Classy Shoes: On the Symbolism of Footwear in H.C. Andersen’s Fairy Tales

This essay is a foray into the motif of “footwear” in H. C. Andersen’s fairy tales and stories. Shoes serve a practical purpose of protecting the feet, but they also carry symbolic meanings. They communicate messages of the supposed prosperity, tidiness, determination, fashionableness, practical sense, and sexuality of the wearer as well as potentially being, in fairy tales, magical objects that change the life and destiny of the characters. Magical footwear feature in some of Andersen’s tales, e.g. “The Galoshes of Fortune” (“Lykkens Kalosker”, 1838) or “The Red Shoes” (“De røde Skoe”, 1845), but Andersen, the son of a poor shoemaker, is generally more interested in footwear – or the lack thereof – as an indicator of social class. Indeed, examining the footwear in his tales is tantamount to journeying through a cruel world of social difference, a world in which certain kinds of shoes drag the characters down, anchoring them to the bottom of society, while others promise to ease the characters’ way to social advancement – although such upward mobility may turn out to be nothing but an illusion.