This blog post is dedicated to Kate Forsyth, author of Bitter Greens.
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| Source: Amazon.com |
About the Author
Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force was a French writer born in 1650. She was was the daughter of François de Caumont de La Force, Marquis de Castelmoron and Marguerite de Viçose, Baronne de Cazeneuve. She and her sister lived and grew up in Château de Cazeneuve in Gascony. In 1660, Charlotte-Rose met her cousin, Louis XIV, King of France. Two years later, her mother was forcefully imprisoned in a convent on orders by the King, who declared Charlotte-Rose and her sister wards of the French royal court. At the age of sixteen, Charlotte-Rose went to the court in Versailles and served as a maid-of-honor to Maria Theresa, the King's wife and Queen of France.
During her time in the royal court, Charlotte-Rose led a scandalous life which involved an arrest on the suspicions of witchcraft and love affairs with several men. Among her known relationships was that with Charles de Briou. In 1685, the two became engaged when King Louis XIV, a Roman Catholic, revoked the Edict of Nantes, a law granting Huguenots or French Protestants religious freedom. The revocation forbade the Huguenots from practicing their faith, marrying non-Protestants, and migrating to other countries. Stripped of their religious rights, they were given an ultimatum: either recant or be executed. The revocation posed an obstacle for the lovers; the La Force family were Huguenots and the Briou were not.
Fearing another massacre like the one that occurred on Saint Bartholomew's Day in 1572 (upon which thousands of Huguenots, including some members of the La Force family, were murdered because of their religion), Charlotte-Rose was among many Huguenots who converted to Catholicism for their safety. Despite having converted and receiving the King's permission to marry, Charles' father, the Baron de Survilliers, refused to give the couple his blessing and held his own son hostage. Refusing to quit, Charlotte-Rose rescued her fiancé by disguising herself as a dancing bear and whisking him away. The two were married in 1687, but the Baron de Survilliers once again intervened by having the marriage annulled in court and Charles sent away to join the army, never to be seen again.
In 1697, rumour had it that the Dauphin, the King's son and heir, and Charlotte-Rose were lovers. Despite the claim being nothing but gossip, the King was nonetheless displeased and banished his cousin from the royal court to the impoverished Abbey of Gercy-en-Brie where she was imprisoned and must work and pray among the nuns. In 1698, Charlotte-Rose wrote-under the pseudonym Mademoiselle X-novels, poems, memoirs, and the first French literary fairy tale anthology titled Les Contes des Contes. One of the stories included is Persinette, a "Maiden in the Tower" story which the Brothers Grimm would retell in 1812 under the title Rapunzel. It was not until 1713 that Charlotte-Rose earned her freedom due to the money she earned from her works.
Mademoiselle de La Force died in 1724 at the age of seventy-four.
Summary of Persinette
🏡Part I - The Fairy and her Garden🧚🏻♀️
A young couple have just gotten married and are expecting their first child. The wife soon craves for the parsley growing in the garden of her neighbour, an evil fairy. The wife's cravings become so serious that she becomes unwell. The husband, out of concern, asks her what the matter is and she replies that she wants to the eat some of the fairy's parsley. Despite his fear of the fairy, the husband tries to enter the garden, but the wall surrounding it is too high to climb. One evening, however, he finds the garden gate unlocked and steals some parsley for his wife who immediately eats the bitter greens.
Some days later, the wife craves for more parsley, prompting her husband to return to the garden. This time, though, he is confronted by the fairy who scolds him for stealing her greens. The husband begs the fairy to pardon him and explains the situation. Instead of punishing him, the fairy permits the husband to give his wife as much parsley as she likes, on the condition that he gives her their baby. Out of fear, the husband agrees to the bargain. The couple are soon blessed with a baby girl, but on the day of her birth, the fairy arrives, names the child Persinette, after the parsley, and takes her away.
Part II - Persinette, the Long-Haired Maiden in the Tower💇🏼♀️
Persinette grows up to be a beautiful young girl, but the fairy resolves to keep her for herself. She magically builds, in the middle of a forest, a tall tower where she locks Persinette in. On the outside, it looks thin and has neither a door nor a stairway and only one window at the top. On the inside, it has spacious rooms full of furniture and Persinette is given jewels and dresses to wear, and invisible servants to wait on her. The fairy visits Persinette often by standing beneath the tower and calling out, "Persinette, let down your hair." Whenever the maiden hears those words, she unties her long blonde hair and unfurls the braids so that the fairy can climb up on them and enter the window.
This situation goes on for years. While she waits for the fairy, Persinette sings to pass the time. One day, a prince, who is out hunting in the forest, hears beautiful singing and comes upon the tower where he sees Persinette. The prince falls in love with her, but becomes discouraged upon finding no entryway into the tower. At the same time, Persinette stops singing when she sees the prince because the fairy has warned her that men are dangerous. Furthermore, it has been years since she has seen a man.
