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Rapunzel
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This article is about the traditional fairy tale. For the Disney character, see Rapunzel (Disney).
For other uses, see Rapunzel (disambiguation).
"Dame Gothel" redirects here. For other uses, see Gothel (disambiguation).

Rapunzel

Illustration of Rapunzel and the Witch on a 1978 East

German stamp

Unknown but collected by The Grimm

Author
Brothers
 Publication date 1812

Media type Print

"Rapunzel" (/rəˈpʌnzəl/; German: [ʁaˈpʊnt͡səl]) is a German fairy tale in the collection assembled
by the Brothers Grimm, and first published in 1812 as part of Children's and Household
Tales.[citation needed] The Grimm Brothers' story is an adaptation of the fairy tale Rapunzel by Friedrich
Schulz published in 1790.[1] The Schulz version is based on Persinette by Charlotte-Rose de
Caumont de La Force originally published in 1698[2] which in turn was influenced by an even
earlier Italian tale, Petrosinella by Giambattista Basile, published in 1634.[3] Its plot has been
used and parodied in various media and its best known line ("Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your
hair") is an idiom of popular culture. In volume I of the 1812 annotations (Anhang), it is listed as
coming from Friedrich Schulz's Kleine Romane, Book 5, pp. 269–288, published in Leipzig
1790.

In the Aarne–Thompson classification system for folktales it is type 310, "The Maiden in The
Tower".[4]

Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book.[5] Other versions of the tale also appear in A
Book of Witches by Ruth Manning-Sanders and in Paul O. Zelinsky's 1997 Caldecott Medal-
winning picture book, Rapunzel and the Disney movie Tangled.

Rapunzel's story has striking similarities to the Persian tale of Rudāba, included in the epic poem
Shahnameh by Ferdowsi. Rudāba offers to let down her hair from her tower so that her lover Zāl
can climb up to her.[6] Some elements of the fairy tale might also have originally been based upon
the tale of Saint Barbara, who was said to have been locked in a tower by her father.[7]

Some researchers also proposed a connection to pre-Christian European (or proto-Indo-

European) sun or dawn goddess myths, in which the light deity is trapped and is rescued.[8][9][10]
Extremely similar myths include that of the Baltic solar goddess Saulė, who is held captive in a
tower by a king. [11]

Contents
 1Plot
 2Themes and characterization
 3Media
o 3.1Literary media
o 3.2Film media
o 3.3Television media
 4See also
  5References
 6External links

Plot[edit]

Illustration by Johnny Gruelle

A lonely couple, who want a child, live next to a walled garden belonging to an evil witch named
Dame Gothel. The wife, experiencing the cravings associated with the arrival of her long-
awaited pregnancy, notices some rapunzel (or, in most translated-to-English versions[12] of the
story, rampion), growing in the garden and longs for it. She refuses to eat anything else and gets
sick, and the husband begins to fear for her life. One night, her husband breaks into the garden to
get some for her. She makes a salad out of it and greedily eats it. It tastes so good that she longs
for more. So her husband goes to get some more for her. As he scales the wall to return home,
Dame Gothel catches him and accuses him of theft. He begs for mercy, and she agrees to be
lenient, and allows him to take all the rapunzel he wants, on condition that the baby be given to
her when it's born. Desperate, he agrees. When his wife has a baby girl, Dame Gothel takes her
to raise as her own and names her Rapunzel after the plant her mother craved. She grows up to
be the most beautiful child in the world with long golden hair. When she turns twelve, Dame
Gothel locks her up inside a tower in the middle of the woods, with neither stairs nor a door, and
only one room and one window. In order to visit Rapunzel, Dame Gothel stands beneath the
tower and calls out:

Rapunzel
Rapunzel
Let down your hair
So that I may climb thy golden stair

One day, a prince rides through the forest and hears Rapunzel singing from the tower. Entranced
by her ethereal voice, he searches for her and discovers the tower, but is naturally unable to enter
it. He returns often, listening to her beautiful singing, and one day sees Dame Gothel visit, and
thus learns how to gain access to Rapunzel. When Dame Gothel leaves, he bids Rapunzel let her
hair down. When she does so, he climbs up and they fall in love. He eventually asks her to marry
him, which she agrees to.

