6 C's Analysis on Godfather Death

Many writers like to express their stories by using literary elements. Characters, contrast, conflicts, climax, complication and conclusion are applied to express what the author wants the reader to see in their story. In the short story “Godfather Death” by Jakob and Wilhem Grimm, the authors use these components to develop the information to their readers.

There are many different types of characters in this story. The authors included static characters which were the poor man, the twelve children, the Lord God, the Devil, the King and the Princess. These characters are static because they only appear once in the story and the readers never hear from them again. The godson and Death are both the main characters because they are followed throughout the entire story. The godson is the protagonist because he is the hero of the story, he is the main person who excels. He wants the best for his patients even though he is going against his God father, Death. Death is the antagonist of this story because he is the character who opposes the protagonist.  Death reprimanded the Godson when he defied him for the second time by curing the king and the princess.

  In the beginning of the story, conflict is faced by the old poor man. This man vs. society conflict is displayed when the old, poor man was not able to feed all of his twelve children, and the thirteenth was on the way. The old man was looking for a godfather for his newborn child. He meets the static characters Lord God and the Devil whom he refuses because the Lord God only “gives to the rich and lets the poor starve” and the Devil “tricks men and leads them astray.” In addition, another conflict demonstrated in this story was man vs superhuman (godson vs. Death). After Death told the godson not to betray him, the godson goes against death by helping the King and the princess stay alive. Death specifically told the godson not to give them the herb.

“Godfather Death” showed differences between characters. Contrast starts at the beginning between Lord God and the Devil and Death. These characters are all opposites when offering what they could do if they were the godfather. The Lord God offers the poor man to “take care of his son and fill his days with happiness” while the Devil promises “gold heaped high and wide and all the joys of this world.” However, the old man chooses Death as he godfather after he says he will “make his child rich and famous.” Another contrast seen in the story would be between Death and the Godson. The Godson wants to be able to save and give people another chance to live. On the other hand, Death just decides to take them no matter how much they beg. There is no bargaining with death, death is the only thing we know will happen for certain.

  The Climax is the point in the story when the doctor goes to the underworld with Death. This moment is the point in the story with the greatest tension and leaves the readers wanting to read on to find out if Death would kill his godson. The complication starts when death let the godson go the first time with a warning. Yet, the godson betrayed him for a second time.  This time death did not give him a warning, even though the godson probably thought death would let him slide with this one again.