Alyson Lagow
English 2303
Johnson
November 30, 2014
The Internal Struggles of Andersen’s The Little Mermaid
Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid is a tale about a mermaid who struggles with social, spiritual, and internal battles throughout her journey to find her prince charming on land. Unlike the typical Disney version of fairy tales that end happily ever after, Andersen’s version is an unbelievably spiritual and emotional tale where goodness triumphs over evil in an unexpected ending.
The little mermaid makes a deal with the sea witch in where she trades in her mermaid tail for a set of human legs to be able to walk on land and meet her prince. However, this barter did not come without consequences. The mermaid would have to enchant the prince with love without the use of her charming voice. The sea witch cut off her tongue in exchange for her draught that gives the mermaid a set of human legs. She would have to make him fall in love with her without the use of her voice, “the best thing she possessed” (Andersen). Unfortunately, this was not the only consequence of becoming a human that the little mermaid would have to endure. If she could not make the prince fall in love with her, she not only would be unable to gain an immortal soul, but she would die as soon as the prince marries another. “A mermaid has not an immortal soul, nor can she obtain one unless she wins the love of a human being. On the power of another hangs her eternal destiny” (Andersen).
The little mermaid is willing to risk all of this in order to be with her true love. “I would give gladly all the hundreds of years that I have to live, to be a human being only for one day, and to have the hope of knowing the happiness of that glorious world above the stars” (Andersen). The little mermaid’s social dilemma is that she would give anything to be with her prince, her one true love.