Rapunzel

Rapunzel is a fairy tale associated with the Brothers Grimm. It centres on a young woman confined in a tower and the unusual means by which visitors reach her.

Story Summary

This summary follows the English text of Grimms' Fairy Tales linked below.

• A pregnant woman longs for rampion growing in an enchantress's garden. Her husband climbs over the wall to take some.
• When the enchantress catches him, he agrees to give her their child. She names the girl Rapunzel and takes her away.
• At twelve, Rapunzel is confined in a forest tower without stairs or a door. A small window provides the only described access.
• The enchantress calls to Rapunzel, who lowers her long hair so that the visitor can climb up.
• A prince hears Rapunzel singing. After observing the enchantress, he uses the same call and climbs to the window.
• Rapunzel agrees to leave with him. She asks him to bring silk so she can make a ladder for her descent.
• Rapunzel accidentally reveals his visits. The enchantress cuts off her hair and takes her to a desert.
• Using the cut hair, the enchantress draws the prince up to the tower. In despair, he leaps down and is blinded by thorns.
• After years of wandering, he recognises Rapunzel's voice. She is living with their twins. Her tears restore his sight, and the family goes to his kingdom.

Grimms' Fairy Tales: Rapunzel

Background to the Story

The name Rapunzel is connected within the tale to the garden plant her mother craves. The opening bargain brings together a boundary, something desired on its other side and a price that falls upon a person who has not yet been born.

The tower episode is only part of this telling. The proposed silk ladder is not completed before Rapunzel is removed, and the prince's arrival does not immediately end her confinement. Separation, wandering, recognition and restored sight follow the visits to the tower.

Images and Movement in the Story

• Seeing across a boundary: The garden is visible from the parents' window, although access is prohibited.
• Access from above: Rapunzel can let other people climb to her, while lacking an ordinary route down for herself.
• A changed destination: The familiar hair still hangs from the tower, but the person waiting above has changed.
• Voice and recognition: Singing first draws the prince towards the tower. A familiar voice later draws him towards Rapunzel after he has lost his sight.

These observations concern the relationships between the story's events and physical arrangements.

Translation and a comparison of access

The preparer's note to Project Gutenberg eBook 2591 says its text is based on translations by Edgar Taylor and Marian Edwardes. Cite the “Rapunzel” section and this digital version when discussing the wording; the collection does not assign each sentence to an individual translator.

For a reading exercise, distinguish letting a visitor come up, finding a way to descend, and being removed to another place. Those changes of position involve different kinds of control. Compare the proposed silk ladder with the hair already used by visitors, keeping the uncompleted plan separate from events that occur.

• Doors, Gates and Thresholds and Stairs and Ladders provide comparisons for access and direction.
• The Sleeping Beauty offers another enclosure with a visitor, but a different relation between arrival and release.
• Agency and Motion: Moving and Being Moved helps specify who initiates each movement.

Related Pages

Elevation, Stairs and Ladders, Containers, Fences, Boundaries and Borders, Falling.

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