The Emperor's New Clothes is a Danish fairy tale written by Hans
Christian Andersen and first published in 1837, as part of Eventyr, Fortalte
for Born (Fairy Tales, Told for Children). It was originally known as
Keiserens Nye Klęder.
The story presents an emperor who concerned himself with only
surface appearance, who sought to dress and show himself with his elaborate
clothing. Upon hearing of a new suit of clothes made from a special material
that was fine, light, magnificent, and invisible to the foolish and the
unworthy, he eagerly wished to try it on. Before doing so, however, he sent
two of his trusted men to observe the cloth. Neither could see the cloth,
and neither wanted to admit themselves foolish or unworthy, and thus both
praised the cloth. The emperor then was dressed by the two swindlers
("weavers" of this "cloth"), and demonstrated himself in a parade.
All the citizens observing the parade praised wildly of the color, the
magnificence, and the design. Although everyone was praising empty air, as
it seemed to themselves, all were afraid of the consequences if they
admitted that they could not see a thing. The crowd pretended to cheer,
marvel, and welcome the elegant new clothes of the emperor, when a small
child noted:
"But he has nothing on at all"!
This remark had an impact on everyone, including the emperor, and he ended
the parade with an even more flamboyant (and vain) show of dignity.
In later versions, the ending is sometimes modified where the townspeople
realize they had been tricked and give the emperor some of their clothes and
he's still the sharpest dresser in the land.
Origins
It has been claimed that Andersen's original source was a
Spanish story recorded by Don Juan Manuel (1282-1348).
Analysis
This story of the little boy puncturing the pretensions of
the emperor's court has parallels from other cultures, categorized as Aarne-Thompson
folktale type 1620.
The expressions The Emperor's new clothes and The Emperor has no clothes are
often used with allusion to Andersen's tale. Most frequently, the metaphor
involves a situation wherein the overwhelming (usually unempowered) majority
of observers willingly share in a collective ignorance of an obvious fact,
despite individually recognising the absurdity. A similar twentieth-century
metaphor is the Elephant in the room.
The story is also used to express a concept of "truth seen by the eyes of a
child", an idea that truth is often spoken by a person too naļve to
understand group pressures to see contrary to the obvious. This is a general
theme of "purity within innocence" throughout Andersen's fables and many
similar works of literature.
"The Emperor Wears No Clothes" or "The Emperor Has No Clothes" is often used
in political and social contexts for any obvious truth denied by the
majority despite the evidence of their eyes, especially when proclaimed by
the government. Amazon.com alone lists 17 works with one of these two
phrases in the title, and this ignores political magazine articles and
non-mainstream authors.
In practice, the phrase is often used as persuasion by partisans when in
fact it is not obvious that their position is correct.
The story has been parodied numerous times, including one
story in the animated television series Alf where Alf plays a frustrated
tailor of comfortable casual clothes who pulls the trick on the uninterested
emperor who refused his usual goods. At the end, when the emperor's
pretension is exposed by a girl who makes some sarcastic comments about his
state of undress, Alf's character supplies the ruler some of his usual wares
which the emperor finds agreeable. However, the story ends with the emperor
making the best of his humiliation by indulging in his one opportunity to go
streaking.
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