What is wrong with the long hair, beautiful face, and happy future of the childhood fairy tale character? Many fairy tales are built around the idea of going from a wretched life to living "happily ever after." The reasons behind the ideas are often ignored. After studying the book Rapunzel, many important concepts about how and why fairy tale characters are portrayed in similar ways were made clear. From the book and scholarly articles found on Rapunzel, it was determined that fairy tales do not teach children a correct perspective of the world by offering false examples of life. .
Fairy tales teach children that particular people should adopt certain roles and attitudes. The fairy tale suggests that women, men, and children all act in different ways that are specifically appropriate for them. In the book Rapunzel the wife is shown as determined, demanding, and unfulfilled. The woman knows what she wants, and when she manages to get it she is still not satisfied. The passage, "Each day her longing increased until she became pale and sickly and would take no other food," displays her determination in getting what she desires (Ehrlich 2). The woman was willing to die just to eat the certain food she wanted. The woman is perceived as unfulfilled by the line in the book, "She made a salad and ate it greedily, but she was still not satisfied"(Ehrlich 4). The line is specifically placed in the story to portray that women are not easily satisfied, and it is a belief that many people hold as they grow up. The determined and discontent feeling of the wife teaches children that all older women possess such behavior. The woman is shown as demanding to portray an attitude of wives and women in general, which is very misleading to young children. .
The husband in Rapunzel is depicted as somewhat different than the wife. The man is very submissive to his wife. The line, "Her husband, who loved her, knew he would have to bring her the rapunzel she wanted, no matter what the cost," offers the assumption that men obey their wives and will do anything to please them (Ehrlich 4).
