This is perhaps most notable in the punctuating words of the witch. "One midnight gone!" cries the witch at the mid-point of the first act, then sings "It's the last midnight," before she leaves the play. The return to the words and themes of the woods is the only constant of the play. This is because the play is about journeys, not about coming to some final moral conclusion. The woods, unlike the safety of the home, is unpredictable -- not even the witch knows that the spell she weaves to regain her beauty will deprive her of her magic, or that the golden floss first provided by the baker will come from her own beloved, adopted child Rapunzel.
Interestingly enough, Rapunzel is the one character who never says 'Into the Woods,' and when other characters provide often humorous reflections on what they have learned in the woods, such as Cinderella's maimed sisters note ruefully that "now we're really blind," Rapunzel merely sings meaningless notes. "I only did it because I loved you," says the witch when Rapunzel justly accuses her adoptive mother of overprotecting her in a tower. But unlike traditional fairy tales, in "Into the Woods," love is not enough -- the learning process, rather than the end 'learned' product or tale is what is important.
Rapunzel's failure to be equipped with the emotional and intellectual tools to learn from her mistakes is demonstrated in her physical removal from the action of the stage as well as her meaningless lyrics. However, the 'world above' does not signify merely one thing, for the play is more complex in its structure of meaning and its structure of staging. For instance, in the case of Jack, the world above transforms him, but when he is careless and tries to steal from it, it invades in terrible, booming form, as the giantess tries to avenge the demise of the giant at Jack's hands.
The fact that the giantess does so with some cause further points out the moral ambiguity of the second act -- there are no easy rights and wrongs. The main characters act badly or foolishly at times, as the baker's wife, singing, "I'm in the wrong story," as she enjoys Cinderella's Prince for a moment. Jack's pilferage brings death and destruction upon the innocent. No character acts correctly all of the time -- all of the characters merely try to learn from their mistakes and their hard-won successes.
Thus, Rapunzel and the prince's relationship develops over time, so that the prince must bring "a skein of silk every time" he visits. Before continuing on with this analysis of the prince, however, it will be useful to briefly examine Rapunzel's reaction to him, because it complicates the story and provides some insight into the later scene of the prince's (possible) attempted suicide. Rapunzel decides to marry the prince because
Analysis of Movie Character Introduction Tangled, released in 2010 by Walt Disney Pictures, is a 3D computer-animated American musical adventure movie produced by the famous Walt Disney Animation Studios. This paper is an analysis of the film’s main character, Rapunzel. This paper will discuss the psycho-analytical breakdown, stressors, and conflicts experienced by Rapunzel and how she deals with them. Summary The film is about a young, naïve girl called Rapunzel. A long time ago,
FolkloreOne great thing about folklore is how it weaves fantasy into the stories. Cinderella and Rapunzel both are stories that feature some fantastic elements but that end with happy endings. There is some conflict in each, and there is also a prince involved in each. The idea of a prince rescuing a maiden is a popular one in folklore. The prince is a hero figure, while the maiden is the
This has been interpreted as overprotective behavior and is directly linked to being a parent. One cannot be overprotective of a child he or she does not have. It is only logical to conclude that the witch is to Rapunzel a sort of a stepmother; also, one could gather that the witch wanted Rapunzel not only to hurt and get back at the child's natural father, but for her
Children's Literature Picture Books Allard, Harry and James Marshall. Miss Nelson Is Missing. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1977. Print. Miss Nelson is a non-threatening instructor whose students take advantage of her gentle personality by misbehaving. One day Miss Nelson disappears and is replaced by an ill-tempered substitute, Miss Viola Swamp, who makes the children appreciate their good-natured teacher. The book is designed for primary and early elementary readers. Beaumont, Karen. I Ain't Gonna
Forests in Children's Lit The Dark Forest of Fairy Tales Fairy tales are rightly seen by many authors and critics from Jung to Bruno Bettelheim as repositories for archetypes and for vital social messages. Additionally, they must be seen as a literary genre by themselves, and elements which may be seen archetypically must also be taken in terms of their literary function. In this light, one can study the role of the
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