Desperate to meet the pretty maiden, the prince asks the villagers about the tower and they tell him about the fairy. He returns to the tower and sees the fairy climbing up Persinette's long braids. Now knowing how to enter the tower, the prince returns the next day and waits for the fairy to leave. That evening, the fairy goes home and the prince calls out to Persinette. Thinking it is the fairy calling her, Persinette lets down her hair and the prince climbs up.
Persinette is at first frightened to see the prince, but he calms her down and tells her means her no harm. Persinette is so moved by the prince's words that when he proposes to her she agrees to marry him, and the two exchange vows. Every day, the prince visits Persinette and she grows to love him. Months later, Persinette asks the fairy why she feels unwell. When the fairy discovers the reason, she is outraged because Persinette is with child, despite her best efforts to separate her adopted daughter from the outside world, and forces her to reveal the truth. The fairy is unmoved by the young couple's love for each other, and cuts off Persinette's long blonde hair.
👦🏼Part III - Persinette Banished👧🏻
To punish Persinette further, the fairy banishes her to a wilderness with nothing, but a small shelter and little food. Still unsatisfied, the fairy proceeds to punish the prince as well. She returns to the tower and lures the prince by mimicking Persinette's beautiful singing. When the unsuspecting prince calls out to his wife, the fairy ties the dead hair to the window and unfurls it. The prince climbs up, only to be greeted by the fairy who tells him that he will never see Persinette again and throws him out the window.
The prince lands in a patch of briars at the foot of the tower. Although he survives, he is blinded by the thorns. Meanwhile, back in the wilderness, Persinette gives birth to twin children, a boy and a girl, prompting her to find food for herself and her little ones. For the next several years, the blind prince wanders everywhere, searching for his wife. He eventually arrives at the wilderness, and hears Persinette's singing. He is found by his twin children who then call out for their mother. Persinette arrives and is saddened by her husband's condition. She embraces him and sheds tears. Two of Persinette's tears fall into the prince's eyes and miraculously cure him of his blindness.
Part IV - The Family Reunion👨🏻👩🏼👧🏻👦🏼
The prince is happy to be reunited with Persinette and helps her to raise their children in the wilderness. However, the fairy, who is still angry at Persinette and the prince, turns the family's food into stones and frogs, their water into crystal, and the wild birds into dragons and harpies. Despite the fairy's rage, the couple continue to love one another and prepare to die along with their children. The fairy is so moved by the couple's devotion that she forgives them and appears in a golden chariot to take the family back to the kingdom.
Upon arriving home, the family is welcomed with open arms by the prince's parents, the King and Queen, who have feared they will never see him again. After all that they have been through, Persinette, her prince, and their children live happily ever after.
Themes
Desire
Desire is the element which drives the plot of the fairy tale: the mother's craving for parsley, the fairy's wish for the child, and the prince's lust for Persinette (Forsyth, 2014).
Barriers
In the story, two tall structures serve as barriers from the outside world. One is the high wall the fairy has built to guard her parsley. The other is the tall tower in which Persinette is kept hidden from everyone, except her adoptive mother (Heiner, 2021).
The barriers somewhat correspond to the strict rules the author, Mademoiselle de La Force, must follow during her imprisonment in a French convent.
Family Issues
Persinette is given to the fairy because her mother has cared more about getting the parsley than she does about her own child's well-being, while her father has sabotaged his own chance to bond with her.
Later, Persinette is trapped in the tower to be separated from the rest of the world. Even with the luxuries, the invisible servants, and the fairy's occasional visits, she soon becomes bored. So, it is not much a surprise when she meets the prince.
When the fairy discovers their marriage, she feels deceived since she had raised Persinette all by herself (Shmoop Editorial Team, 2008).
Singing👩🏼🎤
Persinette is not only beautiful, but she is also talented in singing. Before the age of audio recordings, live musical entertainment often required the participation of someone with a beautiful voice. Singing was a normal part of an evening's entertainment and people with beautiful singing voices were usually held in high esteem (Heiner, 2021).
Isolation and Banishment
The fairy has Persinette isolated from the outside world. During the 17th century, the time when the fairy tale was written, the only people who isolated themselves from society were monks, hermits, nuns, and other religious people. For them, turning away from the outside world basically meant choosing to be holy, and it does not seem like Persinette has a choice as the fairy has imprisoned her in the tower. Even though she and the prince keep their relationship a secret, she naively exposes it by asking the fairy about her morning sickness and gets banished for it (Shmoop Editorial Team, 2008).
Mademoiselle de La Force herself had rebelled against 17th century France's ideas on how women should behave by acting out in ways that only Bette Davis could be proud of. As punishment, she was banished to a convent and had to earn her freedom.
