| Rapunzel | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Rapunzel in the Doctor Who serial "The Mind Robber". | |||
| Naming | |||
| Others | Parsley Persinette Petrosinella | ||
| Personal information | |||
| Species | Human | ||
| Gender | Female | ||
| Place of origin | Europe (exact country varies) | ||
| Age | 12 at the time of imprisonment in the tower | ||
| Relations | Dame Gothel (adoptive mother) | ||
| Current status | Alive | ||
| Biology | |||
| Body type | Human | ||
| Abilities | Magical hair and healing tears | ||
| Sentience | Sentient | ||
| Sapience | Sapient | ||
| Behind the scenes | |||
| Universe | Rapunzel | ||
| Created by | Friedrich Schultz (inspired by earlier stories by Giambattista Basile and Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de la Force) | ||
| Performed by | Various | ||
Rapunzel is the protagonist of the eponymous fairy tale. She is a young woman whose hair and tears have magical properties.
The story of Rapunzel was written by Friedrich Schultz and first published in 1790. Later on it would be adapted by the Brothers Grimm for their Children's and Household Tales; and by Andrew Lang for The Red Fairy Book, among others.
However, Schultz's story was itself adapted from an earlier tale called "Persinette" (1698), by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de la Force. This in turn was adapted from Giambattista Basile's 1634 "Petrosinella", also known in English as "Parsley".
History[]
In the most common versions of the story, Rapunzel was born to a couple of peasants who lived next to the castle of an evil witch (in some earlier versions a fairy) named Dame Gothel. While Rapunzel's mother was pregnant, she craved for the rapunzel flowers that grew in the garden of the witch. Rapunzel's father picked them up, but was captured by the old hag and begged for his life. The enchantress agreed to allow him to leave and take the flowers with him on the condition that, as soon as his wife gave birth, the child would be given to Gothel. Desperate, the man agreed, and thus Rapunzel was given away at birth to be raised by the witch, and her magical hair grew to enormous length.
When Rapunzel was 12, Gothel locked her away in a tower that had no entrance and no stairs. Gothel visited the girl every day and entered the tower by calling for Rapunzel to let her hair down from the window, so that the witch could use it as a rope to climb up.
One day, a prince saw the tower and heard Rapunzel singing. Attracted by the beauty of her voice, he vainly searched for a way to enter, but to no avail. In a latter visit, he actually saw Dame Gothel and observed how she entered the tower, so he decided to do the same, approaching the tower at night and calling out for the girl to let her hair down so he could climb it. Rapunzel was surprised to see the stranger, but eventually grew to become fond of him. He visited her for many nights and asked her in marriage, and they made plans to elope.
Before that could happen, however, during one of Dame Gothel's visits, Rapunzel accidentally gave off her secret (in the Brothers Grimm's first edition, she mentioned that her dress was getting tight around her waist, allowing the witch to deduce that she was pregnant). In response, Dame Gothel cut Rapunzel's hair short and took the girl to the woods where she abandoned her.
After that, Gothel waited inside the tower and when she heard the prince calling for Rapunzel; let the severed braids down to him and then pushed him, causing him to fell on the thorny bushes below. He survived, but the thorns in his eyes blinded him.
Over the next months, Rapunzel lived in the woods and gave birth to twins. One day, the blind prince heard her singing and recognized her voice. Reunited with her lover, Rapunzel shed tears that cured the prince and restored his eyesight.
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