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Eric Baccei

Mrs. Jurczyk

ECE English 1011

20 March 2017

(Fairy Tale Essay)

Dysfunctional Grows More Than Hair in Rapunzel

Family matters in fairy tales are often one of the key plot lines of the story. Whether

abandonment, betrayal, abuse or love, families drive the story more than any other idea. This is

true in the story of Rapunzel as well. Not only is the main character Rapunzel influenced by

family, but the story has metaphors to family problems surrounding coming of age. The story of

Rapunzel focuses on a dysfunctional mother daughter relationship and what happens to it as a

child comes of age.

The Brothers Grimm Rapunzel

The most definitive version of Rapunzel would be most likely be by The Brothers

Grimm, as its story is the most well known. Grimms story starts with a woman who has finally

managed to get pregnant and craves some of a certain plant to feel better. Her husband ventures

into a witchs garden to get her some. The second time he does this, he is caught by the witch,

who exchanges his life for his child yet to be born. The witch then holds the girl, Rapunzel, in a

tower only accessible by her long hair. However a prince discovers her and enters the tower,

where they fall in love. Rapunzel innocently gives away the prince to the witch, is kicked out of

the tower, and the prince gets blinded by falling out of the tower. Years later, the prince wanders

towards Rapunzel singing and is healed by her tears, where they then live happily ever after.
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The Brothers Grimm focus on the mother daughter relationship and how it can be

strained in their version of the story. Rapunzel seems to have love for her mother until the

prince arrives1, suggesting that dating causes a change in the mother daughter relationship

dynamic. Rapunzel never expresses a want to leave her mother before the prince arrives. When

the prince arrives, however, Rapunzel thinks that, He would rather have me than would old Frau

Gothel (Grimm 1; ed.2). With the arrival of the prince, Rapunzels love is shifted. She no longer

feels much love for the witch, Gothel. This causes the tension between her and the witch, who

eventually throws her out of the tower. Before this action though, the witch In her anger

grabbed Rapunzel's beautiful hair, wrapped it a few times around her left hand, grasped a pair of

scissors with her right hand, and snip snap, cut it off. Then she sent Rapunzel into a wilderness

(Grimm 1; ed. 2). As a sort of punishment for choosing the prince over the mother, she is kicked

out of the house and deprived of the one thing she had.

The differences between two editions of the story also show different parts of the

dysfunctional relationship. In the seventh edition of the story2, which is considered the most

definitive, Grimm changed two major things. Instead of complaining of her clothing getting tight

when she gives away the prince, Rapunzel instead asks the witch, Frau Gothel, why it is that

you are more difficult to pull up than is the young prince (Grimm 1; ed. 2). This change makes

her look less intelligent, but also changes the nature of Rapunzel and the princes relationship.

Complain of her clothing getting tight could be alluding to pregnancy. As she gives birth to twins

later on in the story, this is a very real reason for the witch to get mad. As the mother character,

1 Rapunzel never knows her real mother or father. It is said in the story that she was taken at birth as payment. Thus, seeing her
relationship with her captor is like seeing her relationship with a mother.

2 Only two versions need be mentioned because the story only changed once. The change took place after the first edition, and
never came up again. Thus, the final Grimms book is used here, as the seventh edition was the last.
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her child breaking the sanctity of marriage3 reflects badly on her, and she immediately kicks the

sinner out of the house. The seventh version of the story also changes the ambiguity of Rapunzel

and the princes time together: the first edition merely states that they lived in joy and pleasure

for a long time (Grimm 1; ed. 1). The seventh edition says they made conversation and planned

an escape from the tower, while the first edition gives a subtle suggestion that they were much

more physical. This makes sense when Rapunzel comments on her tightening clothing. This

would absolutely drive a mother mad, and the witch has no real emotional connection to

Rapunzel that could soften the blow. She gets rid of Rapunzel immediately. Thus, the first edition

gives the witch a more extreme situation to deal with. The second edition acts more from the

standpoint that the witch does not care for the girl anymore, but the first editions witch acts

more like a real mother.

Italys Rapunzel, Petrosinella

This version has many variations from the Grimm version. In this, the mother herself

goes to get the herbs of her craving, meeting an ogress instead of a witch. Also, the Rapunzel

character in this version grew up with her mother first, and then was captured by the ogress as

payment of a debt. The biggest change, however is how Parsley escapes the tower. Here she is

under a spell, and uses three gallnuts to break it. As she and the prince are fleeing, Parsley throws

these at the ogress one at a time. The first turns into a bulldog, the second a lion, and the third a

wolf. The ogress tricks the first two, but the wolf kills her, letting the girl and the prince go free.

In the story of Parsley, the coming of age for the main character takes center stage.

