A Reflection of a Short Story

Hi everyone! Let’s take a pause from the movie blog posts and recognize the beautiful and unique characteristics short stories can portray. In this blog post, I will talk about a short story about a childhood fairytale with an unusual twist. 

Rapunzel

By Brothers Grimm

Rapunzel (Summary) – 

A couple has been struggling to become parents; one day, they are blessed with a child. This couple lives next to an enchantress named Mother Gothel, who has a fantastic garden filled with beautiful flowers called rampions or rapunzel. The wife tells her husband that she must have a taste of one of the rampions or she will “die.” The husband quickly grabbed the rampions and took them to his greedy wife the first time, but as his wife asked for more, the enchantress caught him and made a deal. The deal was that the enchantress would give all of the rampions his wife desired if they gave her their child as soon as she was born. The husband agreed with the enchantress, and once their child was born, the enchantress took the child away, named her Rapunzel, and raised her as her own. Rapunzel was kept inside the tower and only used her long-braided hair to lift Mother Gothel up and inside the tower. At 14, Rapunzel met the King’s son as he happened to go inside the tower by pretending to be Mother Gothel. They fell in love and had the dream that they would marry each other as soon as Rapunzel left the tower. One day, Rapunzel told Mother Gothel that she had met the King’s son and felt betrayed, sending her to live in the desert forever as she had cut off her resourceful long hair. The King’s son went to the tower, and Mother Gothel confronted him, leaving him enough time to escape. He became upset as he believed he had lost his wife forever but soon, after a few years, found Rapunzel with their two children.

My Review-

I found Mother Gothel’s character very interesting as the readers can see more of the villain’s perspective than in the Disney version of this story. In this version of the fairytale, I can understand how Mother Gothel feels betrayed as Rapunzel was given to her and raised her as her only mother figure. I was shocked that in this story, Rapunzel was married and had children at an extremely young age of 14. Out of all of the characters, the parents’ actions surprised me the most. For instance, in the Disney version, Rapunzel’s parents hoped to find their lost girl and never stopped looking; however, in this story, the parents were written as selfish, greedy, and self-centered people, ready to give up their child for some flowers. 

This story’s sentence structure was written in a simple manner as it allows the reader to understand the interaction between the characters and their intentions. The dialogue was written to display meaningful distress between each interaction of the characters, with the addition of an exaggeration of words to emphasize their moods and ideas. Rapunzel’s personality in this story is demonstrated as caring, intelligent, creative, and loving. For example, Rapunzel’s loving and caring personality is shown when she cures the King’s son’s blindness with her powerful and pure tears of love. 

As I finished reading the story, I enjoyed the vital concept of love between Rapunzel and the King’s son, as no matter how far apart they were, they still loved each other, making them stronger and fighters for survival on each of their parts. I want to use this idea in my writing style in future stories, as it is a powerful concept in humanity. Love can be seen in many relationships, such as couples or families, as it strengthens their bonds and makes them fight and care for each other.

Overall, I found this story very surprising and interesting, as many of the details don’t compare to the Disney version of this story, which I grew up reading. The Brothers Grimm stories have unique and sometimes gruesome plot twists, which make them intriguing to read. 

Thank you for reading my fifth blog post. I hope you enjoyed reading and learning about a different version of a classic fairytale. Throughout the other blog posts, you will continue to read and learn more about movie facts and its reviews.