Mathilde: The Miller’s Daughter Who Outwits the Devil in Beasts and Beauty

Overview

Mathilde is the protagonist of the Rumpelstiltskin adaptation in Beasts and Beauty, a collection of retold fairy tales by Soman Chainani. She begins as a proud, beautiful miller’s daughter whose father falsely boasts she can spin straw into gold. After failing to guess the Devil’s name on three occasions, she loses her hair and nose, then promises her firstborn child in exchange for having the straw spun. Years later, when the Devil returns to claim her son, Mathilde undertakes a harrowing search and finally whispers “Rumpelstiltskin,” forcing the Devil to destroy himself. Her arc subverts the traditional fairy-tale pattern: she rescues her child through her own persistence rather than through a prince’s intervention.

Plot Role

Mathilde is the central figure of Chapter 11, “Rumpelstiltskin,” which the Devil narrates as he hunts for souls. She is introduced as one of three “wicked” figures in a single scene—the other two being her boastful father and a greedy king. Unlike the other stories in the collection, where a young woman often resists or reclaims her fate, Mathilde initially colludes with the very forces that trap her. She accepts the Devil’s bargains, marries the king, and only awakens to her own agency when her child is threatened. Her role evolves from a passive victim of patriarchal lies to an active rescuer who literally names the Devil and thereby severs his power.

Motivations and Traits Shown Through Actions

Early Pride and Reliance on Beauty
Mathilde’s beauty is her only currency. She dismisses a potential match—the king’s nephew Gottesfried—because the boy strikes her as a “feckless git.” This shows a sense of entitlement born from her looks. When the king later locks her in a room of straw, she reflects that she “put her faith in beauty” rather than learning domestic skills, expecting a prince to rescue her. Her cold interior, she believes, is a defense against a lying father.

Desperation and Self-Blame
After the first two guesses (“Lucifer,” “Beelzebub”) cost her first her hair, then her nose, Mathilde begins to question her own goodness. The Devil tells her that the outside now matches the inside, and “to this, the girl has no response.” This moment marks the beginning of her internal shift: she stops relying on beauty and starts looking for a way to save herself.

Maternal Courage
The birth of her son changes Mathilde profoundly. “It is the first time she’s ever felt love in her life.” When the Devil returns to take the child, she begs, offers wealth, and ultimately accepts a three‑day riddle game. Her search is methodical—first markets, then forest clans—and when she runs out of answers, she rides into the mountains to pray. Her willingness to give herself in her son’s place (“she could free his soul and steal his pain”) is what finally earns her a mercy: a cooling rain that saves her from a wildfire.

Cunning in the Final Confrontation
On the third night, Mathilde asks to hold her son one last time. While cradling him, he babbles syllables that form “Rumpelstiltskin.” She does not guess; she receives the name from the child. This act demonstrates that her love has opened a channel of grace. She speaks the name, and the Devil, now bound by a named identity, tears himself apart.

Chronological Arc

1. The Miller’s Daughter – Mathilde lives with a lying father, cultivating beauty as her only asset.
2. The King’s Test – Her father claims she can spin straw into gold. The king locks her in a room of straw.
3. Three Bargains with the Devil – She guesses Lucifer (loses hair), Beelzebub (loses nose), then promises her firstborn child. The Devil spins the gold.
4. Marriage and Motherhood – Mathilde becomes queen. A son is born; she forgets the Devil until he appears to claim the child.
5. The Three‑Day Search – Disguised as a peasant, she canvasses the kingdom and forest, recording possible names. All fail.
6. The Mountain Vigil – Despairing, she goes to the mountains, prays, and nearly dies in a wildfire.
7. The Baby’s Whisper – On the final night, she holds her son, and he whispers the Devil’s true name: Rumpelstiltskin.
8. The Devil’s Destruction – The Devil tears himself in two. Mathilde’s beauty and her son’s health are restored.
9. Epilogue – The king and Mathilde’s father die “crushed beneath a tree,” and their bodies are later dragged into deep holes, presumably by Hell.