Parsley does know her real parents in this version, so her relationship with the captor is already

damaged. Parsley does not only hide everything from her captor, but takes lengths to trick her.

3 The sanctity of marriage as in she had sex before getting married. As this was not accepted at all at the time of the stories
publication, a mother would be furious. This action would also reflect bad parenting on the mothers part.
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When the prince first wants to spend time with her, Parsley worries that the ogress will discover

them. Her response is to give the ogress some poppy juice (Basile 59) and then hoist the prince

up. She drugs her captor in order to have a chance to get to the outside world. Also, the way in

which the prince gets discovered has changed as well. While in Grimms version it was

Rapunzels fault, here she manages to keep the secret. Instead, a gossip of the ogress, who was

for ever prying into things that did not concern her (Basile 60) tips the ogress off and reveals the

prince. In Grimm she never seemed to be mentally competent or mature, but Parsley does keep

her tongue in this version. She even eavesdrops on the gossip to find out how break the ogresses

spell and escape. This difference in having seen her parent before changes the way Parsley sees

the world. The increase of intelligence of Parsley creates a more active villain. The dysfunction

is larger when both parties are smarter, as the opposition has to work harder to counter the

opponent. Thus, because Parsley has more intelligence, the ogress has to try harder to beat her.

Disneys Reimagining of Rapunzel

Like most Disney Fairy tales, there a lot of changes to the story and characters. In this version,

Rapunzel was born a princess, and the male character is the commoner. Additionally, she was

kidnapped by the witch Gothel, and was no part of the deal. Rapunzels hair in this version is

magical, carrying healing properties inherited from a plant her mother consumed to cure a

disease. The witch can sing a song to Rapunzels hair, and keep herself forever young. Rapunzel

is also not romantically involved with the male character, Flynn Ryder, until the very end. She

wants to leave the tower before she meets him and therefore starts as a much stronger and more

independent character, in keeping with Disney retellings. However, she is still raised by someone

who is not her real mother.

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As there is no real romance until the end of the second act, Tangled has a huge focus on

Rapunzel's relationship with Mother Gothel. Mother Gothel is extremely controlling of

Rapunzel. As Rapunzel is the only thing keeping her alive, she makes sure that Rapunzel never

gets out of the tower. In the song number Mother Knows Best, the watcher sees the

propaganda and fear Gothel sows on the innocent Rapunzel. With lyrics like Ruffians, thugs,

poison ivy, quicksand / Cannibals and snakes The plague! (Tangled 0.32.36), Gothel paints a

dangerous picture of the outside world. She makes Rapunzel believe that only Mother can

protect her. She also destroys the one relationship that she started to create: the one with Flynn

Ryder. Gothel fakes him trading her for the crown to make Rapunzel come back to the tower

willingly, and never again want to leave. This makes the reveal of Gothels true nature a huge

deal for Rapunzel's character, and shows just how far Mother will go to stay young. She loves

Rapunzel's hair, not the person. While the other witches and ogresses see her as payment for a

debt, like currency, Mother Gothel needs her to live and thus will do much more to keep her

trapped. She is young as long as Rapunzel cannot leave. Mothers in real life may sometimes feel

this. They will only accept their age if their daughters leave the house and become independent.

When their little baby leaves the house is when they become, in the worlds eyes, old. Mother

Gothel symbolises this to the extreme.

Rapunzel has an almost exclusive plot line of dysfunctional mother and daughter

relationships. This is in part because she is usually captured by a witch, but no version of

Rapunzel knows her father. In every story, there is an absence of a strong paternal figure. This

absence may explain why in most versions she instantly falls in love with the prince. Every

person should have love for their parents, both mother and father. Having no father may have left

her feeling any number of emotions, emotions that could be easily manipulated by the prince.
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Though her relationships are important to her character, the lack of relationships could be a

bigger factor.

Works Cited

Baslie, Giambattista, The Pentamore: Or the Story of Stories. Translated by John Edward Taylor,

MacMillan and Company, 1894, pp 56-62.

Tangled, Directed by Nathan Genro and Byron Howard, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures,

2010.
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Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. "Rapunzel. Kinder- und Hausmrchen: gesammelt durch die

Brder Grimm, Translated by D. L. Ashliman, 7th Ed., Vol. 1. Gttingen: Verlag der

Dieterichschen Buchhandlung, 1857, no. 12, pp. 65-69,

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm012.html.

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Rapunzel Children and Household tales. 1st Ed., Vol. 1, Berlin,

1812, pp. 38-43.

http://www.zeno.org/Literatur/M/Grimm,+Jacob+und+Wilhelm/M%C3%A4rchen/Kinde

r-+und+Hausm%C3%A4rchen+(1812-15)/Erster+Band/12.+Rapunzel.