The concept of “love at first sight” may sound romantic, however it’s extremely unrealistic. In many fairytales, the protagonist meets her prince, her savior, one time before knowing that he’s the one for her, without any doubts on the matter. In reality though, one cannot fall in love the instant he or she lays eyes on another. That initial feeling may be attraction, but it does not go deeper that that. “The Little Mermaid” by Hans Christian Andersen, differs from this typical pattern of girl meets prince, prince loves girl, girl and prince marry, and instead introduces a deeper theme of attaining an immortal soul through true love and going through trials to get it. The concept of “forbidden love” is very prevalent in this tale. The fact that the little mermaid is willing to leave a comfortable life behind for one of pain even though she isn’t guaranteed a happy ending, and that the prince is willing to leave a girl who he feels a connection with, just so he can find the girl who he mistakenly thinks saved his life, proves that this relationship is more than on of just attraction. Andersen is suggesting that the “forbidden love” in this tale, is the path to an immortal soul, as proven by the trials and sacrifices faced by both the little mermaid and her prince.
In Andersen’s tale, the little mermaid is a very curious creature who longs to know more about human life on land. After she saves a young prince’s life, the mermaid goes to visit her old grandmother who knows all about the world above. She then asks her grandmother what happens to humans when they die to which her grandmother responds saying that “human beings have a soul that lives on forever, even after their bodies have returned to dust.” This is as opposed to the merpeople who “cease to exist” because they “lack an immortal soul.” (Andersen 139) This lack causes the little mermaid to long for a soul like the ones of the humans so she asks how it would be possible for her to receive one. However, the only way for her to gain an immortal soul is if “a human loved [her] so much that [she] meant more to him than his father and mother” and “promise to remain faithful and true here and in all eternity.” (Andersen 140) For then her human lover would have given her his soul, but still kept his own. Promising oneself to another entirely and being willing to do whatever it takes for his or her well being, even sacrificing things of great importance such as a parental figure, is what creates a bond strong enough to transform into an immortal soul. (Tatar 37) Andersen is suggesting that forbidden love is the path to this immortal soul. He keeps his two lovers apart by strong forces, which requires them to make great sacrifices and go through much pain in order for them to remain together against the odds. Andersen is hinting that the connection formed by these two lovers, the mermaid and the prince, who have been forcibly kept apart, is a true, deep bond for the pair has acquired great loyalty towards each other and is willing to give up lives full of things and people that may be dear to them. (Cravens 640) The requirements for an immortal soul, true love and sacrifice of what is important to the self, are clearly met in these situations. Andersen uses the concept of forbidden love in his tale, as the path the little mermaid must take to attain an immortal soul.
Contrary to many other fairytales, “The Little Mermaid” quickly establishes that the connection between the mermaid and the young prince is more than just attraction. In the very beginning Andersen mentions the little mermaid’s garden in which she has a “statue of a handsome boy, chiseled from pure white stone,” that has “landed on the bottom of the sea after a shipwreck.” (Anderson 124) The mermaid has rescued and collected a statue of the prince, which alludes to her saving her prince from a similar shipwreck later on. Andersen is establishing her relationship to the prince early on, before they even meet, proving that it’s more than just initial attraction that connects the two. (Tatar 10) He further builds the bond between them as he mentions that when the mermaid sees the prince on his ship it was his birthday. Critic Maria Tatar mentions that this “is suggesting that they could be soul mates.” (Tatar 26) Andersen goes on to discuss the mermaid’s brave rescuing of the prince. Although there was a “throng of elegantly dressed people” on deck, it is only mentioned that the mermaid saves one, her prince. Andersen states that in the morning when the storm died down there was “not a trace left of the ship,” which must mean that either the remaining passengers saved themselves, or were left to perish. (Andersen 132-134) The fact that the mermaid feels the need to rescue this prince, and only the prince, proves that there is a deeper bond in the relationship for she could have so easily left him to drown and found another attractive male. Andersen is reinforcing that the mermaid and the prince have a strong, real connection to prove that this relationship is one that can lead to an immortal soul.
However deep their connection may be, the mermaid and the prince cannot have any kind of romantic relationship. The mermaid’s grandmother admonishes her, saying, “your fish tail, which we find so beautiful, looks hideous to the people on earth, and you do not have those two clumsy pillars they call legs.” (Andersen 139) The fact that their love is “unnatural” categorizes their romantic entanglement as a forbidden love. However, both the prince and the princess have acknowledged that they have found their soul mate and are willing to go through the trials it takes to be with them, hence leading to an immortal soul. Andersen clearly states the sacrifices the two must make. The mermaid, in order to find a way to be with her adored prince and to achieve a soul, visits the sea witch in her lair, braving monsters and darkness. “I know what you want,” says the sea witch. “It is very stupid of you … and it will bring you to sorrow.” She prepares a potion adding a drop of her own black blood that will turn the mermaid’s tail into legs. “All who see you will say that you are the prettiest little human being they ever saw, but at every step you take it will feel as if you were treading upon sharp knives, and that the blood must flow.” (Andersen 143) In addition, the mermaid can never again return to her former life, and if the prince marries another, her heart will break and she will turn into sea foam. In return, the sea witch asks for the mermaid’s voice and cuts out her tongue for “the promise of love is not to be won without sacrifice.” “(Cravens 638) The mermaid is also leaving the water. Water is what gives her life, it sustains her and helps her grow, and she has chosen to leave it. When she is living in the prince’s castle, she goes down in the evening and sits on the steps leading into the sea, dipping her legs in the water, “assuaging both physical and mental pain.” (Easterlin 260) She needs the water to heal and comfort her, yet she has sacrificed it. The mermaid has all this knowledge, and is still willing to give up her comfortable life with her family underwater and the possibility of a happy future down there, for the prince. Even though it condemns her to a life of pain, the mermaid is willing to do whatever it takes to be with her forbidden love.
