Biblical Imagery in the Story of “Rapunzel”
Ostensibly, the story of “Rapunzel” is the tale of a young girl, locked up in a tower by a wicked witch, the real concern of the story, however, being lust and the dangers it represents to girls as they enter the rites of passage of puberty. Symbolism pervades the story of “Rapunzel”, as in all fairy tales, giving rise to diverse interpretations. While a great deal of the symbolism is commonly found in fairy tales, the Grimm’s infuse the tale of “Rapunzel” with much from the biblical stories with which their audience would most likely be familiar. In the final version of “Rapunzel,” the Grimms add a moral message, based primarily on stories taken from the Bible, in order to demonstrate the importance of female purity.
The Grimms alone can not be given credit for all biblical references contained in the tale of “Rapunzel.” Numerous cultures have tales that resemble this particular Grimm brothers’ story, containing many of the same elements, such as the garden, the stolen vegetables, the hair, and the tower (Luthi 109-119). The Grimms’ version of “Rapunzel was based largely on the French fairy tale, Persinette, composed by a lady in waiting at the court of Louis XIV” (Luthi 118). Only in the Grimms’ versions, however, does Rapunzel give birth to twins, is the prince blinded, and Rapunzel’s tears restore his vision (Luthi 118).
For their second edition of fairy tales, the Grimms and their publisher deemed their original version of “Rapunzel” to be inappropriate for children for “what proper mother or nanny could tell the fairy tale about Rapunzel to an innocent daughter without blushing?” (Tatar 18). The Grimms, in fact, changed details of “Rapunzel,” ridding the story of even the most oblique reference to anything sexual. In particular, the offending line from the 1812 edition, “Tell me, Mother Gothel, why do you think my clothes have become too tight for me and no longer fit?” was deleted from future editions (Luthi 73). Within the collection of stories as a whole, the brothers took “pains to delete every phrase unsuitable for children…hoping that their collection could serve as a manual of manners” (Tatar 19). Most significantly, the Grimms “eliminated erotic and sexual elements…added numerous Christian expressions and references, [and] emphasized specific role models for male and female protagonists according to the dominant patriarchal code of that time” (Zipes, Dreams 74).
“Rapunzel” itself is the classic story of a mother’s attempt to protect her young daughter from the dangers she must face in order to successfully navigate the rites of passage of puberty. The Grimms’ version of “Rapunzel” also presents a strong moral message to young women in order to maintain the patriarchal nature and moral code of 19th century Germany. The question which most Grimms’ tales ask is: “how can one learn – what must one do to use one’s powers rightly in order to be accepted in society or recreate society in keeping with the norms of the status quo?” (Zipes, Fairy 57). The Grimms’ story of “Rapunzel” is no different, answering this question by looking to, among other sources, the Bible.
Many biblical references pervade the story of “Rapunzel,” beginning with “a man and wife [who] long wished in vain for a child” (Hallett 67). Anyone familiar with Bible stories cannot help but be reminded of Abraham and Sarah, so desperate to have a child that Sarah gives her handmaid, Hagar, to Abraham so that he can have a child. After years of being unable to conceive, when Sarah is ninety years old and Abraham is one-hundred, God finally rewards the couple and Sarah gives birth to a son (Genesis 17:17). The birth of Rapunzel, when it seems that her mother is barren, mirrors the seemingly miraculous birth of Isaac, the son of Sarah and Abraham.
One of the most recognizable images in the Bible, the Garden of Eden, can be seen in the “wonderful garden, full of beautiful flowers and vegetables,” into which the man sneaks to pick the rapunzel his wife so craves (Hallett 67). As the Garden of Eden belongs to God, all-powerful and feared, the garden in the story belongs to “a witch, who was very powerful and everyone was afraid of” (Hallett 67). The man must “pay dearly” for taking the rapunzel, as man pays a price in the Garden of Eden, for God “drove out the man,” punishment for disobeying him (Hallett 67; Genesis 3:24). If the garden itself is the Garden of Eden, then the rapunzel growing in the garden is the forbidden apple. In both cases, the woman desires and eats that which is forbidden, having dire consequences for both herself and her husband. The high walls around the garden further extend the religious image, for “the enclosed garden represents virginity in general and that of Mary in particular” (Biedermann 149). Thus, emphasizing her purity through her connection to the walled garden, Rapunzel, the girl named for the lettuce, is locked away in the tower, in the same way that rapunzel, the lettuce growing in the garden, is hidden away behind the garden walls.
The biblical character Rapunzel most closely resembles is Rebekah. In many ways Rapunzel, as “the loveliest child under the sun,” is like the biblical Rebekah, “very fair to look upon [and] a virgin” (Hallett 68; Genesis 24:16). The familiar lines, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair” - lines which are entirely the invention of the brothers Grimm, not being found in any other similar story - echo Abraham’s servant telling Rebekah to “let down thy pitcher” so that he can drink (Luthi 119; Genesis 24:14). In a parallel to Rapunzel letting down her hair, Rebekah “let down her pitcher from her shoulder” (Genesis 24:46). As Rapunzel gives birth to twins, so too does Rebekah conceive, “and when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb” (Genesis 25:21, 24).
