A Psychoanalytic Study of Parent-Child Relationships in Fairy Tales

When psychoanalyzing "Rapunzel" for my discussion trio this week I found myself wondering "what is the moral of this story?" While maintaining purity and not straying for the moral path are what some may say, I find myself sympathetic to the titular character. Unknowingly kidnapped at birth, and raised by an evil witch to be locked in a tower once an adult? AND THEN to have your hair cut off and banished to the desert? To me, it sounds like Rapunzel is the victim in this story, and Mother Gothel is an overbearing parent. Now obviously, Mother Gothel's overbearing nature is exaggerated in this fairytales, as are most fairytales, but I think Rapunzel has some interesting points of view when it comes to parent/child relationships. In this fairytale, Mother Gothel does all she can to keep Rapunzel to herself, and at the end of the day despite her insane efforts to keep Rapunzel sheltered, Rapunzel winds up with a happy ending: with her (now blind) Prince and their two kids living happily ever after in the desert. This story could be perceived as a cautionary tale to parents to not keep their grip on their kids too tight; at the end of the day, they will do what they want with or without you.