Rapunzel: A Character Analysis

Overview

Rapunzel is a complex figure in Soman Chainani's Beasts and Beauty, a collection that twists classic fairy tales. Unlike the passive, long-suffering girl of tradition, this Rapunzel is spoiled, restless, and defiant. Raised in total isolation by a possessive father, she initially accepts her gilded cage, but when a prince offers a conventional rescue, she rejects his terms, insisting on autonomy over safety. Her story culminates in a literal and symbolic self-rescue, using the rapunzel vines—once a symbol of her captivity—as a bridge to freedom. Chainani uses her to explore beauty as a curse, agency and self-rescue, and the subversion of fairy-tale conventions.

Plot Role and Chronological Arc

Rapunzel appears in the fourth chapter, and her arc moves from passive prisoner to active agent.

1. Origins as a Bargained Child: A lonely man, once imprisoned by his own parents, tends a garden of rapunzel. A pregnant woman craves the greens; her husband steals them and is caught. The man demands the unborn child in exchange for his life. The husband agrees, and the baby is taken at birth.

2. Fifteen Years in the Tower: The father raises Rapunzel in a tower, showering her with material comforts. She becomes spoiled and lazy, learning that every wish will be granted inside the tower. Her only job is to let down her hair.

3. Encounter with the Prince: A prince discovers her by her singing. He climbs her hair and kisses her. She enjoys the kisses but, when he proposes marriage, she questions what being a wife entails. She refuses his offer because she wants the freedom to run in the rain, not another tower.

4. The Prince’s Attack: Enraged by her refusal, the prince slashes her hair short. Her pets attack him, and he falls into thorns. Her father returns, blinds the prince, then heals him with tears. The prince flees.

5. Escape: Father and daughter plant rapunzel from both ends of the tower, growing vines that bridge the gap. When the bridge is complete, Rapunzel descends. Her father embraces her, but she slips away into the rain, leaving him clutching empty greens.

Motivations and Traits Shown Through Actions

Rapunzel's primary motivation shifts from comfort to self-determination. Early in the chapter, she is complacent: she has learned that wanting something from outside is met with a gift inside. But she also feels restless, snapping at her father and looking at herself in the mirror longer. Her dreams are sexual and dark, and she misses them when they don't come. This suggests a budding awareness of her own desires, which she cannot yet name.

When the prince appears, she is initially entranced—by his strangeness, his sword, his horse hairs. She kisses him and wants more. However, when he presses for marriage, she immediately interrogates the terms. She does not want another tower, even a big one. She wants to “run free in the forest in my nightgown and dance in the rain.” This is a clear expression of agency. She is not looking for a husband; she is looking for experience.

Her wit and verbal sparring show intelligence. She calls out the prince’s hypocrisy about kissing without marriage. She refuses to accept that a kiss requires a price. When he threatens to return and make her change her tune, she retorts, “I’ll wait for a prince who has no price for his kiss.” This reveals a refusal to be commodified.

After the prince cuts her hair, she does not despair. She helps her father plant the vines. When the bridge is ready, she uses it to leave. Her final act is not a tearful goodbye but a silent escape into rain. The narrative describes her as “a shadow dancing free … like a stolen spirit on the way home.” This implies she is reclaiming a self that was stolen from her at birth.

Relationships

With Her Father

The father is a tragic figure—a former tower prisoner who repeats the pattern by imprisoning his daughter. He loves her possessively, watching her “like a hawk.” He gives her everything except the truth and the door. Rapunzel senses his fear and tests him by delaying her hair-drops. She loves him but also chafes. At the end, he believes the bridge is for them to meet in the middle, but she uses it to leave. His tears heal the prince he blinds, but cannot keep her. The relationship is one of mutual dependence turned to escape.

With the Prince

The prince is handsome and initially charming. He vows to visit daily until they find a way together. But when Rapunzel refuses his marriage proposal, he reveals a cruel, entitled side. He attacks her, cutting her hair—a symbolic violation of her identity and sexuality. She does not forgive him or pine for him. Instead, she rejects the prince as a solution. Her relationship with him is a test that she passes by holding her ground.