Together they plan a means of escape, wherein he will come each night (thus avoiding Dame
Gothel who visits her by day), and bring Rapunzel a piece of silk, which she will gradually
weave into a ladder. Before the plan can come to fruition, however, she foolishly gives him
away. In the first edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales, she innocently says that her dress is growing
tighter around her waist (hinting pregnancy); in the second edition, she asks Dame Gothel (in a
moment of forgetfulness) why it is easier for her to draw up the prince than her.[13] In anger, she
cuts off a majority of Rapunzel's hair and casts her out into the wilderness to fend for herself.

When the prince calls that night, Dame Gothel lets the severed hair down to haul him up. To his
horror, he finds himself meeting her instead of Rapunzel, who is nowhere to be found. After she
tells him in a jealous rage that he will never see Rapunzel again, Gothel shoves him from the
tower, sending him falling into a thorn bush, which blinds him.

For years, he wanders through the wastelands of the country and eventually comes to the
wilderness where Rapunzel now lives with the twins she has given birth to, a boy and a girl. One
day, as she sings, he hears her voice again, and they are reunited. When they fall into each other's
arms, her tears immediately restore his sight. He leads her and their twins to his kingdom, where
they live happily ever after.

In some versions of the story, Rapunzel's hair magically grows back after the prince touches it.

Another version of the story ends with the revelation that Dame Gothel had untied Rapunzel's
hair after the prince leapt from the tower, and it slipped from her hands and landed far below,
leaving her trapped in the tower.[14]

Themes and characterization[edit]

Rapunzel in Dresden, Saxony, Germany

The seemingly uneven bargain with which "Rapunzel" opens is a common trope in fairy tales
which is replicated in "Jack and the Beanstalk", Jack trades a cow for beans, and in "Beauty and
the Beast", Beauty comes to the Beast in return for a rose.[15] Folkloric beliefs often regarded it as
quite dangerous to deny a pregnant woman any food she craved. Family members would often
go to great lengths to secure such cravings.[16] Such desires for lettuce and like vegetables may
indicate a need on her part for vitamins.[17]

An influence on Grimm's Rapunzel was Petrosinella or Parsley, written by Giambattista Basile

in his collection of fairy tales in 1634, Lo cunto de li cunti (The Story of Stories), or
Pentamerone. This tells a similar tale of a pregnant woman desiring some parsley from the
garden of an ogress, getting caught, and having to promise the ogress her baby. The encounters
between the prince and the maiden in the tower are described in quite bawdy language. A similar
story was published in France by Mademoiselle de la Force, called "Persinette". As Rapunzel did
in the first edition of the Brothers Grimm, Persinette becomes pregnant during the course of the
prince's visits.[13]

Media[edit]
Literary media[edit]

Anne Sexton wrote a poem called "Rapunzel" in her collection Transformations (1971), a book
in which she re-envisions sixteen of the Grimm's Fairy tales.[18]

Cress the third book in the Lunar Chronicles is a young adult science fiction media of Rapunzel
written by Marissa Meyer. Crescent, aka "Cress" is a prisoner on a satellite who is rescued and
falls in love with her hero "Capt. Thorne" amidst the story about "Cinder" a cyborg version of
Cinderella. Lunar Chronicles is a tetralogy with a futuristic take on classic fairytales which also
include characters such as "Cinder" (Cinderella), "Scarlet" (Red Riding Hood) and "Winter"
(Snow White).

Kate Forsyth has written a book that contains both commentary on the story and a retelling, set in
the Antipodes.[19] She described it as "a story that reverberates very strongly with any individual -
- male or female, child or adult -- who has found themselves trapped by their circumstances,
whether this is caused by the will of another, or their own inability to change and grow" (p. 7).

Film media[edit]

