The Story Of Rumpelstiltskin As A Good And Deceitful Man

Fairy tales for me are a way we teach ourselves and others life lessons. If you go back to the origins of fairy tales you will come to realize that they were originally intended as scary stories that were told to children to persuade them to behave. The story of Rumpelstiltskin seemed to be no different . In the original story, The queen defeats him by calling him by his real name, thus telling children that evil does indeed have a name and therefore can be defeated. However in the retelling by Megan Engelhardt, Rumplestiltskin has been portrayed differently as well as the queen and her son.

Rumplestiltskin is portrayed as a very clever and deceitful man and it is unclear as to whether he is a good or evil character. It is made clear from

However as he grows up he is plagued with a question about Rumpelstiltskin and goes to great length to try to understand why he was chosen by him. Years later when the prince is older he starts to keep company with a variety of unsavory characters like witches and soothsayers. He is described as becoming withdrawn and as “gnarled in body and mind” indicating that he was becoming less attractive and more like Rumplestiltskin. Even after he is passed over for the heir to the kingdom he is still not phased and very focused on his mission to understand the reasons behind the man who wanted him as a child. Towards the end when the prince finally rides off in pursuit of Rumpelstiltskin we are told by Rumple himself that his end goal was indeed achieved because he knew that the prince would become so obsessed with Rumplestiltskin that he wouldn 't become a true child of his parents and thus Rumplestiltskin had robbed the queen of her child after

Even though his end goal of stealing the queen 's child came true we are still left with the unanswered question as to the reason he chose this child specifically. In the original fairy tale, Rumpelstiltskin is portrayed as a type of fairy and would, therefore have some type of mystical powers. Did he want this child because of some power he would inherit later in his life or did he want him because he knew from birth that he would not make a good king and therefore planted the seed of doubt in order to save the kingdom? As it would seem that the queen had other sons after her first born it must have been something specific about the first son. Reasons like these are why it is unclear whether to list Rumpelstiltskin as a good or evil character as it is unclear of his motive for wanting the