StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

The Fairy Tale Rapunzel by Brothers Grimm - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
This essay "The Fairy Tale Rapunzel by Brothers Grimm" focuses on the captivity of the protagonist Rapunzel by her god-mother, the witch Dame Gothel as well as the adopted girl’s longing for winning freedom and erotic love of her beloved from the Dame’s custody…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER94.5% of users find it useful
The Fairy Tale Rapunzel by Brothers Grimm
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "The Fairy Tale Rapunzel by Brothers Grimm"

Rapunzal First published in 1812 by Brothers Grimm the fairy tale Rapunzal concentrates upon the captivity of the protagonist Rapunzal by her god-mother, the witch Dame Gothel as well as the adopted girl’s longing for winning freedom and erotic love of her beloved from the Dame’s custody. It so happens that Rapunzal’s real mother, during her long-awaited pregnancy demands the fruit of Rapunzel plant grown in the neighboring garden. Her husband complies with the same, but is caught by the owner Dame Gothel, who frees him with the promise of handing the coming child to her. Consequently, the parents surrender to Dame, which confides the girl in a magical tower having no stairs or other source to reach. Dame herself assures her entrance to climb over the tower by holding the girl’s very long blonde hair she offers by felling the same through the window of the tower. Since the girl, named Rapunzal, is not familiar with the outer world, no one has got acquaintance with her dwelling in the tower. Somehow, a prince discovering her voice while singing, and detected the way to reach her during night hours. The both fall in love and promise to get married. However, Dame detects the affair, deprived Rapunzal of her hair and kicks her out of the tower. She also fells the prince from the tower, and the fall deprives him of his eyesight. Both the two spent many years in wandering, and subsequently reunited with the help of the same singing voice of the girl. The prince leads her to his kingdom where they enter into marital knot and thus lead a happy life for the rest. Since the fairytale invites the curiosity of the readers for the explanation of theme and symbols involved in the story, the present paper aims to throw light on the same by applying psychoanalysis of the story. Presented by illustrious Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud, psychoanalytic theory specifically concentrates upon the erotic feelings prevailing in human mind. He not only declares sexual gratification as one of the most imperative thing in human conscious and subconscious, but also interprets every dream as the outcome of unfulfilled sexual desires. Somehow, his theory is not confined to sexual gratification only. Rather, all the actions providing mental and physical pleasures are the part of his theory. The same can be witnessed in the story under analysis, where Rapunzal’s mother forces her husband to pluck the plant from the adjacent garden for her, and the husband acts upon her instructions without taking legal and moral legitimacy of the theft on the one hand, as well as the outcome of his entering the garden without permission on the other. (1-2) The same is the case with the enchantress, which turns extremely haughty and revengeful towards him, and demands the most precious thing the couple has been waiting for the last several years i.e. their coming child. Thus, the small wish to taste the fruit of a plant that did not belonged to the couple deprives them of the beautiful child they have been waiting vey anxiously for a long time as the greatest joy their life. The enchantress’s keeping Rapunzal confined in the tower far from the eyes of the people also reflects upon the very fact that she does not allow any sharing in the love between her and the adopted daughter. She provides all basic necessities to the girl, but fails to comprehends with the reality that when the god Eros hurls his arrow in the heart of the individuals, it is really hard to escape its affects altogether. The same is the case with the young girl, who cannot resist the charm of love growing in her heart at her first meeting with the prince, and is captivated with the sweet words he delivers in her praise. It not only urges the wish to attain freedom from her many years long imprisonment, but also seduces her to make erotic love with the prince. Hence, carnal desires overcome the feelings for her so called mother, which forces her put her life at stake in the pursuit of physical love. Here appears the Freudian thanatosic theory, which aims to state that the lust to explore and obtain physical and sexual pleasures tempt the individuals to take maximum possible risk, during the course of which man may encounters pains, agonies, sufferings and tortures, as is undergone by both Rapunzal and the prince. The protagonist girl, though innocent, but is well acquainted with the Dame’s reaction on the secret visits made by the prince; she is also aware of the very reality that the Dame would not tolerate the prince and life of both the lovers will be in grave jeopardy; even then she happily becomes Thanatos’ victim, the demon, according to Greek mythology as well as the symbol of death and destruction, for the sake of joy, pleasure and happiness she looks for in her life. (4) It is therefore she shares