 A live action version was filmed for television as part of Shelley Duvall's series Faerie
Tale Theatre, airing on Showtime. It aired on 5 February 1983. In it, the main character,
Rapunzel (Shelley Duvall), is taken from her mother (Shelley Duvall) and father (Jeff
Bridges) by an evil witch (Gena Rowlands), and is brought up in an isolated tower that
can only be accessed by climbing her unnaturally long hair. Jeff Bridges played the
prince, Shelley Duvall played Rapunzel, Gena Rowlands played the witch, and Roddy
McDowall narrated.
 The story is retold in a second season (1987) episode of Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics, aka
Grimm Masterpiece Theatre.[20]
  A 1988 German film adaption, Rapunzel oder Der Zauber der Tränen [de] (meaning
"Rapunzel or the Magic of Tears"), combines the story with the lesser known Grimm
fairy tale Maid Maleen. After escaping the tower, Rapunzel finds work as a kitchen maid
in the prince's court, where she must contend with an evil princess who aims to marry
him.
 A 1990 straight-to-video animated film adaption by Hanna-Barbera and Hallmark Cards,
simply titled Rapunzel,[21] featured Olivia Newton-John narrating the story. The major
difference between it and the Grimm fairy tale is that instead of making the prince blind,
the evil witch transforms him into a bird, possibly a reference to The Blue Bird, a French
variant of the story.
 Into the Woods is a musical combining elements from several classic fairy tales, in which
Rapunzel is one of the main characters; it was also filmed for television[22] in 1991 by
American Playhouse. The story depicts Rapunzel as the adoptive daughter of the Witch
that the Baker (Rapunzel’s younger brother, unbeknownst to him) is getting some items
from who is later rescued by a prince. In the second half of the play, Rapunzel is killed by
the Giant's Wife. The Witch then grieves for her and sings, "Witch’s Lament."
o A film adaptation by The Walt Disney Company was released late in 2014[23]
where Rapunzel is portrayed by Mackenzie Mauzy. The difference from the play
is that Rapunzel is not killed by the Giant's Wife. Instead, she rides off into the
woods with her prince in order to distance herself from the Witch that raised her.
 In Barbie as Rapunzel (2002), Rapunzel was raised by the evil witch Gothel (voiced by
Anjelica Huston) and she acted as a servant for her. She uses a magic paintbrush to get
out of captivity, but Gothel locks her away in a tower.
 In Shrek the Third (2007), Rapunzel (voiced by Maya Rudolph) was friends with Princess
Fiona. She is shown to be the true love of the evil Prince Charming and helps to fool
Princess Fiona and her group when they try to escape from Prince Charming's wrath.
 Walt Disney Animation Studios' Tangled (2010), which is a loose retelling and a
computer animated musical feature film. Princess Rapunzel (voiced by Mandy Moore) is
more assertive in character, and was born a princess. Her long blonde hair has magical
healing and restoration powers. A woman named Mother Gothel (voiced by Donna
Murphy) kidnaps Rapunzel for her magical hair which would help maintain her youth.
Flynn Rider/Eugene Fitzherbert (voiced by Zachary Levi) is an elusive thief who replaces
the prince.[24] Rapunzel also features in Disney's Tangled short sequel, Tangled Ever
After.

Television media[edit]

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Shirley Temple's Storybook featured an media of Rapunzel in an episode which aired on 27

October 1958. Carol Lynley played Rapunzel and Agnes Moorehead the evil witch.

Sesame Street has a "News Flash" skit with Kermit the Frog where he interviews the Prince
trying to charm Rapunzel with the famous line. However, she is having a hard time hearing him
and when she finally does understand him, she literally lets all her hair fall down (completely off
her head), leaving the prince confused as to what to do now.

In the U.S. TV animated anthology series Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child (1.8,
Rapunzel), the classic story is retold with a full African-American cast and set in New Orleans.
The episode starred Tisha Campbell-Martin as Rapunzel, Whoopi Goldberg as Zenobia the
Hoodoo Diva, Meshach Taylor as Woodcutter, Hazelle Goodman as Woodcutter's Wife, Donald
Fullilove as Friend #1, and Tico Wells as Friend #2.

In the American Fairytale Miniseries, The Tenth Kingdom, the main character, Virginia Lewis is
cursed by a Gypsy witch. As a result, she grows hair reminiscent of Rapunzel and is locked away
by the Huntsman in a tower. Her only means of escape is by letting her hair down through the
window of the tower so that the Wolf can climb up and rescue her. Not before he asks the iconic
phrase, in his own way, "Love of my life, let down your lustrous locks!". The character,
Rapunzel is also mentioned as being one of the great women who changed history. And was
Queen of the sixth Kingdom before eventually succumbing to old age.

In the Mattel cartoon Ever After High, Rapunzel has two daughters: Holly O'Hair and Poppy
O'Hair.

