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Hale, Shannon and Dean Hale. 2008. Rapunzel’s Revenge. Ill. Nathan Hale. New York: Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781599902883
PLOT SUMMARY
In this graphic novel adaptation of the classic Rapunzel fairy tale, Rapunzel grows up under the watchful eye of Mother Gothel, who possesses mysterious growth magic. Confined to a large compound filled with a lush garden, servants, and surrounded by a huge wall, Rapunzel is plagued by confusing dreams and her insatiable curiosity about what lies on the other side of the wall. When Rapunzel disobeys and looks over the wall, she learns that her real mother is alive and works in the mines as a slave of Mother Gothel. Furious that Rapunzel defied her, Mother Gothel locks Rapunzel in an isolated tower for several years. Aided by her incredibly long hair, Rapunzel finally manages to escape her tower. When she meets outlaw Jack (from Jack and the Giant Beanstalk), they join forces to locate and rescue Rapunzel’s real mother. Together, they embark on a series of wild adventures that just may lead to a fairytale ending.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The protagonist of the story is sixteen-year-old Rapunzel, modeled after the archetypal fairytale character. The antagonist of the story is Mother Gothel. After Mother Gothel enslaved Rapunzel’s family, she kidnapped Rapunzel and raised her as her own. Told from a first-person narrative point of view, the exposition of the story begins when Rapunzel reminisces about her childhood and shares the background of her story. She explains that she lives with Mother Gothel, whom she considers her real mother. Gothel is a powerful woman who possesses magical growth abilities and a special pair of scissors. The setting of the story begins in Rapunzel’s childhood home which is a grand villa in a compound, surrounded by a lush garden, and an incredibly tall wall.
The rising action begins on Rapunzel's twelfth birthday when she scales the wall and defies Mother Gothel. When she looks over the side, Rapunzel discovers they are surrounded by a barren landscape and an immense mining camp that is worked by hundreds of slaves, revealing the themes of power and abuse of power. The main conflict of the story is disclosed when Rapunzel learns that the female slave she was talking to is her real mother. The themes of motherhood, secrets, slavery, and power are exposed when Rapunzel learns Mother Gothel lied to her about being her real mother and that Mother Gothel is responsible for the enslavement and mistreatment of Rapunzel’s real mother. Next, Rapunzel is swiftly captured by Brute, a giant who is her mother’s henchman, and is returned to Mother Gothel. Angered by her defiance, Mother Gothel sends Rapunzel deep into the forest where Brute locks her in a tall tower.
The rising action continues as Rapunzel spends years locked up in her magical tower, revealing the theme of isolation and desire to escape. The magic in the forest and the tower causes Rapunzel’s hair and fingernails to grow at incredible rates. Visited by Mother Gothel once each year, Rapunzel is left completely alone. She entertains herself by developing unusual control over her massive amounts of hair. Finally, on Rapunzel’s sixteenth birthday, when Mother Gothel comes for her annual visit, Rapunzel argues with her and refuses to return to live with her as her daughter. After Mother Gothel renounces her and leaves her for dead, locked in the tower, Rapunzel finally manages to escape and finds freedom.
Free from her tower, the rising action picks up as Rapunzel meets Jack and his goose, Goldy. Like Rapunzel, Jack is also an outlaw who has a mysterious past and carries a lucky bean. When Rapunzel shares her need to find and rescue her birth mother, Jack decides to help her in her quest. Together, they travel through the various lands controlled by Mother Gothel. Trying to stay alive, avoid capture, and being turned over to Mother Gothel, they endure a series of exciting adventures.
When Rapunzel meets a character named Witchy Jasper, he tells her that Mother Gothel owns a special totem that is the source of her power. Rapunzel realizes the totem is her key to defeating Mother Gothel, revealing the theme of magical talismans. From outlaw kidnappers to blood-hungry coyotes, Rapunzel and Jack are always saved by her amazing hair and its myriad uses. After they save the inhabitants of the area called Fin’s End from a deadly sea serpent, they villagers gift Rapunzel with an unbreakable golden pickaxe called “Inga,” also revealing the theme of magical talismans.
When Rapunzel meets a character named Witchy Jasper, he tells her that Mother Gothel owns a special totem that is the source of her power. Rapunzel realizes the totem is her key to defeating Mother Gothel, revealing the theme of magical talismans. From outlaw kidnappers to blood-hungry coyotes, Rapunzel and Jack are always saved by her amazing hair and its myriad uses. After they save the inhabitants of the area called Fin’s End from a deadly sea serpent, they villagers gift Rapunzel with an unbreakable golden pickaxe called “Inga,” also revealing the theme of magical talismans.