the plan devised by the prince for her escape from the Gothel’s confinement. However, she has to sacrifice her bewitching long blonde hair during the course of her struggle to get rid of the enchantress. The prince also experiences the same state of affairs, which dares to jump from the sky-scraping tower just to explore the Rapunzal’s whereabouts, and loses his eyesight on the one hand, and has to wander in the wilderness for many months on the other. The only thing enkindling his heart and the only hope keep the ball of his determination rolling is the unabated affection for his innocent beloved searching of which is the only objective of his entire life. Thus, the prince sacrifices his comforts, peaceful life and even eyes, and embraces pains and troubles just for the sake of the most alluring pleasure he experienced while meeting with Rapunzal. The story also has oedipal elements in its scope. Taken after ancient Greek playwright Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, where the protagonist unconsciously kills his father King Laius of Thebes and marries his mother Queen Jocasta, Freud has indicated the existence of erotic love in children for the parents of opposite sex, where the child, according to the theorist, feels sexual attraction towards the parent of opposite sex, and fears the parent of his/her own sex. As a result, he/she unconsciously abhors the parent of the same sex in the pursuit of the lover of his/her opposite gender. (Pervin, 1995) Since Rapunzal considers Gothel as her mother, she does not like the ways Gothel applies. Thus, she actually raises revolt against unnecessary banishments and bars imposed by the enchantress upon her. Since Gothel has snatched Rapunzal from a helpless couple, she also undergoes the same fear and anxiety regarding lest she loses the girl at the hands of the destiny. Hence she inflicted pain on the couple and their daughter for obtaining pleasure in her life, and concealed the girl just for her personal satisfaction; but finally was deprived of the joy in search of which she hurt the two couples. The story is highly symbolic in theme and meanings. The pregnancy of the woman after few years of marriage symbolizes the nature’s blessings upon humans after some time span. Similarly, the nearby garden symbolizes the presence of fertility, prosperity and beauties of nature all around humans. The woman’s longing to taste the fruit of Rapunzel plant signifies man’s impatience and curiosity in the objects that are beyond his reach. The man’s complying with the unlawful demand to steal the plant symbolizes Adam’s tasting the fruit of the forbidden tree on the demand made by Eve because of the satanic temptations for breaking the Law of God. (Milton, 1667; IX) Tasting the fruit of forbidden tree had deprived the first parents of humanity of Eden garden and all comforts bestowed upon them by the Lord, and the stealing of the plant from the sorceress’s garden deprived the couple of their paradise i.e. their sweet infant daughter. The enchantress’s cruel decision reveals the inner obnoxious nature of the satanic forces, which snatch joys, mirth and smiles from humans. Similarly, Rapunzal’s confinement in the lonely tower symbolizes the loneliness of human nature and isolation of human thoughtfulness. The tower signifies the obstacles, hurdles and mysteries humans experience in their life while making struggle and running amuck for achieving power, pelf, possession, comforts, love, affection and satisfaction of lustful desires. Rapunzal’s long blonde hair reflects the worldly charms females are blessed with to fascinate the males. Beauty is also essential for the reproduction process and the coming of future generations as well. Thus, the author has very skillfully depicted the fairytale making it vehemently meaningful, deep and symbolic one. The same story has also been adopted in the computer animated fantasy Tangled directed by Nathan Greno, where the director has included the character of Eugene Fitzherbert and his gallant horse Maximus and the Snuggly Duckling Parlor thugs in the fantasy in order to make it more recreational and amusing. The director has also made changes in the chronicle of events that pave the way towards setting Rapunzal free. The animated fantasy also shows Rapunzal as belonging to the royal family. Additionally, the flying lanterns, Eugene’s betrayal, Maximus’s heroic deeds and Rapunzal’s wandering have also been included in the animation. Works Cited Greno, Nathan. “Tangled.” 2010 Retrieved from http://www.latestmovieheadlines.com/2011/03/tangled-2010-nathan-greno-byron-howard/ Grimm, The Brothers. “Behind the Rapunzal.” 1812/1960 Retrieved from http://www.loudlit.org/audio/rapunzel/pages/01_01_rapunzel.htm Milton, John. “Paradise Lost.” Book IX 1667 Retrieved from http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/pl/book_9/ Pervin, Lawrence A. “Personality: Theory, Assessment & Research.” 7th Edition John Wiley & Sons Inc. Canada 1995 69-84 Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Rapunzel Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/english/1424532-rapunzel
(Rapunzel Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 Words)
https://studentshare.org/english/1424532-rapunzel.
“Rapunzel Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/english/1424532-rapunzel.
  • Cited: 1 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF The Fairy Tale Rapunzel by Brothers Grimm

