Zel
Female sexuality plays an extremely large role in Zel. It is the reason Mother initially makes the deal with the devil, she is a very maternal person, but it infertile and it breaks her heart. Having a child through taking someone elses seems the only option to her. The use of pregnancy cravings as plot tools and locking Zel away because she is entering puberty are elements that come from the original and stay the same. The question of what makes someone female are very prevalent in this story. Does not being able to have a child make a women not female? For mother the most important thing to her is having a child, but by exchanging her soul for this she is fulfilling one of the stereotypes of the time, that women who weren’t mothers were cursed or were witches. Zel’s view on womanhood is that she should marry and have children, when she is isolated she states “my womanhood is wasted” The attitudes of the novel towards femininity echo the context of the original fairytale rather than the modern day when it was written. The damsel in distress trope is also challenged somewhat, as Zel’s madness is focused on more as she wholeheartedly believes that mother will let her go. Similarly to Tangled, it is when someone other than mother enters the tower that she realises she will have to get out of the prison herself. For mother the most heartbreaking thing is when she realises Zel has lost her virginity, even after all her efforts to prevent it happening, which means she cannot make the deal with the devil; but even more so because she is pregnant and in one night has the gift that mother couldn’t have but nearly had and has now completely lost. The hair in Zel is explained through herbs mother uses to make it grow, it can symbolise chastity in the same way it can in the original, and it is chopped off after Mother finds out about Zel and Konrad. The power of the tears also has an interesting explanation in Zel, Zel refuses to cry when she says goodbye to her mother and does not cry in the years after, it is only when she finally sees Konrad again that she cries and all the emotions in these pent up tears give them power. This gives her character more strength.
Within Zel’s madness we see her five secrets – Pigeon pigeon, Rascal, sharp stone, the ants and the moon. All these things have the freedom she doesn’t and while she appreciates the company they bring she also hates them for they can leave and she must stay. The mention of ‘the moon is her last friend’ is another reference that she is going insane, as the moon has long been associated with insanity. The one thing Zel longs for apart from freedom is to be able to communicate with animals, this shows a gentleness and sweetness of spirit which the tower tears apart slowly as she is in there. When she kills pigeon pigeon in a fit of anger it is another departure from who she normally is. One other element of her madness is the horse Meta, Konrads horse, who was the reason she first met Konrad. Instead of being haunted by Konrad she is haunted by his horse which links in with Zel’s connection with animals, it is also interesting to note that meta is a greek prefix meaning beyond and can symbolise Zel moving beyond sanity.
Within Zel’s madness we see her five secrets – Pigeon pigeon, Rascal, sharp stone, the ants and the moon. All these things have the freedom she doesn’t and while she appreciates the company they bring she also hates them for they can leave and she must stay. The mention of ‘the moon is her last friend’ is another reference that she is going insane, as the moon has long been associated with insanity. The one thing Zel longs for apart from freedom is to be able to communicate with animals, this shows a gentleness and sweetness of spirit which the tower tears apart slowly as she is in there. When she kills pigeon pigeon in a fit of anger it is another departure from who she normally is. One other element of her madness is the horse Meta, Konrads horse, who was the reason she first met Konrad. Instead of being haunted by Konrad she is haunted by his horse which links in with Zel’s connection with animals, it is also interesting to note that meta is a greek prefix meaning beyond and can symbolise Zel moving beyond sanity.