Originally published in as part of a collection of fairy tales for children, the story follows the journey of a young mermaid princess who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a human soul.
These analyses cover various aspects of the story, from interpreting the themes to discussing why Andersen chose to write a tragic story with a happy ending. It has been adapted to various media, including musical theatre, anime, ballet, opera, and film. There is also a statue portraying the mermaid in Copenhagen , Denmark , where the story was written and first published.
The Little Mermaid lives in a Utopian underwater kingdom with her widowed father, the Sea King, her paternal grandmother, and her five older sisters, each one of them born a year apart.
The Little Mermaid is fascinated by the world above the sea, and human beings , and keeps a statue of a human boy in her garden in the palace.
Lonely and feeling isolated from her family, she yearns to explore the world above, and constantly asks her grandmother to tell her stories of humans. When a mermaid turns fifteen, she is permitted to swim to the surface for the first time to catch a glimpse of the world above. When the six mermaids become old enough, each of them visits the upper world one at a time every year. As each returns, the Little Mermaid listens longingly to their various descriptions of the world inhabited by human beings.
