Pre-critical:

The first paragraph starts by laying out a goal, for the woman to achieve, by talking about the rampion in the witches garden, who is introduced as the antagonist in the story, and will also be a problem for the woman to beat. The second paragraph, shows the fulfillment of the goal, by having the husband get the rampion from over the wall.

Formalist:

Rapunzel is another name for rampion. Rampion is wanted greatly, similar to the need for a child (ironic).The garden was beautiful and this symbolizes the garden can bring beauty. There is a wall around the garden which mean the things inside are valuable to the characters in some way. The lady pining away because she could not get any rampion shows that women in the story will be persise and dramatic about what they want. The man is caring and loves his wife and wants to make her happy. His willingness to climb the wall shows he wont have a problem doing it again to please his wife.

Mythological/Archetypal:

Rapunzel's mother's desperate hunger for the rampion in the witches garden is reminiscent of Eve's desire to eat the forbidden fruit. Eve convinces Adam to eat of the fruit as well, as Rapunzel's mother convinces her husband to steal the fruit. They effectively force Rapunzel to fall deep in the witches clutches, like Adam and Eve caused the fall of man.

Psychological:

They are all afraid of the witch outside the wall. The wife saw the rampion and wanted it so greatly; she pined for it and became pale and weak. She claims she'll die without the rampion. The husband is afraid of losing his wife, so he goes and gets it for her. The greedy wife kept wanting more and more.

Feminist:

This scene talks about a husband and wife who are happy together. They are wishing to have a child together. The wife sees some rampion in the witches garden, and longs for it terribly. She believes she will die if she doesn't get some of the rampion. She cannot get it herself because there is a high wall around the garden. The husband is very good to his wife and will do anything to make her happy. He sees her looking miserable one day and goes into the garden to get her the rampion. We think of him as being a strong, well built man since he had to climb over the tall wall protecting the garden. In this part of the story, it tells us that the wife stays inside and cooks with the rampion. Cooking is a stereotypical female activity.

Marxist:

A man and his wife lived in a house which overlooked a larger house with a huge wall around it showing the separation of the two classes. The witch being apart of a higher class. When the woman longs for the rampion, she represents how people of lower classes wish for what people of the higher class have. Now after they get what they wanted they become greedy for more.

Historical:

In the beginning, it is mentioned that the man and his wife had long wished for a child. This can be likened to Napoleon, who was the French ruler at the time of Rapunzel’s publication. He wanted an heir to his throne but Cleopatra could not bore him a son, so he divorced her and incidentally married Marie Louise, Archduchess of Austria, which meant he had married into a German royal family--which is where the Grimm brothers were from. Furthermore, the man was so desperate to give his wife some rampion, but to do it, he had to go into the witch’s garden--something that was viewed as wrong by society since everyone was afraid of the witch. Likewise, Napoleon, in order to achieve an heir to his throne, had to divorce Cleopatra and it turn married Marie Louise--whose niece was Marie Antoinette, thus giving him an heir. However, society still viewed it as “wrong” for Napoleon to do--he essentially manipulated the status quo in order to get what he wanted--similar to what the man did to give his wife the rampion.

Analyses for Part One