Persecution
The fairy and the prince climb Persinette's hair to visit her, until the former cuts it off to punish her for consorting with the latter. Most fairy tale damsels are persecuted (e.g., Cinderella and Snow White are mistreated by their stepmothers, Sleeping Beauty slumbers for one hundred years), but then they get married and live happily ever after. So, it is sad that Persinette must endure this solitary youth, and then endure even more struggles once she is grown up and reaches marriageable age. The girl receives no reward for her years of suffering as she probably must pay some price for acting in what early society might have seen as a less than respectable way. If she had given birth while still in the tower, the fairy would still have known for sure that she and the prince were up to more than just chatting. Instead of escaping with her man, Persinette gets banished to the wilderness, and must raise her children alone and with no hope of seeing her prince again.
As for the prince, he gets his eyes pierced out. His blindness is a horrible punishment, perhaps worse than Persinette's exile as he is the instigator of the transgression and possessor of more worldly knowledge.
Soon, Persinette manages to pull a miracle out of thin air all on her own when she is reunited with her prince and restores his vision with her tears. All that Persinette had had to deal with shows that growing up is not easy; it takes time for some people who want come out on top (Shmoop Editorial Team, 2008).
Symbols
Parsley
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| Source: Old Farmer's Almanac |
Parsley has long been associated with death. Per the Greek myths, Prince Opheltes died from a snake bite, and from his blood sprang the first parsley; he was then renamed Archemorus, which means "forerunner of death" (Troop, S., & Huerta, B., 2013). Parsley wreaths were laid on tombs, and the expression "to need only parsley" was a euphemistic expression that meant someone was only a step away from death. Back in the middle ages, it was believed that it was bad luck to transplant parsley, as planting it was a metaphor for sowing sorrow.
Parsley's long association with death led to it being associated with evil. For example, virgins could not plant it without risking becoming pregnant with the Devil's spawn, and many believed its slow germination was due to the seeds having to descend to Hell and back many times before they could grow.
Parsley was also associated with sexuality and fertility. Another old saying is "sow parsley, sow babies", and it was believed that a garden in which parsley cannot grow was a sign of infertility among the family (Forsyth, 2014).
Tower
The tower symbolizes confinement, whether emotional (the fairy's outrage), psychological (Persinette's boredom), or physical (the prince's blindness) (Heiner, 2021).
Persinette's Long Blonde Hair💇🏼
According Tatar (2002), some cultures believed blonde hair to possess magical qualities, while also illuminating the beauty of those who have it. Blonde hair often symbolizes ethical goodness as well as aesthetic appeal.
Hair is a symbol of life, strength, sexuality, and regeneration, and is thus linked to the thread of life spun, measured, and cut by the Three Fates from Greek mythology. Milton alluded the fairy's scissors to the those of Atropos, the third Fate whose task was to cut a person's thread of life.
The cutting of Persinettes's hair can either symbolize the loss of her virginity or it can also be interpreted as the cutting of a metaphoric umbilical cord, and her expulsion from the tower representing a painful birth (Forsyth, 2014).
Persinette's Tears 😭
Tears are connotative symbols of sadness and weakness, but that is not the case for Persinette as hers cure the prince of his blindness. Some cultures perceive tears as divine gifts and link them to life-giving rain and the salty waters of the ocean, the cradle of all life (Forsyth, 2014). Per Graham, "Tears shed for self are tears of weakness, but tears shed for others are a sign of strength."
Background of the Fairy Tale Rapunzel
Rapunzel is one of the best-known European fairy tales. Although many readers think it was first told by the Brothers Grimm, the tale is very old. Around the world, there are many "Maiden in the Tower" stories. Among the first recorded is the Greek myth of Princess Danaë who is locked in a tower by her father, King Acrisius of Argos, who feared a prophecy that he would be killed by his grandson. However, Zeus visits her in a shower of gold and she has a son named Perseus, who grows up to behead the Gorgon Medusa and accidentally kill his grandfather. Another story is that of Saint Barbara whose pagan father locked her up in a tower to shield her from the outside world. When she secretly converted to Christianity, her father had her tortured and martyred for her beliefs (Forsyth, 2015).
In the 1630s, a Neapolitan courtier named Giambattista Basile published his fairy tale collection Pentamerone or The Tale of Tales, which includes the Neapolitan Rapunzel story Petrosinella (derived from "petrosine," the Neapolitan word for parsley). It is like the Grimms' Rapunzel, but with a few differences. In Basile's version, the long-haired girl escapes from an ogress with the help of her prince and three magical acorns. In 1697, Mademoiselle de La Force wrote her own variant titled Persinette (derived from "persille," the French word for parsley) (Heiner, 2014). It is a mystery as to how Charlotte-Rose could have known Basile's story, for The Tale of Tales would not be translated from the Neapolitan language until many years after her death. Furthermore, she had never been to Italy nor could she speak Neapolitan. Nevertheless, it is her version that contains the elements of a traditional Rapunzel story: the mother's craving for forbidden food, the giving of the child named after a plant, the long-haired maiden in the tower, the seductive prince, the girl's impregnation and banishment, the prince's blindness, and the healing tears.
