Leslie Bickford
Leslie Bickford
Leslie Bickford
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<strong>Leslie</strong> <strong>Bickford</strong><br />
English 208<br />
March 23, 2007<br />
The Little Mermaid’s Pact with Satan<br />
With Disney’s 1989 production of The Little Mermaid, America was introduced<br />
to a new kind of Disney heroine. Ariel’s predecessors, Snow White, Cinderella, and<br />
Sleeping Beauty, were all passive, dreamy princesses who found salvation in their<br />
respective Prince Charmings. None of them took charge of their fate in the way the<br />
headstrong Ariel does. Where each of the preceding princesses waited passively for<br />
salvation from her Prince, Ariel works actively to save Eric when he is shipwrecked.<br />
Where the others earn their “happily ever after” by being docile and sweet, Ariel works<br />
actively to ensure the fate she wants for herself: to walk on the earth with her true love.<br />
But the kind of love she fosters for Prince Eric and her decision to get into his world at<br />
any price show us that Ariel, though not a passive figure, actually gives up her selfhood<br />
for her superficial love for Eric. Ariel’s actions amount to selling her soul to the devil to<br />
ensure this fate.<br />
Though Ariel stands up to her father’s prejudiced remarks about humans when her<br />
love for Eric is discovered, that love is based solely on superficial attributes. Upon first<br />
seeing Eric, Ariel tells Scuttle, “he’s beautiful” (43), focusing on his looks rather than<br />
anything she’s learned about his personality. This is the opposite of the next Disney<br />
heroine, Belle, who will fall in love with the beast, despite his terrible looks, because of<br />
his personality. Though many of the earlier Disney heroines fall in love at first sight like<br />
Ariel, none goes to the lengths she does to secure that superficial love.<br />
Ursula, with whom Ariel makes a pact to get her chance with Eric, is definitely a<br />
satanic figure. She is banished and exiled from the halls of the merpeople, just as Satan<br />
was banished from heaven by God for his pride. Sebastian actually calls Ursula a<br />
“demon” and a “monster” (67), furthering her allegiance with the damned. In addition,<br />
Ariel’s deal with Ursula is that if the Prince doesn’t kiss her within three days, she will<br />
belong to Ursula; she is literally wagering her soul here (70). And for those three days,<br />
she must give up nearly as much as her soul.
As if the final payment is not enough, Ursula takes Ariel’s voice for the three<br />
days, symbolically taking her ability to express herself. In her article “The Little<br />
Mermaid and the Archetype of the Lost Bride,” Margaret Starbird argues that Ariel is<br />
akin to the sacred female, an archetype not unlike Mary Magdalene from the Bible. She<br />
says Ariel is “chided and teased about her wish to be human. …Her voice is stolen and<br />
she is unable to speak her truth” (1). But what Starbird seems to forget is that Ariel has<br />
chosen to give up her voice; it is not stolen. Self is one thing she’s willing to give up to<br />
get what she wants.<br />
This means Ariel must get Eric to fall in love with her based solely on her looks: a<br />
superficial requirement to match her superficial love. Ursula reassures her, “You’ll have<br />
your looks, your pretty face. And don’t underestimate the importance of…body<br />
language!” (73), insinuating that the physical element is the most important in luring<br />
Prince Eric into love. Eric, on the other hand, a model for more mature love, has already<br />
fallen in love with the voice, the symbol of self expression.<br />
That things work out “happily ever after” for Ariel is none of her own doing. She<br />
risks everything, from her soul to her father’s crown, just because she likes Eric’s face.<br />
Surely, though she is more active than her predecessors, she is not a good role model for<br />
young people. Doing anything for love should not include selling one’s soul to the devil.<br />
***On a Separate page, put your Works Cited or Bibliography:<br />
Works Cited<br />
Disney, Walt. The Little Mermaid. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 2 nd ed.<br />
Vol B. Ed. Sarah Lawall, et al. New York: Norton, 2002. 143-177.<br />
***If you have more than one work from our anthology, do it this way:<br />
Disney, Walt. The Little Mermaid. Lawall 143-177.<br />
Disney, Walt. Beauty and the Beast. Lawall 109-140.<br />
Lawall, Sarah, et al, eds. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 2 nd ed.<br />
Vol B New York: Norton, 2002.<br />
***Remember to cite your outside source as well.<br />
Starbird, Margaret.“The Little Mermaid and the Archetype of the Lost Bride.” Title of<br />
Site, if there is one 1 Nov. 2004 .