The rising action continues to build as Rapunzel and Jack befriend a band of traveling entertainers who are journeying to Mother Gothel’s compound to provide entertainment for her annual tax collection celebration. Disguised as members of the troupe, Rapunzel and Jack sneak into Gothel’s compound. In the midst of the celebration, Rapunzel goes in search of Mother Gothel. Jack tries to provide a distraction by planting his lucky bean which grows into a huge beanstalk breaking up the villa and compound. After a vicious fight with Brute, Brute captures Rapunzel and delivers her to Mother Gothel. Enraged, Mother Gothel suspends Rapunzel by her hair and cuts off her hair just as Jack finds them.
When Mother Gothel orders Brute to kill Jack, Rapunzel learns that Brute was taken as a child from his parents and given growth potion too. When Rapunzel asks Brute about his background, he begins questioning Mother Gothel about the location of his mother. Scared, Mother Gothel turns against them by casting a magic spell which creates deadly vines that try to tie and bind them up. Rapunzel grabs one of the vines and uses it to whip Mother Gothel’s special scissors out of her hand.
Armed with Gothel’s scissors, Rapunzel begins to cut the deadly vines. Suddenly, Jack finds a glowing glass case with a pink tree inside that meets Witchy Jasper’s description of Mother Gothel’s special talisman. When Rapunzel uses the magic pickaxe “Inga” to break open the glass case, she removes the pink tree which starts to vibrate. As Rapunzel releases the tree, it begins to grow exponentially. Mother Gothel picks up the scissors Rapunzel drops and turns to attack her with them. The climax of the story occurs when Jack unexpectedly charges at Mother Gothel and pushes her into the growing tree which swallows her whole.
The falling action begins when Rapunzel announces to the gathering that Mother Gothel has been vanquished and that everyone is now free. Rapunzel is reunited with her real mother. When her mother explains that her real name is Annie, Rapunzel decides to keep the name as a reminder of everything she has overcome in her life. As dawn begins to break, Rapunzel uses the piles of her cut hair to scale the clock tower to see the sunrise over the land alone. From below, Jack utters a variation of the archetypal phrase, “Punzie? Hey, Punzie! Let your hair back down!” (p. 142). Rapunzel lets down her braids, and Jack climbs up. As they talk, Rapunzel rightly guesses that when Jack used another magic bean, it destroyed his mother’s house, and he has been living the life of an outlaw because he is in trouble with some giants.
As the heiress to the Gothel fortune, Rapunzel tells Jack she would be happy to loan him the money needed to rebuild his mother’s house. Jack tells Rapunzel there is one more thing he wants to steal and kisses her. The resolution of the story occurs as Rapunzel realizes she has fallen in love and kisses Jack back. Luckily for them both, the magic of their falling in love enables Goldy to finally lay a golden egg.
This version of the iconic Rapunzel tale has several new style elements that are found in both the tone of the text and the comic book-style illustrations. There are a wide variety of frame formats and arrangements used throughout this story. In addition, the word bubbles containing the dialogue spill into the gutters adding visual interest to the fames. Since each page has multiple frames, the overall effect is very busy and visually stimulating. Most pages have at least 5-7 small frames which often provide a great amount of additional details to supplement the text of the story.
The despair and darkness over the land caused by Mother Gothel’s oppressive and tyrannical reign is exposed in the imagery, character depictions, and scenery found in the illustrations. Like the archetypical character, Rapunzel is spunky, adventurous, and brave. Disimlar from the archetype, however, the pictures convey the image of an more modern Rapunzel who is more verbally confrontational with Mother Gothel than the traditional version. The illustrations also depict Rapunzel as more physically aggressive and violent as illustrated in the various fight scenes throughout the story. Finally, the text and illustrations take Rapunzel through a series of new adventures where she meets a variety of interesting characters. As she attempts to find her long-lost mother, now that she is freed from the restrictive influence of Mother Gothel, Rapunzel finds her true self.
REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
From School Library Journal: “…the Hales have a good sense of character and personality here. Rapunzel’s spirit is pretty evident, both visually and through her verve and words right from the get
go.”
From Kirkus Reviews: “A beloved fairy tale gets a glossy graphic-novel makeover, reworked in a fanciful Old West setting.”
CONNECTIONS
Collect other Shannon and Dean Hale books to read such as:
- Calamity Jack. ISBN 9781599903736
- The Princess in Black. ISBN 9780763678883
- The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: 2 Fuzzy, 2 Furious (A Squirrel Girl Novel). ISBN 9781368011266
- Bell, Cece. El Deafo. ISBN 9781419712173
- Holm, Jennifer and Matthew Holm. Babymouse #1: Queen of the World! ISBN 9780375832291
- Jamieson, Victoria. Roller Girl. ISBN 9780803740167
- Krosoczka, Jarrett. Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute: Lunch Lady #1. ISBN 9780375846830
- Tan, Shaun. The Arrival. ISBN 9780439895293
- Yang, Gene Luen. American Born Chinese. ISBN 9780312384487
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