This seems to be pretty much par for the course for 19th century children's books. Compare them to the original versions of H.C. Andersen's fairy tales or Hoffmann's Struwwelpeter[1].
My gandma used to read the Struwwelpeter stories to me as a child. I would actually disagree with the premise of the article that they make children want to die. They actually are supposed to frighten children into behaving properly.
I am willing to agree. I read Grimm really early. The purpose of those stories is not some sort of cutesy money grab slash temporary babysitter to keep the little ones occupied long enough for parents to do what needs to be done. That said, I understand the reason for both. Both are needed, but dismissing those stories, because they are scaring kids is.. it feels like a rehash of the self-esteem movement.
I actually enjoyed the stories back then and they didn't really work when it came to changing my behaviour. Probably mostly because I just didn't grasp the seriousness of the bloodier parts.
> Probably mostly because I just didn't grasp the seriousness of the bloodier parts.
And this is why the original folktales emphasize the gore. You can basically chop off the last quarter of any folktale and replace it with a direction to the story-teller, i.e. "[and now you shall carry on about bad things happening to the child protagonist, in as visceral a manner as you have the mind and words to render, until the children listening have been thoroughly traumatized as to the consequences of their misbehavior.]"
Same here. The thing is I don't think they're just supposed to frighten children. I can remember having lots of fun getting those stories read to me by my grandmother. Of course they're dark, but they're also comically exaggerated. There's certainly a reason why Struwwelpeter has been popular for generations.
When you say “the original versions of H.C. Andersen's fairy tales,” you mean as compared to modern (Disney) adaptations, right? I know the Grimm tales were self-sanitized in later editions, but haven’t heard that of Andersen's.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struwwelpeter