Room (2015)- A Modern Representation of ‘The Maiden in the Tower’.

(December 2021)

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Classification and Motifs:

‘The Maiden in the Tower’, is found under type-310 as per Aarne-Thompson-Uther index.

It is important to recognise that the tale type’s origin is credited to the Grimm Brothers’ version of the fairy-tale, within the ATU index.

The Grimm Brothers’ version, based off a French bourgeoise version of what was now ‘Rapunzel’, retconning some plot elements that had reoccurred in many cultural oral versions of the tale, the ‘magic flight’ motif for example was one omitted from the Force and Schulz 1812 edition and so was also lost in the Grimm Brothers’ narrative. This younger version of the tale retracts ‘agency’ for the Maiden/Rapunzel by eliminating the magic flight motif, according to Getty, as it ‘eliminates the active attempt to free herself’ (Getty, 1997, p. 5), as seen in earlier versions of the story.

‘The Maiden in the Tower’ has nine common motifs according to ‘The Types of International Folktales’ (Uther, 2004).

Whilst the Aarne-Thompson-Uther index recognises nine common motifs for this tale type, drawing on the research of Getty’s investigation of motifs across multiple editions of the story, two stand out as essential to the narrative. ‘Remarkable hair’ and ‘captivity in tower’ are the fundamental basics to the plot or recognisable elements of a ‘The Maiden in the Tower’ fairy-tale. These elements are the reoccur most in contemporary adaptations or historical editions of the story.

The Maidens hair is a narrative catalyst in most editions of the fairy-tale. Whether she is noticed due to her hair and/or her hair is used as a passage into and out of the tower she resides captive in, hair is an important signifier for metaphors of beauty and strength. Specifically, motif F555, remarkable hair, attributes the Maiden being noticed, loved, or saved due to her hair suggests traditional standards of beauty and therefore femininity will be the saviour for women in a male-dominated society.

For further contextualising of hair as strength, hair has important religious connotation. Sikhism for example, believes hair is a symbol of perfect creation and find that to cut it would be to destroy what was made in the mirror image of God’s perfection. The Maiden having strong, long, and fair (depending on culture) hair suggests she is the epitome of beauty, or at least beautiful virtues personified for female cultures to imitate and replicate.

The Tower can be assumed as symbolic of the phallic social structures and understood as protection for the young maiden against men, unwanted advances, marriage, motherhood. In Reid’s essay on ‘Impregnable Towers and Pregnable Maidens in Early Modern English Drama’, she discusses the imprisonment of ‘young, marriageable’ women as undermined by her ability to communicate with the outside world (Reid, 2019, p. 85), which challenges notions of ‘towers’ being restrictions for women in culture. The tower merely acts as a social structure, perceived lack of control or access within society, their needs to be distance between young women and their suitors for them (women) to be perceivably unattainable to remain virtuous and desirable.

A Brief History:

Cultural readings of ‘The Maiden in the Tower’ suggest the tower can be symbolic of a convent (Getty, 1997, p. 7), in Mediterranean/Christian folk traditions, the tower can also be a castle in French editions (Getty, 1997, p. 8)and the witch therefore an example of the aristocracy, during revolution the aim of the oral tales would be to create a villainous personification of the noble and wealthy of course. Both examples suggest ‘The Maiden in the Tower’ was created under patriarchal ideology, therefore the heroine may have been accidentally inspiring, whereas we know that the Witch would have been example of ‘the Other’, perhaps noblemen or the aristocracy or even matriarchal or unwanted ideologies that clashed with social norms at the time.

In many versions of the tale, the Maiden is taken by the Witch due to her parents stealing from the garden of the Witch, her capture is punishment or penance for her parents’ wrongdoings. The tale has biblical elements to it, such as this lesson of right and wrong, the theft of herbs or food resembles the theft of the fruit from the Garden of Eden (Getty, 1997, p. 7), the Maiden’s parents are cast away or punished, like Adam and Eve, and the Maiden as child of the first parents carry their sin or become personification of their sin, much like mankind in the Bible. This understanding of ‘The Maiden in the Tower’ suggests the tale as cautionary, a warning of right and wrong and a subtle way of spreading Christian values throughout cultures.

