The Little Mermaid Comparison

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There are two different versions of the classic story The Little Mermaid. Everyone knows of Disney’s version which shows how a young mermaid rescues and falls in love with a prince but cannot contact him because she is a mermaid. She then trades her voice for legs and marries the prince and they all live happily ever after. The original tale is written by Hans Christian Andersen, and it is a slightly darker than Disney’s happy story. Andersen’s version consists of the mermaid falling in love with the prince, but he does not love her back. The mermaid is faced with a dilemma of having to kill the prince to get her tail back or be stuck as a human forever. The mermaid decides that she cannot bring herself to kill the prince and turns to seafoam as a result. Andersen’s The Little Mermaid is better than Disney’s animated The Little Mermaid because it has more of a mythical feel to the story, has a better life lesson, and isn’t as child-like as Disney. …show more content…

He gave the story a very mythical feel by talking about the overall idea of a mermaid, but also the story of her having to give up her voice to the sea witch for legs and then later turning into seafoam. Andersen writes a story that keeps you interested which is very important in a lengthy story. Most people enjoy a good love story, but young adults like a little drama. He makes the story interesting with the mermaid, boat wrecks, the sea witch, and the mermaid having to kill her love to be happy again. The mermaid realizes that she would rather the prince be happy with someone else than have to kill him which is a great life lesson for young adults and is good relationship

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