Rapunzel: The Grimm Fairy Tale

“‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair’” (Grimm 44). Famous words that many people know from their childhood. The tale of Rapunzel. A story that many adults and children are fond of. A picture of a beautiful princess with long golden hair looking out of a tower towards her handsome prince appearing in thousands of minds. Though most of the American population knows the general plot of the myth, most fail to realize that the story has changed greatly from the original Grimm fairy tale version. The role of Rapunzel taking a drastic turn. This can easily be a reflection of how the role of women has changed over time as well. When looking at the contrast between “Rapunzel” and Tangled, there is a clear difference of how women are culturally viewed in the eighteen hundreds versus today. Many people wish to see even the original Rapunzel as a princess. This is untrue. The original Rapunzel in fact came from ordinary parents. The parents even give her away with no fight at all. According to Grimm, “In his fear the man agreed to everything, and when his wife had the baby, the sorceress appeared at once. She gave the child the name Rapunzel and took her away” (43). The baby was not a princess. Her parents are referred to as “man” and “his wife”. They do not live
In this movie a the king and queen have just had a baby girl. The baby seems to have magical powers so a sorceress kidnaps her, raising the child like her own. The king and queen search frantically for their new daughter. All of their attempts fail and for eighteen years they do not find her (Tangled). In this version Rapunzel is a valued princess. One that has a whole kingdom looking for her. Being more modern the message of giving away little girls would not have gone over too well. It shows that in today’s standard girls are more worth keeping and looking for. It also shows that the wife has a say in giving up the child or not. Her opinion matters as