Rapunzel appears in the Once Upon a Time episode "The Tower", portrayed by Alexandra Metz.
In this show, Rapunzel is a young woman who becomes trapped in a large tower for many years,
after she searched for a plant called "nightroot" which would remove her fear of becoming
Queen following her brother's death. Because of this, she owns extremely long hair. However, it
is revealed that consuming the substance instead creates a doppelgänger fear spirit who
represents all of the person's worst fears. After Prince Charming begins to fear that he will not
make a good father to his and Snow White's baby, Robin Hood tells him where to find night-
root. He then climbs the tower and eventually helps Rapunzel face her fears by facing what truly
scares her: herself. Presented with her own doppelganger, she is encouraged by David and cuts
off her hair, killing the figure and allowing her freedom. She explains to David that her brother
died trying to save her, and her doubts that her parents will forgive her. Again encouraged by
David, he returns her to their palace where she reunites with her accepting parents.

Tangled: The Series is a 2D animated TV show based on Disney Animation's computer animated
musical feature film Tangled. Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi reprise their roles of Rapunzel
and Eugene Fitzherbert. A new main character named Cassandra appears, who is Rapunzel's
feisty lady-in-waiting. The series has a feature-length movie titled Tangled: Before Ever After.

In one episode of Happy Tree Friends entitled Dunce Upon a Time, Petunia has very long hair
which Giggles uses to slide down on as a brief Rapunzel reference.

A second iteration of Rapunzel appears as one of the main antagonists in the seventh season of
Once Upon a Time, portrayed by Gabrielle Anwar and Meegan Warner in flashbacks. In this
season, Rapunzel is Lady Tremaine, the wicked stepmother to Cinderella. In the past, Rapunzel
had two daughters named Anastasia and Drizella, and made a deal with Mother Gothel to be
locked in a tower in exchange for the safety of her family. Six years later, Rapunzel frees herself
and when she returns to her family, she discovers she has gained a stepdaughter named Ella. At
some point, Anastasia dies and Rapunzel blames her husband for the incident while Ella blames
herself. Gothel plans to put Anastasia in the tower, but Rapunzel managed to turn the tables and
lock Gothel in instead. Rapunzel plots to revive Anastasia by using the heart of Drizella, whom
she favors least of the two daughters. Drizella discovers this and decides to get revenge on her
mother by casting the Dark Curse. She allies with Mother Gothel and sends the New Enchanted
Forest residents to Hyperion Heights in Seattle. Rapunzel is awake from the curse, but lives as
Victoria Belfrey and is given new memories making her believe she cast the curse to save
Anastasia, while Drizella lives as Ivy Belfrey, her assistant and daughter. Cinderella and her
daughter are also brought over by the curse. Rapunzel/Victoria manages to lock Gothel away in
Belfrey Towers.

See also[edit]

 Children's literature portal

 Ethniu, daughter of Balor

 Rapunzel syndrome
 Danaë, daughter of King Acrisius and Queen Eurydice, who was shut up in a bronze
tower or cave.
 Puddocky
 Maid Maleen

