‘Red Shoes, The’
‘Red Shoes, The’ (‘De Røde Sko’, 1845).Known to modern audiences largely through the haunting 1948 film of the same name, directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, Hans Christian Andersen's ‘The Red Shoes’ tells the story of a girl whose vanity and obsession with her red shoes lead to grotesque punishment and then death.
‘Little Karen’ is given a pair of makeshift red cloth shoes, which she wears to her mother's funeral. She is pitied and adopted by a wealthy woman who has the red shoes burnt. Taking advantage of her guardian's poor eyesight to buy another pair for her confirmation, Karen goes through the ceremony thinking only of the shoes. Forbidden to wear them to church, she disobeys. At the church door the following Sunday, a red‐bearded soldier taps the soles of her shoes, both as she enters and as she leaves, saying: ‘My! what lovely dancing shoes!...
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