With Her Pets

Her menagerie—goat, pig, dog—acts as protectors. They attack the prince when he hurts her. The text notes that earlier they did not guard her from him, “fear or sloth,” but later suggests “hope.” They are extensions of her own subconscious loyalty to herself.

Key Decisions and Consequences

Each decision marks a step toward claiming her own life. The refusal of marriage is the critical turning point—she chooses freedom over a conventional happy ending.

Thematic and Symbolic Connections

• Beauty as a Curse: Rapunzel’s beauty—her golden hair—becomes both her prison (the ladder) and the object of the prince’s desire. When he cuts it, he tries to destroy her value. But she escapes without it, showing her worth is not in her hair.

• Agency and Self-Rescue: Unlike the traditional Rapunzel who waits for a prince, this one engineers her own escape by growing the bridge. She literally and figuratively builds her own path. Her story aligns with the broader theme of agency and self-rescue seen in other tales like Red Riding Hood.

• Subversion of Fairy-Tale Conventions: The prince is not a savior but a threat. Marriage is presented as “another tower.” The father, not a witch, is the captor. The happy ending is solitary escape, not romantic union. This chapter thoroughly deconstructs the traditional Rapunzel story, part of the book’s larger project of subverting fairy-tale conventions.

• Power of Naming and Identity: The father gives the baby the name “Rapunzel” before she is born, based on the plant he loves. He treats her as an extension of his garden. The name is a label he imposes. At the end, when he calls her name, he is left holding “twisted greens”—she has shed that identity to become her own.

• Queer and Non-Traditional Relationships: While Rapunzel’s story does not involve a queer romance, it does reject heteronormative marriage. She wants kisses without marriage, and she escapes alone. This aligns with the collection’s exploration of queer and non-traditional relationships seen in “Sleeping Beauty” and “The Little Mermaid.”

Book-Specific Questions and Answers

1. Why does Rapunzel refuse the prince’s marriage proposal?
   Rapunzel refuses because she does not want to trade one tower for another. When the prince describes life as his wife—palace, servants, gifts—she calls it “oppressive,” “exhausting,” and “insidious.” She wants to “run free in the forest in my nightgown and dance in the rain,” which the prince dismisses as mad. She values personal freedom over the status of a princess.

2. What is the significance of the prince cutting Rapunzel’s hair?
   The hair is the only way she can interact with the outside world; it is also the symbol of her beauty and her father’s control. By cutting it, the prince tries to destroy her agency and make her undesirable. However, Rapunzel does not mourn the loss. Instead, she uses it as a catalyst to grow a new escape route—the rapunzel vines—showing that her identity is not tied to her hair.

3. How does the father’s past influence his treatment of Rapunzel?
   The father was himself imprisoned in a tower by his parents, who “smothered him with love.” He knows he would love a child too much, but cannot help himself. He replicates the same pattern: he hoards her, gives her everything except freedom, and becomes possessive. His trauma leads him to become the very captor he once suffered.

4. What does the rapunzel plant symbolize in the story?
   The rapunzel plant symbolizes love, growth, and connection. The father loves his garden rapunzel as a substitute for a child. Later, the vines become the bridge between tower and ground, representing the possibility of escape when nurtured from both sides. Ultimately, Rapunzel herself becomes the “stolen spirit,” having used the plant to free herself. The plant also echoes beauty as a curse, as the mother’s craving for it sets the story in motion.

5. Is Rapunzel’s ending a happy one?
   Interpretation varies. Factually, she escapes into the rain, alone. The narrative describes her as “a shadow dancing free… like a stolen spirit on the way home.” There is no reunion with a lover, no return to family. If happiness is defined as self-possession and freedom, then yes—she achieves what she wanted. If happiness requires relationship, then it is bittersweet. The ending aligns with the collection’s theme of agency and self-rescue, prioritizing autonomy over conventional romance.

For further discussion of the book's broader messages, see the ending explained and questions and answers pages.