Relationships

Father – The miller is a liar who sells his daughter for gain. He never protects her; he even agrees to find new brides for the king if Mathilde fails. She realizes she learned coldness from him. Their relationship embodies the power of naming and identity: the father’s lie causes the whole ordeal.

The King – Greedy and indifferent, the king marries Mathilde only for her ability to produce gold. When the Devil takes their son, he tells her it is her problem and threatens to behead her if she fails. He never shows affection.

The Devil – The Devil is the story’s narrator and antagonist. He delights in tormenting the “weakest and greediest.” His identity is hidden until the very end, and being named destroys him. Through him, the book explores beauty as a curse and the notion that naming something gives you power over it.

Son – Unnamed in the text, the baby boy is Mathilde’s first experience of genuine love. He is instrumental: his babbling provides the winning name. He is also the means by which Mathilde’s love is tested and purified.

Key Decisions and Consequences

The most important consequence is that Mathilde breaks the cycle of passive suffering. She acts where others—guards, maids, her father, the king—refuse to help. Her self‑rescue is a direct rejection of fairy‑tale passivity, a core example of agency and self‑rescue in the collection.

Theme and Symbol Connections

Beauty as a Curse – Mathilde’s beauty initially attracts dangerous attention and is tied to her pride. The Devil literally removes her hair and nose to “match the inside.” Her restoration after saving her son suggests that beauty can be regained only when it is no longer the central goal. See the beauty as a curse theme page.

Subversion of Fairy‑Tale Conventions – In the traditional Rumpelstiltskin, the queen guesses the name by sending a messenger. Here, Mathilde does all the searching herself, and the name comes from her baby, not a spy. The prince who was supposed to rescue her flees. The book repeatedly undercuts the “prince saves the princess” trope; this story is a clear instance of subversion of fairy‑tale conventions.

Agency and Self‑Rescue – Mathilde’s line “If she’s to beat the Devil, she must be her own prince” explicitly states the theme. She does not wait for a male rescuer; she acts. Her journey is the collection’s most straightforward demonstration of agency and self‑rescue.

Power of Naming and Identity – The Devil’s fear of having his name known drives the plot. In the story’s logic, a known name gives the namer power. By learning “Rumpelstiltskin,” Mathille binds the Devil to a finite identity, making him destructible. This echoes the book’s larger interest in the power of naming and identity.

Queer and Non‑Traditional Relationships – While Mathilde’s relationship with the king is conventional and unhappy, the story highlights a different kind of bond: the mother‑son dyad becomes the true love story. Additionally, the Devil’s narration frames Mathilde as one of many souls he toys with, but her maternal love upends his game. This subtle de‑centering of romance aligns with the collection’s exploration of queer and non‑traditional relationships.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why does Mathilde lose her hair and nose?
She loses them as the price for the Devil’s help after failing to guess his name with “Lucifer” (hair) and “Beelzebub” (nose). The Devil states he is making the outside match the inside, implying her physical beauty masked a flawed character.

2. How does Mathilde learn the Devil’s true name?
On the third night, she asks to hold her son one last time. The baby babbles syllables that together form “Rumpelstiltskin.” She does not guess the name; she receives it from her child.

3. What happens to the king and Mathilde’s father?
Both die in a hunting accident, crushed under a tree. Later their graves are found empty, replaced by deep holes, suggesting Hell pulled them down.

4. How does Mathilde’s arc challenge traditional fairy tales?
Instead of being rescued by a prince or a messenger, she rescues her son through her own persistence. The prince who could have saved her flees when he sees her disfigurement. She explicitly declares, “she must be her own prince.”

5. What does the name “Rumpelstiltskin” symbolize in this retelling?
It symbolizes the power of identity. Knowing the Devil’s name reduces him from a formless, infinite evil to a being with a beginning and an end. Mathilde’s ability to name him is the ultimate act of reclaiming agency.

For a deeper look at how Mathilde’s story fits into the book’s overall conclusion, see the ending explained page, and for more discussion of the story’s moral complexities, visit the questions and answers section.