Why didn't the prince just bring a ladder down which Rapunzel could climb? Or muster his royal resources to stage a rescue immediately?
- In some versions, Rapunzel asks for some thread/rope so she can make a ladder. Cutting her hair and going down from it could have helped too... only the witch was smart enough to think of that...
- If she'd cut her own hair and used it as a rope to get in and out as she pleased, the witch would have noticed.
- Seeing as the original version had Rapunzel getting knocked up halfway through, it's possible that the prince was having a bit too much... fun during the visits to want to hurry the rescue along.
- There's one version where the prince does promise Rapunzel on their first meeting that he'll come back the next day with a ladder. Unfortunately, Rapunzel spills the beans to the witch before then.
How did the Witch climb up the tower before Rapunzel's hair was long enough?
Or did she just make her grow her hair to save herself the bother of carrying a huge ladder each time? Another thing: If the witch needed Rapunzel to get into the tower, how did she get Rapunzel up there in the first place? Throw her?- Yes.
- The building could originally have had a door and stairs, which were destroyed and covered with more bricks after they took everything they needed inside; or maybe they just used a ladder.
- In the Disney version, Tangled, they show that there is indeed a door at the base of the tower. It has since been covered by bricks and hedges, and leads to a trapdoor on the tower's ground floor, which Rapunzel may or may not know about. Not that she needs the door, as her hair is long enough for her to rappel herself down from the top floor window. Her imprisonment in this version is mostly psychological. The tower was there mainly to keep other people out... though the "prince" manages to scale it without Rapunzel's help.
- Usually assisted flight, sometimes by broomstick (or a similar item) and sometimes by spell.
- A Wizard Did It.
How didn't her neck break from the prince's weight?
- Most versions have her wrapping her hair around a post before the witch or prince climb her hair, which, by the way, would be totally possible. Healthy hair is strong enough to hold up a car.
- ...How did they find that out?
- Mythbusters, I think.
- I don't know about cars, but Kari climbed down a several-story building with a "rope" made of braided-together ponytails.
- In many versions of the tale, Rapunzel hooks her hair to a metal loop or a hook. This would distribute the weight away from her scalp and allow others to climb it without scalping her or breaking her neck. Tangled actually demonstrates this perfectly in action by having Rapunzel use her hair as a pulley.
- ...How did they find that out?
Why didn't the husband offer to buy some of the Witch's plants vs. stealing them?
- Preindustrial society thought it was terrible luck to deny a pregnant woman something she was craving. So maybe his wife was craving the vegetables at night, and he just didn't want to piss the witch off by waking her up. She's a witch so he has no idea what she'll do if he knocks on her door at night, demanding vegetables from her garden instantly.
- And in some versions the witch hypnotizes the wife into wanting the vegetables in the first place, so it's possible she hypnotized the husband into stealing them.
- In addition to the time-crunch issues, if they were living next-door to a witch and DIDN'T think of buying rampion from literally anyone else, they probably couldn't AFFORD to buy it.
- He could have traded something for the vegetables, as bartering was a thing in that time period, then again, he did when the Witch caught him stealing, so I guess it's even.
Here's an obvious question I never see anyone ask... if Rapunzel's hair can be used to let other people in and out of the tower... how come she never used it to get herself out of the tower and instead always asks for rope or ladder? She wouldn't even need to cut her hair or anything.
- A few possible reasons:
- If she did leave and come back, Gothel would have noticed that she left (i.e Barbie As Rapunzel)
- She wouldn't have gotten real far nor would she really be able to fend for herself outside of the tower. On top of that, where would she have gone?
- Using her hair would be too obvious and, in the variants where she's pregnant, it'd be harder to climb down safely with only her hair (depending how far along she is by that point).
- Or she just never really thought about it.