The prince too has felt the connection of his true love, and is also willing to sacrifice for it. After the mermaid has turned into a human, she does build a connection with the prince, and he does have feelings of love towards her. He even tells her once that she is “more precious to him than anyone else,” but that he has lost the “only one who he could ever love.” (Andersen 148) Even though the mermaid is the girl who saved his life, and the one he truly loves, he mistakenly thinks it was another girl, for the sea witch gave the mermaid legs, but she did not do anything to dispel the prince’s conviction that his true love remains missing. (Tatar 48) The prince still feels love towards the newly human mermaid, but he is still willing to give that love up if it means he could have the mystery girl he thinks saved his life. He even tells the mermaid that if he does not find a wife on his final trip he will choose her to be his bride, for she’s so dear to him. Even though he has a girl he loves and can live happily with, the prince is willing to sacrifice that connection for even a possibility of being with the girl who saved him, even if he did not really know her. This sacrifice shows the fidelity of the prince towards the mermaid (even though he does not know it is towards her) and can thus fulfill the requirements of giving her an immortal soul.
Despite her sacrifices and willingness to do whatever it takes for love, the little mermaid does not gain the love of the prince by the end of the tale. He has found the girl he mistakenly believes to have saved him, and intends to marry her. As a result, the mermaid will turn into sea foam and never gain her immortal soul. However the mermaid still loves her prince. Even when her sisters give her the opportunity to regain the life under the sea that she has given up, she still chooses to endure her fate rather than kill her true love as would be required. She has no way of attaining an immortal soul now, which was previously her goal, but still she refuses to go back to her former life at the cost of the prince. Her stubbornness proves that she does deeply love the prince, and is not just vying for a human soul. She has gone through pain for her forbidden love, because she truly was bonded to him and cared more about his needs than her own. She is willing to sacrifice both immortality, and her previous mortality for him because he truly is her soul mate. (Tatar 51)
Andersen throws in a twist at the ending though. The mermaid awakens, not as sea foam, but as a transparent creature of some sort. She does not feel like she is dying, rather that she is alive in some non-human, non-mermaid way. When the little mermaid asks where she is, the creatures reply “among the daughters of the air.” The clarify that they “do not have immortal souls, but through good deeds can earn one for themselves.” (Andersen 153) Through their struggles to help humans that they must do selflessly, daughters of the air can attain immortality, after three hundred years or so. The little mermaid has been doing deeds like that the entire tale, and that allows her to join their ranks. She has suffered and endured much pain for the benefit of the prince, even though it harms herself, and she did not gain his love in return. The way the daughters of the air attain immortality is very similar to the way it is attained through forbidden love. They must sacrifice their own wellbeing and fully dedicate themselves to helping another for no gain themselves. This is just like the struggles of forbidden love, when one must sacrifice things near and dear to them, just so they can be loyal to their lover. However, it takes the daughters of the air much longer to achieve the same immortal soul because the connection of true soul mates that are being kept apart is more powerful than brief connections the other beings make when they help humans over time. (Tatar 53) The sacrifices forbidden lovers, like the little mermaid, make are more heartbreaking and painful. The daughters of the air must help many people over their three hundred years to equal the depth of the loyalty and devotion of soul mates. The immortal soul gained at the end and the reason it is attained is the same, but forbidden love is a more direct link to it than all the good deeds a daughter of the air can do in her lifetime.
Although on the surface it does not seem like Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid” has a happy ending, if examined deeper it is obvious that it is truly a satisfying ending. The little mermaid ends up content, living her life striving to gain an immortal soul, which was her goal throughout the whole story. She has let the love of her life live and be happy even without her, and is satisfied with that conclusion. Andersen’s use of the theme of forbidden love throughout the story is reinforcing the link between true love and an immortal soul. His protagonist has made a connection with her soul mate that is more than one of just attraction, and she puts herself through many difficult trials to prove her devotion to him. He in return, has also felt the connection, and though he wrongly pins it to a different girl, he fights and sacrifices for this love too. Andersen’s definition of an immortal soul, one that is gained when a person is so loyal and devoted to another that he or she is willing to give up something important to them, is reinforced at the end when the daughters of the air explain how they too can attain one through similar means of helping through sacrifice. However, by mentioning that it takes three hundred years to gain the same immortal soul, Andersen is suggesting that the bond between soul mates kept apart by a forbidden love, requires even more sacrifice than three hundred years of helping people, and creates a connection of even stronger devotion. “The Little Mermaid” still stands today as a realistic tale from which the reader can learn many lessons about sacrifice for love, and how even if one does not get the happily ever after he or she intended, there is still possibility of ending up content.
Works Cited
Primary Sources
Andersen, H. C., and Maria Tatar. “The Little Mermaid.” The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen. New York: W.W. Norton, 2008. 119-55. Print.
Secondary Sources
Cravens, Gwyneth. “Review of ‘The Little Mermaid’ from The Complete Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales.” Nation 254.18 (11 May 1992): 638-640. Rpt. in Children’s Literature Review. Ed. Tom Burns. Vol. 113. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
Easterlin, Nancy. “Hans Christian Andersen’s Fish out of Water.” Philosophy and Literature 25.2 (Oct. 2001): 251-277. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Kathy D. Darrow. Vol. 214. Detroit: Gale, 2009. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
A Collection of Random Writings 