Rapunzel
The original tale of Rapunzel contains mostly female characters and on first reading can be seen as being very unflattering to women. It contains the quintessential damsel in distress and the evil witch figure. However as one looks at bit deeper it becomes evident that the male characters of the story are portrayed with less strength than the female characters. Rapunzel’s father is seen to be very weak willed and bows to fear – “The man in his terror consented to everything.” The prince is shown to be a slave to his heart, and while this makes him a likeable and good character it does not lend him power. “but the king's son began to talk to her quite like a friend, and told her that his heart had been so stirred that it had let him have no rest, and he had been forced to see her.” “The king's son was beside himself with pain, and in his despair he leapt down from the tower.” “and did naught but lament and weep over the loss of his dearest wife.” Rapunzel’s mother is shown to have power in persuasion, Mother gothel is shown to have power in being fearsome to the father and Rapunzel is shown to have some personal strength when she plots against mother gothel and survives in the desert with her children. These ideas of female power were probably not considered in the times of the Grimms as for Rapunzel to be beautiful enough and have a lovely enough singing voice to catch the attention of a prince would make her an enviable figure.
The idea of female sexuality is also explored in Rapunzel, particularly through the actions of mother gothel and the idea of the long hair. The story states the mother gothel cares for and raises the girl but when she reaches an age to become attractive to men, or to begin to go through puberty, she is locked away from the world. The reasons behind this are not stated in the original, although some appropriations to seek to explain it; however some meaning can be drawn from the long hair. Typically in the times when this tale was born long hair was a symbol of chastity. So the idea of Rapunzel being locked away from the world and never cutting her hair can represent her being locked away as a way to prevent her from becoming unchaste. Also after the prince and her have decided to marry mother gothel chops her hair off, this combined with the later revelation that Rapunzel has given birth to twins shows she has lost her chastity.
The idea of female sexuality is also explored in Rapunzel, particularly through the actions of mother gothel and the idea of the long hair. The story states the mother gothel cares for and raises the girl but when she reaches an age to become attractive to men, or to begin to go through puberty, she is locked away from the world. The reasons behind this are not stated in the original, although some appropriations to seek to explain it; however some meaning can be drawn from the long hair. Typically in the times when this tale was born long hair was a symbol of chastity. So the idea of Rapunzel being locked away from the world and never cutting her hair can represent her being locked away as a way to prevent her from becoming unchaste. Also after the prince and her have decided to marry mother gothel chops her hair off, this combined with the later revelation that Rapunzel has given birth to twins shows she has lost her chastity.