite for spiritual plenitude and salvation" (Classic, 213). Here is a turning point in the tale. CE
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42. Spring: A time of new life and rebirth. CE
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43. Apple-trees: Apples are sometimes symbols of knowledge (Biedermann 16). CE
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44. Elders: Tradition has this tree supplying the wood for the Cross as well as being the tree from which Judas hanged himself (Evans 368). CE
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45. Lawn: The beautiful lawn and pond are based on the manor Bregentved (Wullschlager 213-214). In fact, the drawing of the manor in Jackie Wullschlager's Hans Christian Andersen: The Life of a Storyteller (page 213) could come right from the story. CE
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46. Three beautiful white swans: Three is a powerful number. It represents the three aspects of self; id, ego, and superego (Bettelheim 102). For the symbolism of the swans, see above. CE
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47. They will kill me: Alison Prince writes that Andersen thought about suicide (46). Tater notes, "it is telling that he [the duckling] looks on death as salvation, so long as the beautiful swans are the executioners" (Ann 299).
The behavior here also shows how humble the duckling is. At one point he is wiling to put forward his views and defend them to the hen. Here he just one wants to die. Jack Zipes writes of Andersen's stories, "if the hero comes from the lower classes, he or she must be humbled if not humiliated at one point to test obedience" (95). CE
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48. Bird: He is no longer called a duckling. CE
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49. But a graceful and beautiful swan: No hero "who survives a NJ [night journey] does so unaltered" (Kaveney 686). This scene is also the duckling's recognition of his true self and "recognition marks a fundamental shift in the process of a story from increasing ignorance to knowledge' (Clute 804). CE
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50. If it is a hatched from a swan's egg: The Franks write: "The story could have ended here — and to modern readers should have. The critic Georg Brandes considered the ending unworthy of the duckling/swan. “Let it die, if necessary,” Brandes wrote in 1869. “That is tragic and grand. Let it lift its wings and fly soaring through the air, jubilant at its own beauty and strength" (168). HAH
Tater points out that "Andersen suggests that the Ugly Duckling's innate superiority stems from his being a different bred "(Ann. 289). CE
There is a theory (legend) that Andersen was the illegitimate son of Crown Prince Christian Frederick II (later Christian VIII) and Elise of Ahlefedt-Lounvig (Prince 11). He was then given to Anne-Marie Andersen, a maid at the castle he was born in, and her husband to raise (Prince 11). Supposedly, the theory goes, Andersen was told this on July 12, 1842, shortly before he started to write "The Ugly Duckling" (Prince 209-210). According to this theory, "The Ugly Duckling" is about Andersen finding his true origins. CE
However, there is no real proof for the story, While the theory does still pop up, most critics considered it disproved (Block). Prince does not endorse the theory, though she goes into depth about it. Wullschlager and the Andersen birth place souvenir booklet make no mention of the theory. For a complete run-down of the theory see Alison Prince's Hans Christian Andersen: The Fan Dancer. CE
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51. Came some children and threw bread and cake into the water: The Ugly Duckling (the swan) is given more expensive food. Tater notes that the duckling has no use except to promote pleasure (Ann. 296). CE
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52. He is so young and pretty: According to Jack Zipes, "The swan measures himself by the values and aesthetic set by the 'royal' swans and by the proper well-behaved children and people in the beautiful garden. The swans and the beautiful garden are also placed in opposition to the ducks and henyard. In appealing to the 'noble' sediments of a refined audience and his readers, Andersen reflected descent class bias if not classical racist tendencies." (102). CE
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53. He was so happy: Bruno Bettelheim did not like the tale, writing "things are simply fated and unfold accordingly, whether or not the hero takes some action, while in the fairy story it is the hero's doing which changes his life" (104). CE
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54. He was the most beautiful: Tater believes that the story "perpetuates cultural stereotypes linking royalty and aristocracy with beauty" (Ann. 289).
Sven Rossel notes "that the magnificent white swan of the tale, after having been ridiculed and persecuted, actually ends up just a domesticated bird taking its food from the hands children. Here Andersen deals with the relationship with his audience and his social climbing as he himself ended his career as the favorite author of the upper classes" (232-233). CE
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55. I was an Ugly Duckling: Jackie Wullschlager writes that the ending is "Andersen's vision of the homage paid to him by the establishment; he knew he was a wild bird tamed by the bourgeoisie. . . " (232). CE
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Special thanks to Christine Ethier, an adjunct teacher of English writing at both Community College of Philadelphia and Camden County College, for providing the annotations to this tale. Ethier's annotations are designated by CE.
Heidi Anne Heiner provided additional annotations designated with HAH.