In 1790, German author Friedrich Schulz wrote his own version of Persinette. His variant is almost like Mademoiselle de La Force's, except that he changed the girl's name from "Persinette" to "Rapunzel", and it has the girl asking the fairy why her dress is tight around the waist, instead of inquiring about her morning sickness. In 1812, the Brothers Grimm made their own version by imitating Schulz's, unaware he had copied it from La Force's. In the Grimms' version, the fairy is called Mother Gothel, a generic term in Germany, usually used to designate a godmother (Tatar 2002), and is as dark as La Force's; however, it leaves out the scene where the fairy forgives the girl and her prince. In the 1857 revision, Rapunzel asks the fairy why she is heavier to pull up than the prince, rather than referring to her pregnancy (Forsyth, 2015). When Rapunzel was translated into English, the fairy was changed into the more familiar witch (Tatar, 2002).
Since 1812, it is the Grimms' variant many readers are familiar with and is the version which has been retold and adapted for stage and screen. In 2012, the 200th anniversary of Grimm's Fairy Tales, Mademoiselle de La Force and her variant were brought back into the limelight in Australian author Kate Forsyth's adult novel Bitter Greens, a fictional account of the French writer's life interwoven with a modern retelling of Rapunzel.
Regardless of which version a reader knows and how they interpret it, one thing is clear. Rapunzel is not only telling about the unfairness of growing up, but it also tells of the one thing everyone desires yet take for granted: freedom. Like La Force, many are being locked away by the very people tasked with protecting them. This action hinders the prisoners from experiencing and knowing the truths that are outside their comfort zones. To be truly free, parents and children must do what the Witch says in Into the Woods:
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Careful the things you say, Children will listen. Careful the things you do, Children will see, And learn. Children may not obey, But children will listen. Children will look to you For which way to turn, To learn what to be. Careful before you say, "Listen to me." Children will listen. |
References
- Basile, G. Petrosinella. In (2016). Tale of Tales, The (pp. 127-132). Penguin Books.
- Billy Graham Quotes. (2016). Brainy Quote. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/billy_graham_150665
- Forsyth, K. (2012). Bitter Greens. Random House.
- Forsyth, K. (2014, August 22). Spotlight: Rapunzel [Blog post]. Kate Forsyth. https://www.kateforsyth.com.au/kates-blog/spotlight-rapunzel
- Forsyth, K. (2014, September 26). Bitter Greens: The Facts behind the Fiction of Charlotte-Rose de la Force's life [Blog post]. Kate Forsyth. https://www.kateforsyth.com.au/kates-blog/bitter_greens_the_facts_behind_the_fiction_of_charlotte-rose_de_la_forces_life
- Forsyth, K. (2015, February 20). Bitter Greens: The History of the Rapunzel Fairy Tale [Blog post]. Kate Forsyth. https://www.kateforsyth.com.au/kates-blog/bitter_greens_the_history_of_the_rapunzel_fairy_tale
- Grimm, J. & Grimm, W. (2009, October 12). Fairytale of Rapunzel, The. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/oct/12/fairytales-rapunzel-brothers-grimm
- Heiner, H. A. (2021). Rapunzel Annotations. Sur La Lune. https://www.surlalunefairytales.com/h-r/rapunzel/rapunzel-annotations.html
- Heiner, H. A. (2021). Rapunzel History. Sur La Lune. https://www.surlalunefairytales.com/h-r/rapunzel/rapunzel-annotations.html
- https://www.surlalunefairytales.com/h-r/rapunzel/rapunzel-history.html
- La Force, C. R. C. (2014). Persinette, the Maiden in the Tower: The Classic French 'Rapunzel' Fairy Tale. Blackdown Publications
- Lapine, J. (Director). (1991, March 15). Into the Woods [Season 10, Episode 1]. In Law, L. et al. (Executive Producers), American Playhouse [TV series]. South Carolina Educational Television; PBS.
- Saint Barbara. (n.d.) Catholic. https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=166
- Shmoop Editorial Team. (2008, November 11). Rapunzel in Grimms' Fairy Tales. Shmoop. https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/grimms-fairy-tales/rapunzel
- Troop, S. & Huerta, B. (2013, December 30). Parsley - The Herb of Death [Blog post]. Nourishing Death. https://nourishingdeath.wordpress.com/2013/12/30/parsley-the-herb-of-death/
- Zelinsky, P. O. (1997). Rapunzel. Dutton Children's.
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