Rapunzel Research Paper

A few hours away from Frankfurt, in the rocky hillside of Germany lays an eerie old prison on a moat and dam a hundred meters paramount the Keuper Mountain. The worn out prison sits on a rough six acre plateau isolated from its beautiful surroundings. Below it are the steep slopes of the hillside that are terraced with miles of vine yards, which in the summer create a poised yet defined tasting wine that balances fruit, sweetness, acidity and elegance, plus first prize when the local wine festivals are in full swing. Around the hill, the moat and dam is lined with a forest of sycamore and evergreen which trail on for miles into the distance, flaunting the dramatic scenery of the forests orange, red, green and yellow coloured autumn leaves across
the landscape. As the vivid leaves dance, and the purple grapes of the vineyard grow, the land boasts its vibrancy. Opposite the moat and dam rests society, a small town with a monstrous shopping mall next to it which never fails to attract tourism unlike the original attraction of the area; nature. On this cool autumn day, as nature was preparing for winter, the leaves were beginning to shed the trees and the animals were arranging their habitats for hibernation, the beautiful landscape was disturbed by dreadful screams of pain coming from an inmate of the prison, who was 10 minutes away from giving birth...
The new found mother had conceived a beautiful baby girl and named her Rapunzel after the beautiful forest surrounding her residence for the next twenty years; the prison.
Immediately Rapunzel was taken out of her mother’s custody, as a prison was certainly no place to raise a child, and as her heartbroken mother had already proved she could barley look after herself, therefore Rapunzel’s life was left in the hands of social services. That very day, little Rapunzel was driven 120km away from her mother’s prison and was left in a small foster home in one of Frankfurt’s suburbs, Kronberg. The little foster home was known as ‘Turm House’ and only needed one matron to care for the orphans and provide them with an education. Her name was Fraulein Hexe, who unfortunately was known for her ghastly personality and rigorous regulations. If the orphans were to ever violate her rules, she would relocate them to the loathed attic bedroom in isolation from the rest of the
orphanage.
The attic bedroom was only a small bedroom. Inside, the walls were whitewashed and the floor unpainted, and only on one wall was there a window. The window was large and had a nice view of the rest of Frankfurt. In the near distance you could see the cinema, the park and all the shops as well, after all Turm house only had two floors which unfortunately, was the only positive aspect of being in the attic bedroom. In spite of this Fraulein Hexe would draw the thick black curtains in rage when she left a ‘defiant’ orphan in there, thinking they were too ludicrous to open it. Against the wall opposite to the window was one single bed, which you could tell was ancient; as it was made up with a duvet that had an old fashioned floral pattern on it and smelt of must. Over the bed was a poorly nailed in plank of wood which was supposed to pass off for a shelf, but could have easily been mistaken for a broken off piece of the wall, there were no books on it, not even a scrap of paper, just the home of a dusty old key and some cobwebs.
As the years flew by, Rapunzel grew into the most beautiful young lady under the sun, and Fräulein Hexe became extremely jealous of the sixteen year olds youth, good looks and pleasant nature.
She was that envious of Rapunzel, that she isolated her from the rest of the orphans and banished her to the despised room in the attic. Rapunzel was deprived from socialising with the other orphans who were allowed leisure activities, recreational time and were even allowed to watch TV; whereas Rapunzel was shut into her attic and was only summoned when it was meal time or time for class. Fräulein Hexe would shout “Rapunzel, Rapunzel come down these stairs!”, and obediently Rapunzel would scurry downstairs into Fraulein Hexes office at once. Well except for when Ofsted was around, Fräulein Hexe would wake Rapunzel up at 5:00am sharp and transfer her to a spare bed in the dormitory where the rest of the orphans slept, and was allowed recreational time only then until the Ofsted inspectors had
gone.
