Welcome to day four of The Horror of Fairytales Week here at White Rose of Avalon, my Darlings.   Today’s post explores the horror of isolation and what it does to our psyches, as seen in Rapunzel!   Rapunzel is famously imprisoned by the witch Gothel in a tower after her mother had offended the witch by stealing from her during her pregnancy.   In the original fairytale, Gothel is not keeping Rapunzel a prisoner for her own gain, instead doing so as it is a retribution for Rapunzel’s mother’s ill-doing.   This is a classic case of punishing the ill-doer in a way that is also punishing someone innocent, in this case, Rapunzel herself!

Rapunzel spends many years in total isolation, wanting nothing more than companionship, which she does not get from Gothel, who is often not at the Tower.   Of course, Rapuzel’s isolation and loneliness do not last forever.   Famously, a Prince comes along one day, finding that Rapunzel’s hair is long enough to be a rope to climb up the tower!   After spying on Gothel, who asks Rapunzel to let down her hair, the Prince does the same.   This is how Rapunzel first meets the man she will grow to love, and over time, the Prince visits her often when Gothel is not around.   Their romance does turn sexual, with them conceiving children.   However, it is Rapunzel’s own inability to keep herself quiet that proves her undoing.

Even before her pregnancy is obvious, Rapunzel accidentally tells Gothel about the Prince by complaining that it is much easier for him to climb up the Tower!   When Gothel finds out, she cuts off Rapuzel’s hair and uses it as a trap.   She lets the Prince climb up only to release hold of the braided rope of hair so that the Prince falls into a sea of overgrown brambles beneath.   This caused him to be blinded when the brambles injured his eyes!   After the Prince is wounded, Gothel turns Rapunzel out into the cold wilderness of the forest.

If that was not horrific enough, the story does not end there, as it continues to relay the story of Rapunzel.   Rapunzel is able to survive and birth her twins alone.   She is once again isolated, this time in the wilderness with two babies to care for.   Her life is far from an easy one, but she perseveres.   This is how she comes to find her Prince one day, as he has been wandering the woods the whole time.   She cried for sorrow at his plight and joy at being reunited.   When her tears fell into his eyes, he was cured of his blindness!   The story ends happily, with Rapunzel and the Prince joyfully returning to his Kingdom to marry finally and raise their two young children together.

The fact that Rapunzel so easily trusted the Prince when he tricked her into letting down her hair is due to her isolation and naivety as to how he could have harmed her.   The isolation is likely also why she would have consented to having sex, not knowing that she could have been looked down upon, or even shunned, for having sex outside of marriage in that era.   That being said, Rapunzel is lucky that the Prince does truly end up loving her, but she goes through horrific trials to be reunited after having been left to wander the wilderness.   She did not know any better when it came to doing things based on her own desires and instincts because she was never taught.   This is all because of her mother’s actions and Gothel’s imprisonment of her.   However, Rapunzel still learned, just doing so the hard way.   Her emotional fortitude, learned through all of her suffering, paid off in the end, but that does not mean that this story could not easily be adapted for a horror film!

I hope you have enjoyed this exploration of the original Grimm Brothers version of Rapunzel.   What is your favorite horror element in the tale?  Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is a gorgeous artwork of Rapunzel and her Prince reunited.   I found the art on https://www.deviantart.com/razriel/art/Rapunzel-71625106.        

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Further Reading

• Rapunzel by The Grimm Brothers