The very tower in which Rapunzel is imprisoned is an image from the Bible. This tower is symbolic of the tower of Babel, “…a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven…,” built in Babylonia in biblical times (Genesis 11:4). As such, the tower is a symbol linking heaven and earth. In some biblical passages, in fact, the image of a tower actually represents God and godliness in general. This image can be seen in the Psalm 18:2: “the Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.” The only opening into the tower, a window high in the tower, is also a symbol of religious significance. The “light from outside corresponds to God’s spirit, and the window itself to the Virgin Mary,” speaking once more to the ideal of purity exemplified by Rapunzel’s imprisonment in the tower (Biedermann 382).
Rapunzel, the girl inside the tower, also serves as a link between God and man. Singing high inside this tower, she is symbolic of an angel in heaven. Rapunzel, her “beautiful long hair, as fine as spun gold,” representing the halo of an angel, can be likened to an angel singing the praises of God “…for it is good to sing praises unto our God…” (Psalm 147: 1). Rapunzel’s hair itself also serves as a connection between heaven and earth. Falling to the ground as a ladder for the witch to climb to the window, Rapunzel’s long braids seem to parallel the biblical image of Jacob’s ladder. The Bible tells of Jacob’s dream of a “ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it” (Genesis 28:12). Interestingly, it is the witch, perhaps representative of the fallen angel, Lucifer, who most frequently ascends and descends Rapunzel’s locks.
Rapunzel’s hair itself is infused with symbolism, an outward manifestation of her virtue. Rapunzel’s long tresses in themselves present a common image, representing her as a “virgin, covered by her long hair” (Biedermann 161). When the witch learns of Rapunzel’s liaisons with the prince, she is furious at being duped and cuts off Rapanzul’s braids, invoking the image of the Bible story of Samson and Delilah. As Samson tells Delilah, “…if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man” (Judges 16:17). Similarly, Rapunzel, no longer pure, is like any other, symbolized by the cutting of her braids.
With the cutting of her braids Rapunzel is exiled from the tower. At this point in the story, Rapunzel is seen as a fallen woman. Emphasizing this, the witch wails, “I thought I had shut you away from the world, but you’ve deceived me” (Hallett 69). As Lucifer falls from grace and is cast out of heaven, “brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit,” Rapunzel is similarly cast out of the tower, her link with heaven severed, thrown into purgatory to do penance for her sin (Isaiah 14:15). The witch forces Rapunzel out “…to a desert place, where she lived in misery and want” (Hallet 70). Rapunzel, living in exile in the desert, wandered for many years, as did the Israelites, wandering for “..forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no” before being led into their promised land (Deuteronomy 8:2).
After Rapunzel has been cast down from the tower, the prince returns only to be met by the witch, rather than his love. The witch curses the prince and the brambles “scratched his eyes out and he was blind” (Hallett 70). This parallels the biblical story of the Philistines putting out Samson’s eyes after having cut off his hair (Judges 16:21). In yet another biblical reference, Rapunzel restores sight to the prince, symbolic of Jesus curing disease and “…unto many that were blind he gave sight,” an allegory for giving meaning to our existence (Luke 7:21). Rapunzel is Christ-like when “two of her tears dropped on his eyes, which were made clear again, so that he could see as well as ever” (Hallett 70). Restored of his sight and his reason for existence, the prince and Rapunzel are reunited, he taking “…her to his kingdom, where she was welcomed with rejoicing” (Hallett 70). Rapunzel has returned from exodus, entering the promised land.
In “Rapunzel,” the Grimms took a story that was about rites of passage and, while maintaining that element, added a moral message about the importance of female purity, catering to the ideals of the time in which they lived. We see the Grimms relying on the authority of biblical stories to reinforce the socialization process of women. The story of Rapunzel functions within the norms of the capitalist society within which the Grimms were writing, “the female hero [learning] to be passive, obedient, self-sacrificing, hard-working, patient, and straight-laced. Her goal is wealth, jewels, and a man to protect her property rights” (Zipes, Fairy 57). The Grimms use the story of “Rapunzel” to transmit 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 principles.
Works Cited
Biedermann, Hans. Dictionary of Symbolism. New York: Meridian, 1994.
Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. “Rapunzel.” Folk and Fairy Tales. Ed. Martin Hallett and Barbara
Karasek. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2002. 67-70.
Luthi, Max. Once Upon A Time. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1976.
Tatar, Maria. The Hard Facts of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1987.
Zipes, Jack. Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion. New York: Wildman Press, 1983.
- - -. When Dreams Came True. New York: Routledge, 1999.
The Holy Bible. King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1984.