Rapunzel

== Introduction ==
Rapunzel is a widely known character in our modern-day world. She has been represented in many forms of entertainment such as plays, musicals, and movies. The Rapunzel we know today may come from the Disney movie adaptation of her story, titled Tangled. Yet, her appearances in literature throughout many centuries all represent her differently in each adaptation. She represents women in both positive and negative ways, especially in the film "Tangled". 
== The Origins of Rapunzel ==
Writing in MarginsNew World Encyclopedia Research GateThe origins of the fairytale "Rapunzel" have been widely speculated to come from several influences. Her name may come from the name of an edible plant. There is not one that has been officially deemed the species that inspired Rapunzel, but there are a few options of species that could have inspired it. These options include Valerianella locusta (corn salad, lamb’s lettuce), campanula rapunculus (Rapunzel-Glockenblume in Germany), and phyteuma spicata. The earliest depictions of a similar storyline to the story of Rapunzel come from a 10th-century poem by a Persian poet, Ferdowsi, titled Shahnameh. In this poem, a woman named Rudabeh lowers her hair to allow a man, Zal, to enter her home, as shown in later depictions. He climbed up her hair to reach her, with her hair being described as being "sixty cubits" long, which is about roughly 90 feet. In this epic, Rudabeh is "not central to the text by any means." Another early depiction may have been an Italian story called "Petrosinella" by Giambattista Basile in 1634. In this story, a pregnant woman is craving parsley from an ogress's garden, but she gets caught and as a result, she promises the ogress her unborn child. When the child, Petrosinella, is taken by the ogress, she is locked in a tower and the only entrance is to climb her "long tresses of golden hair." The next adaptation of this storyline comes half a century later, in a fairytale called "Persinette" by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de la Force. In this tale specifically, a couple is expecting a child, and the father goes and steals parsley from the fairy's garden, eventually getting caught and having to give her his unborn child in exchange for all the parsley the couple wants. The fairy is more of a godmother-like figure, helping the child live lavishly and luxuriously. Even while locked in her tower, Persinette had a life of luxury in her "bejeweled silver tower." To make a long story short, a prince finds Persinette singing in her tower, climbs her hair, and impregnates her. The fairy finds out and is furious, cutting Persinettes hair and banishing her to a home deep in the wilderness. When the prince goes to find his love, he is heartbroken to find that she isn't there and throws himself off the tower. He is blinded by the fall and wanders around aimlessly for years until he finds Persinette and her twin children. Her tears fall on him and heal him magically, and they have a happy ever after. This story sets in stone the key details of our modern-day Rapunzel, such as "Rapunzel's forced haircut, the prince's blindness, the twin babies, and the healing tears," which all came from La Force's story. The story is also clearly derived from earlier literary works such as Shahnameh, Petrosinella, and other works of literature. The classic tale of the maiden hidden in a tower to keep her from men who became pregnant anyway and is cast out by her parent, which is featured in the Greek myth of Danae. Then, in 1790, Freidrich Shulz published the German translation of Persinette, in which he changed Persinette's name to "Rapunzel" after a plant. Besides this large change, the story was a direct translation of Persinette. Finally, in 1812, the Brothers Grimm released their first version of Rapunzel, which "reads like a summary of Shulz". Yet, there were a few details changed. The fairy in this version has no sympathy, and the tower Rapunzel is in is dull instead of bejeweled. Later versions gave the story more detail, naming the fairy "Frau Gothel", and modified some mature themes to aim this tale towards children. This was the Rapunzel everyone knew until the Disney animated film "Tangled" based on the tale of Rapunzel. This movie erased all violence and mature themes in the Brothers Grimm version and truly made it a children's story. 
== Evolution of Rapunzel ==
== What Rapunzel Represents for WomenUAlbertaStudy.comThe View from a DrawbridgeFirst Cry ==
Rapunzel is a timeless female character that can come with many interpretations. While some people believe she represents feminism, it has been shown that she represents quite the opposite. “Rapunzel transmits the message to young women that in order to avoid the kind of misfortunes Rapunzel had to undergo, they must learn from her mistakes and not duplicate them in their own lives, lives best lived according to biblical principle.” Along with the message she transmits, it is important to look at what she symbolizes. “Rapunzel symbolizes desire. Dame Gothel treasures her so much, she hides her in a tower so that the world cannot share her.” Rapunzel, specifically Tangled, quite frankly has conflicting feminist messages.”The underlying message of Rapunzel ties her beauty and her long blonde hair to her subsequent escape and happily ever after, an undoubtedly less feminist message.”Elaborating more on the idea of her hair, is the idea that it should not have been as important as it was in the story, and that her hair has a lesson within itself. Without a doubt, most women take pride in their hair for a number of reasons. Some women care much about the appearance of their hair, while some tend to use their hair as a shield to hide from the world. There are countless accounts and arguments that claim that the entire message of Rapunzel and how she represents women has everything to do with her hair. It makes complete sense, because her hair is her sort of “superpower” which has the power to cure. Besides being able to heal wounds, the length of her hair in itself was a resource to her and others in the story. Throughout the movie Tangled, it shows how Rapunzel is used for her hair. She was kidnapped from birth by Mother Gothel because her hair had magical curing powers that healed wounds and would keep Mother Gothel young. Mother Gothel used her hair to stay forever young until Rapunzel's teenage years when Rapunzel starts to figure out that there's more to life. There are multiple scenes in the movie that show Mother Gothel singing and brushing Rapunzel's hair in order to keep her young complexion. Aside from her healing powers, her hair was long enough to do things like help Mother Gothel up the tower when she got back from town. Throughout the film, after she meets Flynn Ryder and they go out of the tower on an adventure, she uses her hair to get them out of tricky situations as well as to heal him when he gets injured throughout. At the end of the movie, Flynn Ryder cuts her hair in a dramatic scene where he could potentially die, but he was worried about her safety more than his. In this scene, time almost stops for a second as her hair goes from being feet long, to above her shoulder in seconds. But this scene is the most powerful in the whole movie because her hair was the most important part of her throughout the whole movie, she didn’t die when it all got cut off. She didn’t die, but it did take her powers away as soon as it got cut. Her hair throughout the movie represents women as a whole and how hair can be such a crucial part of a woman's life, but the ending shows that she didn’t die without her hair and how no woman would die without that part of them. Circling back to the concept of the tower she lived in, this is a negative representation of Rapunzel and all women. This paints her as a damsel in distress that needs to be saved, and Flynn Ryder was the man to save her. It was a classic story of her getting saved and falling in love. While this does not represent women in a positive way, Flynn Ryder ends up saving her life and viewers are rooting for them as a couple in the end. A different view on Rapunzel, pertaining to her relationship and their adventure,  is the idea that she teaches a valuable lesson about persistence and patience. “The main message of Rapunzel is to never give up on something they love. No matter how hard things get, they should be persistent in working towards their goal, and no one can stop them from succeeding in life.”