A year or two came to pass, the son of Frankfurt’s Mayor, Prince, drove through the neighbourhood cruising past Turm House in his newly bought electric orange Lamborghini. Then he heard a song, his favourite song actually, Save Me by Queen which was being sung so charmingly that he parked his car, sat still and listened. This was Rapunzel, who in her solitude passed her time in letting her sweet voice resound. Prince’s eyes where furiously searching the outside of the orphanage for a window to match this sweet voice with a body, and then they stopped and froze on a lone window on the roof of the house. There she was. Gazing out the window into the distance whilst singing so elegantly. As if she’d felt Princes eyes actually touching her, she flinched and her stare was no longer focused on the distance, but looking back down at a picturesque young man sitting in a very substantial car gawking back at her. Prince wanted to ask her out, so he got out of his car, and knocked on the door of Rapunzel’s home. Only to realise it wasn’t answered by Rapunzel, but none other than his father’s ghastly ex-fiancé Fraulein Hexe who didn’t look to pleased to see him, and said “So Hans is that much up his own arse these days, that he’s sending his narcissistic son to do all his dirty work for him. HA! You have a cheek you do, coming here begging me to come back after he broke of our engagement, well you’ve got another thing coming...” Before she could go any further Prince quickly interrupted her “Actually it was your grotesque passion for Hitler that broke of your engagement with my dad, in what way do you think it’s acceptable for a well respected man such as my dad to marry someone so tainted by evil such as yourself!” Humiliated, Fraulein Hexe slammed the heavy door shut in his face. He then looked up to Rapunzel’s window, and having witnessing the whole thing, Rapunzel was gawking back down at Prince. He pulled a small flyer out of the back pocket of his Levis and held it up for her to see. Firstly he pointed his finger at the flyer, then he pointed it to her and then to the bush next to him. After that he made his way to the bush next to him, bent down and put the flyer under a rock, blew a kiss to Rapunzel, got in his car and drove back to his apartment in the city centre. Rapunzel was ecstatic, and wanted to see what was on that flyer immediately. She had never met anyone who wanted to be her friend, especially not in the orphanage. So without delay she went to retrieve it until...”Rapunzel, Rapunzel come down these stairs!” Even though Rapunzel was frustrated she couldn’t retrieve her note, she obediently did so.
Rapunzel knocked on the door of Fraulein Hexes’ office, “WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG, GET IN HERE NOW!” she yelled. Rapunzel walked though and shut the door behind her. Now Passion was an understatement. How Prince was wrong, this woman was obsessed with Hitler! There was a portrait of Hitler on each freshly tarnished wood panelled wall. That was just the beginning she had a huge rug on the brown carpet of Hitler’s face in the centre of the room, and a 1920’s antique armchair covered in cushions of Hitler and his quotes. On her desk there were another two pictures of him in picture frames, a small sticker on the back of her laptop with a swastika on it and lastly resting underneath her fingers was ‘Mein Kampf’, oh and Jo Frost’s latest book underneath that. “Now, Rapunzel, can you tell me why the bin in the kitchen is overflowing with rubbish? Hmm? Shall I tell you why Rapunzel? Because you are nothing but a freeloader, a pitiless idler, and idleness is not customary in this house you insolent little girl!” remarked Fraulein Hexe. “Oh I’m so sorry Fraulein it won’t happen again I didn’t mean to...” said Rapunzel interrupted by Frauline Hexe “No it won’t happen again, do you know if I could, I would have you transferred to a place far worse than here, like that Military Boot Camp in Dusseldorf where they discipline girls like you, where Walking is not permitted; rather, the girls are required to march 'on the double'. Their daily routine dehumanises the girls through the use of hard labour, is that what you want me to do Rapunzel? Is it?” Fraulein Hexe antagonised “no Frauline I really am sorry” Rapunzel apologised “Get out of my sight and go do what you were supposed to be doing 10 minutes ago!” she shouted. Immediately Rapunzel scurried to the kitchen, to find that that rubbish bin wasn’t over flowing, actually it was half full; however she still obeyed Hexes commands and took the rubbish out to the bin outside the house. This was her chance to get the letter, maybe things were starting to go her way after all. Once she put the rubbish in the bin, Rapunzel dashed over to the bush where the flyer that gorgeous boy left her was, and without delay put it in the pocket of her jeans and ran upstairs to her attic bedroom. As soon as she got in her room, she pulled it out of her pocket and read it, it said:
BEACH BONFIRE
Location: Lake Waldsee, Frankfurt
Date: Tonight
Time: 6:00PM – 12:00AM
Rapunzel was overjoyed, and all of a sudden started thinking whether or not she should wear a jacket or flip flops, and then it hit her, how was she going to get out of Turm House without Frauline Hexe or the other orphans noticing? At first she thought sneaking through the front door without anyone noticing would work, but that bubble soon popped when she remembered the entrance to the TV room was right next to it, and orphans were constantly running in and out through that room and the hallway. Then she thought maybe she could wait until everyone is asleep, but then realised by the time Frauline Hexe went to bed it would be way past 11:00PM and too late to go to the bonfire, and then it hit her Rapunzel was going to climb through her window and scale the Turm house by tying up bed sheets and towels to her bed post.