Erotic Air in the Tale of Rapunzel

 



Amirasolo and Other Essays

Part 3. In my Book

Essay 37. EROTIC AIR IN THE TALE OF RAPUNZEL

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm didn't have children in mind as their primary audience when they put out the first editions of their book, Kinder-und Hausmarchen (Children and Household Tales) in 1812 and 1815. It was only in the 1819 edition did they begin to eliminate passages with erotic content to make it more palatable to bourgeois morality and taste. For the curious out there, here is the English translation of an excerpt from "Rapunzel" as originally written and published in 1812:

"At first Rapunzel was afraid, but soon she took such a liking to the young king that she made an agreement with him: he was to come everyday and be pulled up. Thus they lived merrily and joyfully for a certain time, and the fairy did not discover anything until one day when Rapunzel began talking to her and said, "Tell me, Mother Gothel, why do you think my clothes have become too tight for me and no longer fit?"

So, there---Rapunzel became pregnant by the young king, which was the most natural and lovely state for her to be. My sensibilities may have been numbed by all the explicit videos I've watched, but I must say that I see nothing wrong in that very oblique mention of their amorous frolics. Therefore, to make my illustration adhere closely to the original spirit of the tale, I painted a half-eaten apple, symbolizing that most delicious of 'sins', at the lower right portion of the artwork.

(Image above: "Rapunzel"; 2003; acrylic on paper; Reni Roxas collection)

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