Little Mermaid Criticism

herself; this indicated the individuals sexualize women, and the ideal set by society that women should appear beautiful to others at all times because looks matter in society. Because of these preset standards, women feel the need to always appear their best and to be sexy. By portraying the mermaid as admiring herself, she seems selfish and aware of others’ opinions about her.

Mermaids seem to be oppressed in society; a representation of mermaid oppression is in The Little Mermaid. In the original version by Hands Christian Andersen, the Little Mermaid gives up her voice in exchange for legs by getting her tongue cut off, so she can be able to walk on land and attract the man she loves because if she can win him in marriage she will gain

In Walt Disney’s adaptation of the story, she defies her father, which correlates to there being a sense of wanting to be independent going against a patriarchal society, yet her reasons behind doing so are not what they should be. Her father, Triton, who eventually hands her over to Prince Eric to get married, controls her every move. After her whole struggle of leaving the sea to be free, she is never really free; she is simply transferred from one male to another. This idea comes from the American wedding ritual in which the father escorts his daughter down the church aisle (Dundes 120). Moreover, this protagonist highly relies on her friends who are all male. This shows that her depiction is simply a woman who cannot think or speak for herself. This rendition of the story is altered to conform to male ideology (120). Even in Andersen’s original version, the idea that the Little Mermaid has to conform to the Prince’s ideals and depend on him to not die is simply a generalization of women being oppressed by the male gender: “One might venture to say that H.C. Andersen’s tale thus thematizes the suppression of female and maternal subjectivity in the patriarchal order” (Dahlerup 146). It is important to note that in the original version, Andersen uses the female figure as the bad sea witch. Perhaps this is to aim towards the patriarchal society in which the mermaid