Hans Christian Andersen’s relationship with
sexuality, specifically female sexuality, is deeply troubled. Throughout
his youth, Andersen experienced rejection time and time again. Many
critics identify Andersen as a homosexual, while others label him as
bisexual. Whether or not Andersen repressed sexual feelings toward men
is unknown. However, it is clear that he repressed feelings of sexuality
in general and consequently projected these feelings onto his fairy
tale characters. In
Seashell Bra and Happy End, Regina Bendix comments on Andersen’s “admitted dislike for grown women and his abhorrence of sexuality” (282). In
Hans Christian Andersen: The Misunderstood Storyteller,
Jack Zipes asserts that “There is something perverse in his use of
children to illustrate not only how proper behavior should work, but how
sexuality should be governed” (79). Through rigorously repressing
female sexuality, Andersen not only tries to adjust a basic primal
desire, but he creates a female stereotype that is unattainable and
unhealthy. This is seen in
The Little Mermaid, The Red Shoes, and
The Ice Queen.
