Meet the Grimm Family

Jakob Grimm:  1785-1863, 25 years old in 1810

Jakob was the eldest brother, and after the passing of his father in 1785, when Jakob was only 11, he began to assume a fatherly role in caring for his younger siblings.  When their mother died in 1808, Jakob became the parental figure for his younger brothers and sister.  Jakob was more serious and sober than his brother Wilhelm.  He and Wilhelm graduated at the top of their class from the Kassel Academy.  Jakob left law school to pursue his scholarly interests.  At the time of the play’s action, Jakob worked as the chief librarian for King Jerome, Napoleon’s incompetent brother who was placed on the throne of the newly consolidated kingdom of Westphalia. His primary interest in studying folklore was understanding the people for which the laws of the time were created.  Jakob never married but remained a close companion to Wilhelm for most of his life, moving in the Wilhelm and his wife Dortchen and sometimes being jokingly referred to as Dortchen’s “other husband.”

Wilhelm Grimm:  1786-1859, 24 years old in 1810

Wilhelm shared his brother Jakob’s scholarly abilities and pursuits and he shared in Jakob’s support and leadership of his family.  Of the two, Wilhelm was the more playful and probably the more sensitive to Lottie.  Wilhelm suffered from a heart condition and at one point spent several months recuperating in the south.  He became the primary editor of the later editions of the Grimm tales and Wilhelm, more than Jakob, tended to soften the harsher elements of the stories and favored happier endings for the characters.  He married Dortchen Wild and lived happily with him until his death.  Despite his constant fears for his health, Wilhelm lived to the age of 73.

Karl Grimm, b. 1787, 23 years old in 1810

Karl was something of a lost soul who was struggling to “find himself.”  He dropped out of school and wanted to become a writer instantly, but while he had talent, he lacked the discipline to do so.  He became a volunteer horse guardsman in the French forces and found satisfaction in his military career.  His musical abilities are an invention of the playwright.

Ferdinand Grimm, b. 1788, 22 years old in 1810

Like Karl, “Ferdie” dropped out of school and wanted to become a writer but lacked the discipline to succeed.  He maintained a close correspondence with Lottie and would have been disappointed that she hadn’t communicated with him while she was in Marburg.  He eventually served his military time in the French forces.  Around the time that the play takes place, Ferdie shocked Jakob with a story he wrote about two brothers who loved the same young woman and the younger brother had no choice but to kill his older brother.  Since Ferdinand loved Dortchen Wild, who loved and eventually married Wilhelm, Jakob feared Ferdie had at least murderous thoughts about his older brother.  There is some speculation that Ferdinand might have tried to act on those feelings, as Jakob sometimes referred in his letters to a scandalous incident related to Ferdinand that he would never discuss with others.

Ludwig Grimm:  b.1790, 20 years old in 1810

At the time of this play, Ludwig would actually have been away at art school.  He was the only one of the three younger brothers to be successful academically.  He was a gifted visual artist and illustrated several later editions of the Grimm tales.  He became a lieutenant in the French army to oppose Napoleon.

Lottie Grimm:  b.1793, 17 years old in 1810

Youngest of the six surviving Grimm children.  Lottie (short for Charlotte, named after her mother) was expected to take over the cooking and cleaning when their mother died in 1808.  Lottie was then 15 years old.  Her older brothers had little positive to say about their sister.  They complained that Lottie was a poor housekeeper and wasn’t sufficiently domestic as they expected the only girl in the family to be.  Today we would say that she was clinically depressed.  She spent time at the Wild’s and felt much happier there than she did with her brothers.  She was allowed to spend several months with Gretchen and her husband in Marburg, as Jakob hoped she’d bring back stories and would come back ready to do her domestic duty to the family.  While “The Six Swans” is attributed to Dortchen, it is the playwright’s speculation that Lottie might have told the story to Dortchen and Dortchen told it to the brothers, as young ladies often swapped stories with each other.  If that is not so, then it may be that Dortchen may have invented, or shaped, the story to reflect Lottie’s situation.