Two stories worthy of comparison are The Foundling by Heinrich von Kleist and The Blonde Eckbert by Ludwig Tieck. Both have the theme of another person's invasion into one's life and are full of betrayal, drama and tragedy. Their similarities, however, do not end with these themes. They also have very similar Aesops, some similar character archetypes and relationships, and a similar use of surreal narrative to move the plot. One main difference, however, is that their use of surreal and fantastical storytelling is very different between the two, many of their characters, while having similar roles and archetypes, are also very different. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The Foundling and Blond Eckbert both have a similarity in their themes, a major one being betrayal. This is very clear at the end of both stories, where, in each case, the lives of the main characters all end in tragedy, due to their actions harming the people who trusted them. Nicolò, who betrayed his adoptive father after all he had given him when he “set about reviving [Elvira] with burning kisses on her lips and breasts,” was similar to Bertha, who similarly betrayed the old woman who had shown her kindness, perhaps the first true kindness she had ever been shown (Kleist 284). The first parallel here is that both Nicolo and Bertha were "adopted" by the older people they met after escaping the miserable fate of being orphans in the city or living with abusive parents in a hovel. The betrayal of the one who welcomed them was the turning point in both of these stories, and ended with the loss of everything they had gained in that betrayal. Another parallel is their relationship with their "parental" figure, in particular between Nicolò and Piachi. in The Foundling and Bertha and the old blonde in Eckbert. La Vecchia and Piachi take on the role of parent after Nicolò and Bertha no longer have parents. Although Nicolò's relationship with Piachi had been more developed than Bertha's with La Vecchia, both had still gotten what they wanted. Nicolo was taken to a rich estate, as was Bertha, in her own way, and they betrayed their elder's trust after the elder had promised to give them so much. Bertha and Nicolò both make a choice based only on selfish desire, sexual in Nicolò's case and material in Bertha's, even after Bertha had been told that she would get everything she wanted if she did not "[stray] from the path of righteousness” as she had done. he did (Tieck 9). Despite this, he still betrayed the Old Woman and left with the bird and the dog, rebelling against what the Old Woman had prepared for Bertha, just as Nicolò, in whom Piachi had spent his whole life trying to instill virtue, had betrayed Like it once. he was given everything. This is made even more surprising by the fact that both Bertha and Nicolò were treated well, so well that Bertha and Nicolò were both made happy by the actions of their adoptive parents by their own admission. Nicolò's philandering was “cured at the source” by his marriage and he had obtained his father's wealth and fortune (Kleist 273). Bertha was also happy, saying she "never wished things were different" after four years of living alone with her new family (Tieck 8). Another feature that both stories have that makes them similar is the use of an Aesop. The Aesop in both stories seems to be that revenge and betrayal will always end in misery. Every example of betrayal ends up paying off in one way or another in this story. For example,Bertha and Nicolo once again meet an unhappy end due to their actions. Nicolò, due to his promiscuous ways and lack of respect towards his wife, finds himself alone and embarrassed by his father after appearing at the funeral of his recently deceased wife believing that he would meet Xaviera, a woman he was seeing before and during the relationship with his wife. He takes revenge on Piachi by seducing Piachi's wife and his stepmother, then removes Piachi from the house because. Almost every decision Nicolò makes throughout the novel is a deceptive choice made to betray someone, in some cases knowingly and maliciously. Bertha, on the other hand, has been less malicious about it, but her entire life is built on the foundation of her betrayal against the Old Woman, who was her parent in a similar capacity to Piachi. However, her betrayal came simply from the knowledge that "[she] alone could decide whether [she] should take the bird and the jewels while the old woman was away and go to the world [she] had read about" (Tieck 9). Eckbert had also committed treason when he killed Walther for knowing more about Bertha's backstory than he let on, and Piachi, in a sense, can be seen as betraying Nicolo after his wife's death by embarrassing him , and Elvira had betrayed Piachi by secretly lusting after Colino and sleeping with Nicolò while Piachi was away. All these betrayals are repaid in kind. Nicolò loses first his family and then his life, Piachi and Elvira die respectively from execution and illness. Eckbert is deceived by the Old Woman for what he had done, and Bertha dies of illness after Eckbert kills Walther. Almost every person in the two stories meets a tragic fate due to their acts of betrayal in the first stories. The Old Woman's statement "no one who strays from the life of righteousness will ever prosper, and punishment will follow, no matter how late" rings true in every situation and outlines the Aesop told in both stories (Tieck 9). Both stories also have surreal, almost fantastic features. In Blond Eckbert, the Crone serves as a source of otherworldly powers, having a bird that lays gems and the ability to transform into Walther and Hugo and act convincingly enough to fool Eckbert and Bertha for years, as well as having similar abilities. to a seer, knowing that Bertha is the daughter of a knight and Eckbert's sister. He seems to be almost omniscient in the scope of this story. The Foundling also has a surreal feature worth noting, which is that Nicolò and Colino have an uncanny resemblance in their appearance, made clear when Xaviera's daughter said “[w]hy, God bless us Mr. Nicolò! That's a photo of you!" in reference to Colino's portrait in Elvira's room. This similarity is made even clearer by the fact that they both have very similar names which are anagrams of each other. Although these stories have many similarities, they also have some key differences. For example, Blond Eckbert has much more fantastical, almost fairytale-like references. The story begins when a little girl runs away from her poor, abusive family, and then finds a witch, only to leave, and is taken to one. happy life with his knight in shining armor. This is a very simple and romantic fairy tale story, on the other hand, uses its surreal element only between Nicolò and Colino, and mainly as a narrative device, as opposed to something indicative of magical or fantastic forces. Developing this idea further, the two stories also have different character archetypes, which is expected since they are written differently. The blonde Eckbert, being closer to a fairy tale, has a maiden in the form of Bertha, due to the.