How Tangled Is a Good Comedy Movie

Character should be placed in a fairy tale where unreal events have to occur.... Tangled in 3D is a remake of its original 2D movie which was named rapunzel.... A Queen gave birth to a baby girl named rapunzel.... Gothil kidnapped rapunzel in greed and used her hair as a source to keep herself young throughout her life but like every successful movie, a hero comes in rapunzel's life and saves her from Gothil....
6 Pages (1500 words) Movie Review

The Book Grimm Fairy Tales

The brothers grimm have been credited with introducing us to a number of fairytales.... Later the fairy tales were replaced by Enid Blyton and still later Nancy Drew and Alfred Hitchcock found pride of honor on our selves.... In all this the fairy tales of the early years lingered in our subconscious and now when we read the book Grimm Fairy Tales we are pleasantly transported to our tender years as we try to decipher the similarities and the differences found in our retained memory and the actual contents found in this book....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

The Role of Good and Evil in Childrens Literature

It is, therefore, a pride lion that can be dependent of the sharp teeth of a tiny creature, like a mouse, and his high-handedness may invite some metaphysical power, including fairy, ghost, or jinn, to rescue his subjects from his violence.... From the paper "The Role of Good and Evil in Childrens Literature" it is clear that generally speaking, children's literature vehemently presents evil as the black mar on the very face of a society that is responsible for creating chaos among the people....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

Femininity in Fairy Tales

In her article “Some Day My Prince Will Come”: Female Acculturation Through the fairy tale, Professor Marcia R.... “Some Day My Prince Will Come”: Female Acculturation through the fairy tale, College English, vol.... They are the product of creative fantasies of the rural and less educated layers of the society, even written down by the researchers, like the brothers grimm or writers like Charles Perrault.... They are the product of creative fantasies of the rural and less educated layers of the society, even written down by the researchers, like the brothers grimm or writers like Charles Perrault....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

The Fundamentals of Society and Human Relationships in Cinderella Fairytale

rapunzel rapunzel is another fairytale that never fails to get admiration from the little readers.... Some of these elements include the long and beautiful hair of rapunzel, the garden that accommodates all sorts of beautiful flowers, not to mention, the magical rampions in it, use of the long hair of rapunzel as a rope, and most importantly, her pitiful life.... rapunzel is no different in this sense.... Marriage is an important theme of rapunzel....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Struggle in Fairy Tale

In the matter of the fairy tale concept, it was traditionally formulated that the functions of the characters serve as the stable "serve as stable, constant elements in a tale, independent of how and by whom they are fulfilled", according to Russian Scholar Vladimir Propp (Lefavole.... He also said that it has been observed that the number of function in the fairy tale is limited and its sequence of function is often identical (Lefavole.... Works Cited"The Function of the fairy tale"....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Association of Grimms Fairy Tales with Childhood

The paper 'Association of grimm's Fairy Tales with Childhood" highlights that not just childhood even adults need stories to divert their minds off the real world.... Generally speaking, it is true that Fairy Tales hide the broader cultural meanings from them but if the outcome of such a disguise is ultimately positive, the world has more to praise the grimm brothers for than criticise their fairy tales as an easy ground to disguise broad cultural meaning to their world....
9 Pages (2250 words) Coursework

Cinderella by the Grimm Brothers

the fairy tale that is commonly known as Cinderella today has got many variants, originating from various communities around the world, from Egypt to Europe to China.... In These versions include The Story of the Black Cow, Donkeyskin by Charles Perrault and the recent Cinderella by the grimm Brothers.... They usually reflect the morals and values of the society in which the tale originates from.... In the case of Donkeyskin, there is a donkey that produces gold coins instead of dung while Cinderella gets her carriage from a pumpkin and horses from mice with the help of her fairy godmother....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us