References[edit]
1. ^ Oliver Loo (2015) Rapunzel 1790 A New Translation of the Tale by Friedrich Schulz, Amazon,
ISBN 978-1507639566. ASIN: B00T27QFRO
2. ^ Jack Zipes (1991) Spells of Enchantment: The Wondrous Fairy Tales of Western Culture,
Viking, p. 794, ISBN 0670830534.
3. ^ "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Let Down Your Hair". Terri Windling.
4. ^ D. L. Ashliman, "The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales"
5. ^ Andrew Lang, The Red Fairy Book, "Rapunzel"
6. ^ Rapunzal? iranian.com, 9 November 2009.
7. ^ A Day to Honor Saint Barbara. Folkstory.com (30 November 1997). Retrieved on 6 April 2013.
8. ^ Wolf D. Storl, A Curious History of Vegetables: Aphrodisiacal and Healing Properties, Folk
Tales, Garden Tips, and Recipes, North Atlantic Books, 14/06/2016
9. ^ Dexter, Miriam Robbins (1984), "Proto-Indo-European Sun Maidens and Gods of the Moon",
Mankind Quarterly, 25 (1 & 2): 137–144
10. ^ Beresnevičius, Gintaras (2004). Lietuvių religija ir mitologija: sisteminė studija (in Lithuanian).
Vilnius: Tyto alba. p. 19. ISBN 9986-16-389-7.
11. ^ Beresnevičius, Gintaras (2004). Lietuvių religija ir mitologija: sisteminė studija (in Lithuanian).
Vilnius: Tyto alba. p. 19. ISBN 9986-16-389-7.
12. ^ Rapunzel. german.berkeley.edu, adapted from: Rinkes, Kathleen J. Translating Rapunzel; A
very Long Process. 17 April 2001.
13. ^ Jump up to: a b Maria Tatar (1987) The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales, Princeton
University Press, p. 18, ISBN 0-691-06722-8
 14. ^ Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (1884) Household Tales (English translation by Margaretmm Hunt),
"Rapunzel"
15. ^ Maria Tatar (2004) The Annotated Brothers Grimm, W W Norton & Company Incorporated, p.
58 ISBN 0-393-05848-4.
16. ^ Jack Zipes (2001) The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers
Grimm, p. 474, ISBN 0-393-97636-X
17. ^ Heiner, Heidi Anne. "Annotated Rapunzel". surlalunefairytales.com.
18. ^ "Transformations by Anne Sexton"
19. ^ 2016. The Rebirth of Rapunzel: A Mythic Biography of the Maiden in the Tower. Mawson:
FableCroft Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9925534-9-4 (hard cover).
20. ^ Cloud Strife (15 January 2008). "Grimm Masterpiece Theatre (TV Series 1987– )". IMDb.
21. ^ "Timeless Tales from Hallmark Rapunzel (TV Episode 1990)". IMDb. 13 March 1990.
22. ^ weymo (15 March 1991). ""American Playhouse" Into the Woods (TV Episode 1991)". IMDb.
23. ^ isaacglover_05 (25 December 2014). "Into the Woods (2014)". IMDb.
24. ^ Tangled (2010). IMDb.com

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rapunzel.

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Rapunzel

 D.L. Ashliman's Grimm Brothers website. The classification is based on Antti Aarne and
Stith Thompson, The Types of the Folktale: A Classification and Bibliography, (Helsinki,
1961).
 Translated comparison of 1812 and 1857 versions
 The Annotated Rapunzel with variants, illustrations and annotations
 The Original 1812 Grimm A web site for the Original 1812 Kinder und Hausmärchen
featuring references and other useful information related to the 1812 book in English.

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m Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article is about the traditional fairy tale. For the Disney character, see Rapunzel (Disney). For
other uses, see Rapunzel (disambiguation).
"Dame Gothel" redirects here. For other uses, see Gothel (disambiguation).

Rapunzel

Illustration of Rapunzel and the Witch on a 1978 East

German stamp

Author Unknown but collected by The Grimm

Brothers

Publication date 1812

Media type Print

"Rapunzel" (/rəˈpʌnzəl/; German: [ʁaˈpʊnt͡səl]) is a German fairy tale in the collection assembled by
the Brothers Grimm, and first published in 1812 as part of Children's and Household Tales.[citation needed]
The Grimm Brothers' story is an adaptation of the fairy tale Rapunzel by Friedrich Schulz published
in 1790.[1] The Schulz version is based on Persinette by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force
originally published in 1698[2] which in turn was influenced by an even earlier Italian tale, Petrosinella
by Giambattista Basile, published in 1634.[3] Its plot has been used and parodied in various media
and its best known line ("Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair") is an idiom of popular culture. In
volume I of the 1812 annotations (Anhang), it is listed as coming from Friedrich Schulz's Kleine
Romane, Book 5, pp. 269–288, published in Leipzig 1790.
In the Aarne–Thompson classification system for folktales it is type 310, "The Maiden in The
Tower".[4]
Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book.[5] Other versions of the tale also appear in A Book of
Witches by Ruth Manning-Sanders and in Paul O. Zelinsky's 1997 Caldecott Medal-winning picture
book, Rapunzel and the Disney movie Tangled.
Rapunzel's story has striking similarities to the Persian tale of Rudāba, included in the epic poem
Shahnameh by Ferdowsi. Rudāba offers to let down her hair from her tower so that her lover Zāl can
climb up to her.[6] Some elements of the fairy tale might also have originally been based upon the tale
of Saint Barbara, who was said to have been locked in a tower by her father.[7]
Some researchers also proposed a connection to pre-Christian European (or proto-Indo-European)
sun or dawn goddess myths, in which the light deity is trapped and is rescued.[8][9][10] Extremely similar
myths include that of the Baltic solar goddess Saulė, who is held captive in a tower by a king. [11]