Reading Notes: Little Mermaid

This week I read the Little Mermaid. This was one of my favorite stories as a kid and I have to admit I was a little disappointed with the original story. In the Disney version of the Little Mermaid a lot of the more gruesome details are glazed over and she gets a happy ending with the Prince. In the original story I was surprised to read that in order to get legs the little mermaid would have to suffer through needle like pain in order to have legs. This was a big feature that was not touched on in the original story.

Overall, I love the story of the Little Mermaid, because of the main character. In the book and in the movie the character has a thirst for knowledge. She is basically the underwater version of Hermione Granger. For my story this week I would like to play around with the idea of of the story from either the princes eyes or the sisters eyes. One thing that is so impactful about the original story is that The Little Mermaid was willing to give up her family to be with the prince. It would be interesting to see how the sister reacted to finding out that her sister gave up her tail to live on land. This POV would also be interesting to analyze the progression of the Little Mermaids interest in land.

The next angle I could go with is from the princes point of view. I would probably use the Disney version of the prince because I like the fact the Disney version ends in a happy ending. In this version of my story it would be interesting to see what the prince thinks about a random girl showing up on the beach who couldn't talk. Getting this second perspective on a well-known story would be a great way to show the audience a dual perspective.

My favorite version of the Little Mermaid Story. Source 

Fairy Tales and Stories by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by H. P. Paull (1872).