Rapunzel
Rapunzel is the tale of a girl traded away by her parents in return for their lives; she is trapped in a tower and has extremely long hair which her ‘mother’ uses to climb the tower. A prince hears her singing and climbs the tower several times until they decide to run away together. Through a mishap of speech her ‘mother’ finds out, Rapunzel is cast into the desert and her prince is tricked into falling from the tower and is blinded. After years of searching for each other the two find each other, Rapunzel’s tears heal the prince’s eyes and they return to their kingdom and have a happy ending.
The main fairy-tale elements of Rapunzel are her unusually long hair, the use of a child as a bargaining piece, the evil mother figure who is not the true mother of the protagonist, magical properties of tears, the happy ending and structurally the repetition of a phrase ‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair down to me.’
The unusually long hair has many thematic connotations but is also an important fairytale element as it is a usual thing made unusual. Even without cutting Rapunzel’s hair could not reach that length without some mystical influence. Also the plot tool it serves as with providing access to the tower is important as it symbolises a connection to the outside world for Rapunzel. The hair also relates to the context of the time when the tale was written, however that will be explored later.
The use of a child as a bargaining piece is a common theme in many fairy-tales, or similarly the child paying a price for parent’s mistakes. This also relates to the context of the time as, unlike in modern times where children are valuable, children were a source of income for parents and particularly female children were mostly useful for the marriages they made. Using a baby as a bargaining tool is therefore not too much of a jump from this.
The evil mother figure is something that will be explored in detail later, but it is a feature common to many fairytales with a stepmothers or fill in mother figure manipulating her child. This could be representative of the grimm’s trying to please a younger audience as they edited their tales.
The magical properties of tears is something that happens in many old folktales and myths, and could relate to the time in which many were born, where emotions were fairly restrained and so tears were seen as powerful as they only occurred in times of great grief or joy. This idea of tears only representing the strongest of emotions could explain why they are seen as having magical properties.
The happy ending in Rapunzel is something that can be quite rare in original fairytales, but even in the original Italian tale, Petrosinella, the prince and protagonist end up together after vanquishing the ‘mother’. Personally I think that this may be because unlike in some other fairytales the protagonist is in circumstances due to no actions on her own part. She is innocent so maybe the happy ending is seen as a sense of justice.
Structurally the story follows the typical grimm structure, being dialogue oriented and fairly simple, with straightforward yet eloquent language. The repetition of the phrase ‘Rapunzel Rapunzel let down your hair to me.’ Is both a technique and a fairy tale element as repetition is common to many fairy tales. The technique of repetition typically comes from a line of oral telling where it would add drama and effect.
The main fairy-tale elements of Rapunzel are her unusually long hair, the use of a child as a bargaining piece, the evil mother figure who is not the true mother of the protagonist, magical properties of tears, the happy ending and structurally the repetition of a phrase ‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair down to me.’
The unusually long hair has many thematic connotations but is also an important fairytale element as it is a usual thing made unusual. Even without cutting Rapunzel’s hair could not reach that length without some mystical influence. Also the plot tool it serves as with providing access to the tower is important as it symbolises a connection to the outside world for Rapunzel. The hair also relates to the context of the time when the tale was written, however that will be explored later.
The use of a child as a bargaining piece is a common theme in many fairy-tales, or similarly the child paying a price for parent’s mistakes. This also relates to the context of the time as, unlike in modern times where children are valuable, children were a source of income for parents and particularly female children were mostly useful for the marriages they made. Using a baby as a bargaining tool is therefore not too much of a jump from this.
The evil mother figure is something that will be explored in detail later, but it is a feature common to many fairytales with a stepmothers or fill in mother figure manipulating her child. This could be representative of the grimm’s trying to please a younger audience as they edited their tales.
The magical properties of tears is something that happens in many old folktales and myths, and could relate to the time in which many were born, where emotions were fairly restrained and so tears were seen as powerful as they only occurred in times of great grief or joy. This idea of tears only representing the strongest of emotions could explain why they are seen as having magical properties.
The happy ending in Rapunzel is something that can be quite rare in original fairytales, but even in the original Italian tale, Petrosinella, the prince and protagonist end up together after vanquishing the ‘mother’. Personally I think that this may be because unlike in some other fairytales the protagonist is in circumstances due to no actions on her own part. She is innocent so maybe the happy ending is seen as a sense of justice.
Structurally the story follows the typical grimm structure, being dialogue oriented and fairly simple, with straightforward yet eloquent language. The repetition of the phrase ‘Rapunzel Rapunzel let down your hair to me.’ Is both a technique and a fairy tale element as repetition is common to many fairy tales. The technique of repetition typically comes from a line of oral telling where it would add drama and effect.