Feminist readings of the tale in the contemporary focus on the central characters, Maiden and Witch, being female and examples of cultural expectations or disappointments of women. The Maiden is youthful and in versions where pregnancy and marriage occur, she is promising and adheres to the cultural expectations and desires of women. The Witch is an outcast, ‘bad’ to the Maidens ‘good’, evil to the Maiden’s ‘pure’ and can be reflective of opinions of older women throughout history. Once women begin to age and no longer reproduce or women that have actively sought against patriarchal structures and perhaps reflect matriarchal or feminist ideals, they are regularly cast as the ‘Other’ and are prominent figures of villainy and figures with undesirable virtues, by Western patriarchal or religious standards that is.

Analysis of ‘Room’:

Room, 2015, follows Joy and her son Jack plan to escape her kidnapper after being held captive for seven years. The narrative takes some motifs of ‘The Maiden in the Tower’ and subverts them for a darker reflection of contemporary culture.

Joy’s ‘tower’ is a shed she has been held in by ‘Old Nick’, her rapist and kidnapper. Old Nick is the adversary within this narrative, proving that the ‘bad’ to Joys innocent good isn’t a spinster woman but a perverted man. Old Nick provides food and ‘accommodation’, much like the Witch in the fairy-tale, but uses ‘the tower’ as not a place of ‘safety’ but of torture. Much like versions of the fairy-tale, the Maiden (Joy) is impregnated but in Room it is by her Witch, her capturer. Old Nick as the Witch returns the original understanding of the Witch/Tower being a ‘pseudo-male repetitive of societal power’ (Getty, 1997, p. 9), rather than the misogynistic and anti-witchcraft representation with the Grimm Brother’s depiction of the Witch. It reflects the social understanding that it is not women who hate other women but the men around them that have this socially forced, sexually driven hatred of women and are the dangers to young, promising females. It is a feminist perspective but a reflective commentary of the contemporary gender culture and the commentary on the Joseph Fritzel case upon which the book and film were based.

Joy and Jack are both the ‘victimised hero’ within this narrative. Joy is the innocent prey captured by the predator Witch and lacks her freedom throughout the film, even after being found and freed. Her captivity exists long after her freedom as she is trapped mentally in the ‘room’. Motherhood was forced upon her, rape was forced upon her, her agency and voice were diminished. Here the fairy-tale works well in the narrative as cautionary tale, showing the lasting effects of male-objectification of women as possession. Joy is representative of hero through sacrificing herself and her bodily autonomy for protection of her son, including helping him escape the Tower knowing the consequences for her if the plan was to fail.

Jack is representative of both Maiden and Prince. Firstly, he was born into the Tower and knows no other life from it, he even resorts to longing for his ‘home’ once he is freed. He is Maiden, as is Joy, as they actively escape and deceive the Witch. He also represents pure innocence and curiosity; his uncut hair also suggests his ‘Rapunzel-esque’ presence within the story. Him cutting off his hair to send his mother strength symbolises his sacrifice and destruction of his ‘Rapunzel image’ and is an example of his agency once freed of the Tower.

Jack as the Prince is the key to their escape. Jack’s sacrifice for his mother to risk the danger of being found alive by Old Nick suggests his role as the crucial rescuer of the Maiden, he is the symbol of right against Nicks’ wrong. He is the symbolic that the innocent and pure will prosper against evil. The Tower is all he knows but he must leave his home to complete his Hero’s journey.

Conclusion:

To summarise, ‘The Maiden in the Tower’ is understood so richly across many cultures, it’s hard not to assume its relevance still as a cautionary tale. The tale has a way of offering protection or empowerment or education to women of culture, creating an active female hero even by accident in some reflections of the fairy-tale. The supernatural advisories connected with all versions of the story reflect the invisibly visible obstacles for women in male-dominated cultures. The fairy-tale reflects ideas of femininity, masculinity, ‘Othering’ and social structures. It indeed breaks down gender roles but ultimately ‘The Maiden in the Tower’ offers a kinder observation to humanity breaking free from our own confinements and redefining our own fate.

Bibliography

· Getty, L., 1997. Maidens and their guardians: Reinterpreting the "Rapunzel" tale. Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature, 30(2).

· Reid, L., 2019. Impregnable Towers and Pregnable Maidens in Early Modern English Drama. Comparative Drama, 53(1&2).

· Urban, S., n/a. Unpacking World Folk-literature: Thompson's Motif Index, ATU's Tale Type Index, Propp's Functions and Lévi-Strauss's Structural Analysis for folk tales found around the world. [Online] Available at: https://sites.ualberta.ca/~urban/Projects/English/Motif_Index.htm [Accessed November 2021].

· Uther, H.-J., 2004. The Types of International Folktales. 1st Edition ed. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, Academia Scientiarum Fennica.