Rapunzel
"Rapunzel" (/rəˈpʌnzəl/ rə-PUN-zəl, German: [ʁaˈpʊnt͡sl̩] ⓘ; French: Persinette) is a German[1] fairy tale most notably recorded by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 as part of Children's and Household Tales (KHM 12). The Brothers Grimm's story was developed from the French literary fairy tale of Persinette by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force (1698), which itself is an alternative version of the Italian fairy tale Petrosinella by Giambattista Basile.[2][3]
This article is about the traditional fairy tale. For the Disney character, see Rapunzel (Tangled). For other uses, see Rapunzel (disambiguation).Rapunzel
The tale is classified as Aarne–Thompson type 310 ("The Maiden in The Tower").[4] Its plot has been used and parodied in various media. Its best known line is, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair".
Origin and development[edit]
Mythological and religious inspiration[edit]
Some researchers have proposed that the earliest possible inspiration for the "Maiden in the Tower" archetype is to the pre-Christian European (or proto-Indo-European) sun or dawn goddess myths, in which the light deity is trapped and is rescued.[18][19] Similar myths include that of the Baltic solar goddess, Saulė, who is held captive in a tower by a king.[20] Inspiration may also be taken from the classical myth of the hero, Perseus; Perseus' mother, the Princess Danaë, was confined to a bronze tower by her own father, Acrisius, the King of Argos, in an attempt to prevent her from becoming pregnant, as it was foretold by the Oracle of Delphi that she would bear a son who would kill his grandfather.
Inspiration may come from Ethniu, daughter of Balor, in Irish myth.
Inspiration may come from the story of Saint Barbara of Nicomedia, who is said to have been a beautiful woman who was confined to a tower by her father to hide her away from suitors.[21] While in the tower, she is said to have converted to Christianity and be ultimately martyred for her faith after a series of miracles delaying her execution.[21][22] Her story was included in The Book of the City of Ladies, completed by 1405 by Christine de Pizan in vernacular French, which may have been highly influential on later writers, as it was popular throughout Europe.[22]
Literary development[edit]
The earliest surviving reference to a female character with long hair that she offers to a male lover to climb like a ladder appears in the Persian epic poem Shahnameh, written by Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE.[22] The heroine of the story, Rudāba, offers her hair so that her love interest Zāl may enter the harem where she lives. Zāl states instead that she should lower a rope so that she will not hurt herself.[22]
The first written record of a story that may be recognized as Rapunzel is Giambattista Basile's Petrosinella, translating to parsley, which was published in Naples in the local dialect in 1634 in a collection entitled Lo cunto de li cunti (The Story of Stories).[3] This version of the story differs from later versions as it is the wife not the husband who steals the plant, the maiden is taken by the villain as a child rather than a baby, and the maiden and the prince are not separated for years to be reunited in the end.[3] Most importantly, this version of the story contains a "flight" scene in which Petrosinella uses magic acorns that turn into animals to distract the ogress while she pursues the couple fleeing the tower.[23] This "flight" scene, with three magic objects used as distraction, is found in oral variants in the Mediterranean region, notably Sicily (Angiola), Malta (Little Parsley and Little Fennel), and Greece (Anthousa the Fair with Golden Hair).[23]
In 1697, Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force published a variation of the story, Persinette, while confined to an abbey due to perceived misconduct during service in the court of Louis XIV.[22][24] Before her imprisonment, de la Force was a prominent figure in the Parisian salons and considered one of the early conteuses as a contemporary to Charles Perrault.[22] This version of the story includes almost all elements that were found in later versions by the Grimm Brothers.[23] It is the first version to include the maiden's out of wedlock pregnancy, the villain's trickery leading to the prince's blinding, the birth of twins, and the tears of the maiden restoring the prince's sight. The tale ends with the antagonist taking pity on the couple and transporting them to the prince's kingdom.[22] While de la Force's claim that Persinette was an original story cannot be substantiated, her version was the most complex at the time and did introduce original elements.[24]
German adaptation[edit]
The very first known German translation of Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force's tale Persinette came about in 1766 by Friedrich Immanuel Bierling under the name "Das Cabinet der Feen. Oder gesammelte Feen-Märchen in neun Theilen, Aus dem Französischen übersetzt", published in Nürenberg. More famously, Persinette was translated into German by Friedrich Schulz and appeared in 1790 in Kleine Romane (Little Novels), as it was Schulz who changed the plant and the maiden's name to Rapunzel.[25] Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm included the story in their first (1812) and seventh (1857) edition publications of Children's and Household Tales and removed elements that they believed were added to the "original" German fairy tale.[23] Although the Grimms' recounting of the fairy tale is the most prevalent version of the "Maiden in the Tower" in the western literary canon, the story does not appear to have connections to a Germanic oral folktale tradition.[23] Notably, the 1812 publication retains the out of wedlock pregnancy that reveals the prince's visits to the witch, whereas in the 1857 version edited by Wilhelm Grimm, it is Rapunzel's slip of the tongue to address criticism that the tale was not appropriate for children.[24] It can be argued that the 1857 version of the story was the first written for a primarily child-aged audience.[24]
Distribution[edit]
According to Greek folklorist Georgios A. Megas, fellow folklorist Michael Meracles concluded that the tale type originated in Southeastern Europe, by analysing 22 Greek variants, 2 Serbo-Croatian and 1 from Corsica.[26]
Scholar Jack Zipes stated that the tale type is "extremely popular throughout Europe".[27] However, scholar Ton Deker remarked that the tale type is "mainly known" in Central and South Europe, and in the Middle East.[28] In the same vein, Stith Thompson argued for a Mediterranean origin for the story, due to "its great popularity" in Italy and nearby countries.[29]
Scholar Ulrich Marzolph remarked that the tale type AT 310 was one of "the most frequently encountered tales in Arab oral tradition", albeit missing from The Arabian Nights compilation.[30]