Fairy tales are mythical, and sometimes magical stories that have been told and passed on to children for centuries. The classic, uplifting Disney fairy tales that we all know and love, stray from the gruesome, but original storylines of the tales. Despite the fact that these fairy tales were meant to be told to innocent children, the early versions of the stories are quite ominous and much darker than the joyous Disney tales. In many fairy tales, the characters have deep psychological problems, or disturbing meanings that would never be in a story advertised for children today. The modern version of “The Little Mermaid” is full of singing, true love, and curiosity, while the original, by Hans Christian Andersen, has underlying themes of low
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The little mermaid is told that she is allowed to go to the surface of the ocean when she turns fifteen years old (Andersen 13). Upon her first trip to the surface, she spots a handsome young prince. She quickly falls in love with the prince and becomes infatuated with him. The infatuation seems to turn into an unhealthy obsession because she is then willing to do whatever is necessary to be with him, including making painful, drastic changes to her body. Self esteem is how worthy, or valuable someone thinks they are (Parray 1477). People with high self esteem have a large amount of self-acceptance, while people with low self esteem may have “feelings of being weak, helpless, hopeless, frightened, fragile, in-complete, worthless and inadequate” (Parray 1477). The little mermaid experiences most of these feelings throughout the story. She feels worthless, in-complete, and inadequate when she has a tail because she believes that she is not a sufficient partner for the prince. This proves that she has little to no self-acceptance because she wants to change what many would consider one of her biggest …show more content…
Depression is considered a mood disorder that is shown by many negative feelings such as “sadness, loneliness, lack of success, guilt and uncertainty” (Pawar 459). Obviously, the little mermaid is sad upon realizing that she will never marry the prince, she feels lonely on land because she is unable to communicate with anyone effectively without her voice, she does not succeed in getting the prince to fall in love and marry her, she feels guilty about leaving her mer-family behind, and she also deals with a great amount of uncertainty upon making a deal to obtain legs (Andersen 1-97). Considering that the little mermaid can be linked to all of these feelings associated with depression, it is highly likely that she was suffering with the disorder. Normally, people with depression are not usually social people (Pawar 459). The little mermaid is described as “quiet” numerous times throughout the story (Anderson 12, 14, 37). Anderson makes the point to mention that she grows increasingly more quiet as the story continues. This makes sense because, just as any disorder without treatment, would get worse over time. Depression is commonly linked to all of the psychological issues discussed, such as low self esteem, social physique anxiety, self-harm, and suicide (Powell 5). People with depression usually have more than one, if not all of them at the same time. The
The little mermaid is told that she is allowed to go to the surface of the ocean when she turns fifteen years old (Andersen 13). Upon her first trip to the surface, she spots a handsome young prince. She quickly falls in love with the prince and becomes infatuated with him. The infatuation seems to turn into an unhealthy obsession because she is then willing to do whatever is necessary to be with him, including making painful, drastic changes to her body. Self esteem is how worthy, or valuable someone thinks they are (Parray 1477). People with high self esteem have a large amount of self-acceptance, while people with low self esteem may have “feelings of being weak, helpless, hopeless, frightened, fragile, in-complete, worthless and inadequate” (Parray 1477). The little mermaid experiences most of these feelings throughout the story. She feels worthless, in-complete, and inadequate when she has a tail because she believes that she is not a sufficient partner for the prince. This proves that she has little to no self-acceptance because she wants to change what many would consider one of her biggest …show more content…
Depression is considered a mood disorder that is shown by many negative feelings such as “sadness, loneliness, lack of success, guilt and uncertainty” (Pawar 459). Obviously, the little mermaid is sad upon realizing that she will never marry the prince, she feels lonely on land because she is unable to communicate with anyone effectively without her voice, she does not succeed in getting the prince to fall in love and marry her, she feels guilty about leaving her mer-family behind, and she also deals with a great amount of uncertainty upon making a deal to obtain legs (Andersen 1-97). Considering that the little mermaid can be linked to all of these feelings associated with depression, it is highly likely that she was suffering with the disorder. Normally, people with depression are not usually social people (Pawar 459). The little mermaid is described as “quiet” numerous times throughout the story (Anderson 12, 14, 37). Anderson makes the point to mention that she grows increasingly more quiet as the story continues. This makes sense because, just as any disorder without treatment, would get worse over time. Depression is commonly linked to all of the psychological issues discussed, such as low self esteem, social physique anxiety, self-harm, and suicide (Powell 5). People with depression usually have more than one, if not all of them at the same time. The