Should we constantly put the needs of the people we care about ahead of our own happiness in order to keep them safe or happy? True love is shown through the lengths of sacrificing one’s own well-being in order to find happiness in ourselves or the ones we truly love. There are times when doing the right thing comes with risks, even though it may be morally right to do so at all times. The original story of The Little Mermaid by Hans Chirsitan Anderson explores these themes of sacrifices shown in this fairy tale.

Once mermaids turn fifteen, they are able to rise to the surface and get a glance of land. There were multiple sisters, one by one, as they would turn fifteen, and they would be able to rise up from the bottom of the ocean. The smallest sister, named Ariel, had to wait the longest. She would have to wait to turn fifteen to rise from the ocean. When the moment finally comes, in which she has been waiting forever, she is able to surface up from the ocean. Ariel notices a ship having an accident. All the crew members, including the prince, are in terrible danger, as there isn’t enough time to save themselves. By rescuing the prince she would be sacrificing herself due to the treacherous waters and the potential dangers to reach the prince. Also, she would be going against the laws of her underwater kingdom which could result in major consequences if she got caught but despite these risks, the little mermaid was willing to take them for a chance to be with the prince and experience true love. “The little mermaid now perceived that the crew was in danger; even she herself was obligated to be careful to avoid the beams and planks of the wreck which lay scattered on the water…So she swam about among the beams and planks which strewed the surface of the sea forgetting that they could crush her to pieces” ( Anderson 564). Ariel’s sacrifice is shown when she doesn’t even have a moment to think whether saving the prince’s life is more worthy than keeping her own; she just does it without thinking. This demonstrates that there is no limitation to caring for another’s safety.

Sacrifice is demonstrated by the reality that a person’s desire to achieve a desire continues even after they are aware of possible consequences. As Ariel is finally able to reach sea level she begins to become more curious than before as she is able to get a glimpse of a new world that she isn’t familiar with. Ariel begins to have a conversation with her old grandmother and gets curious about humans and how different they are to her. That is when she learns that her life is different from humans. “They must also die, and their term of life is even shorter than ours. We sometimes live to three hundred years” (Anderson  568). This is when Ariel considers actually giving up her life as a mermaid even if it means she won’t live as long. “ I would gladly give all the hundred years that I have to live, to be a human being only for one day” (Anderson 569). Should we take risks in order to satisfy our own happiness even when there’s a chance they won’t work out? The little mermaid’s grandmother makes it clear the only way for her to become immortal is for a man to love her so much that he loves her more than his own mother and father. “Unless a man were to love you so much that you were more to him than his own father or mother, and if all his thoughts and all his love were fixed upon you” you will turn into seafoam ( Anderson 569). Desiring something means to want something even under the circumstances. That’s when Ariel is left with a choice to decide to either stay safe or become human.

True love is demonstrated as Ariel sacrifices her former life to win the prince’s love, even if making decisions isn’t always as simple as she would like it to be. When Ariel makes a deal with the Sea Witch to be human, she is completely aware of what will happen to her if she doesn’t accomplish her goal in three days which is to turn into sea foam and die. Not only that but she is aware of the new changes her  body will experience, which is pain due to the fact that she isn’t used to having two legs. The Sea Witch say’s “Your tail will then disappear and shrink up into what mankind call legs, and you will feel great pain as if a sword were passing through you …but at every step you take it will feel as if you were treading upon sharp knives, and that the blood must flow. If you will bear all of this, I will help you. “Yes, I will,” said the little princess in a trembling voice, as she thought of the prince and the immortal soul” (Anderson 573). Ariel shows determination in this sacrifice she makes when she now has to live a different life to the one she is originally used to “Andersen leaves the reader with a similar moral to that which Disney presents. By sacrificing the key aspects of yourself to conform to society’s picturesque standards, you will eventually be rewarded with acceptance. The Mermaid went through extreme pain and upheaval to gain this acceptance and eventually, it paid off—but only in the afterlife” (Andersen’s The Mermaid: A Tale of Female Sacrifice | Children’s Literature Student Exhibitions (torontomu.ca) This shows how sacrifice is an important theme in both the original and Disney version .Although the little mermaid goes through this challenging journey she shows determination throughout this whole process even if she is experiencing this hard life she chooses. 

Giving something up carries a great deal of risk because, although there is a 50% chance that everything will work out, there is also a 50% chance that things won’t turn out as planned. Ariel makes a deal with the sea witch, which means if the prince doesn’t end up falling in love with her that would be the end of her story. Even after knowing things might not work out, she accepted it. Maybe this wouldn’t have been the end of her story if she would’ve taken the opportunity she was given.  Ariel’s sisters are able to rise from the ocean to be able to speak to their little sister, their love is so strong for their younger sister that they sacrifice their hair getting chopped off to give to the Sea Witch so they can help their sister.. Although she had to choose between two hard options, she would eventually have to choose between killing the prince to save herself, or failing and turning into seafoam.. At the end of the story, she cannot bring herself to kill the prince. “The knife trembled in her hands of the little mermaid; then she flung it far away from her into the waves; the water turned red where it fell; and… threw herself from the ship into the sea, and thought her body was dissolving into foam” (Anderson page 584). The daughter of the air aka the spirits see this selfless act which leads to her being turned into an ethereal spirit like them to earn her own soul and have the chance to make it into heaven. Two sacrifices were made. The sisters cut their beautiful long hair to give their little sister the opportunity to save herself, which Ariel  didn’t take because she loved the prince. She made the choice to sacrifice herself for his own well-being, “ Instead, the rather more bittersweet ending is more mature and realistic: we cannot make people love us if they do not, and we have to live with that fact. The best we can do is to act well towards them, and to the world at large” (A Summary and Analysis of Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ Fairy Tale – Interesting Literature). This is a very interesting way to view this fairy tale and gives a more realistic idea that we can make sacrifices for someone but that doesn’t guarantee everything will work out. “should we offer a feminist interpretation of the tale, which sees the price that young women pay for marriage and motherhood (the intense pain to her lower body which the little mermaid must undergo if she is to join the prince) being muteness, physical pain, the loss of an outlet for her talents (giving up her singing voice), and a curtailing of her freedom? That she must leave behind the world of her family to marry into his? (Summary and Analysis of Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ Fairy Tale – Interesting Literature). Should there always be a limitation to wanting things we want in our lives? In “The Little Mermaid” we see the things Ariel had to undergo. At what cost should we sacrifice things in our lives to receive happiness?

A sacrifice is meant to accept what is beyond one’s control, not guarantee that everything will work out as planned. Ariel sacrificed her well-being to find happiness even if things didn’t work out as she planned.  “One might say that the mermaid’s refusal to kill the prince reflects her desire to separate from the maternal realm and work through the Oedipal crisis, for it seems she would rather die than return to the per-world. By refusing to kill the prince and by directing the dagger toward the sea, the mermaid sacrifices the matriarchal order to the patriarchal one” ( SPLASH!: SIX VIEWS OF “THE LITTLE MERMAID” (jstor.org). Ariel could’ve chosen to save herself as she started realizing her time was running out but she didn’t, she sacrificed her own happiness for the sake of someone else’s happiness and that is what true love is. Ariel loved him more than she loved herself, even against her father’s rules to live in a factory world with the prince that she didn’t get to have in the end. “She goes against her family and the rules set by nature. By breaking the contract, she is ostracized from the community and is moved to a world with other rules. The mermaid is not able to achieve her goal of physical and spiritual love in this new world, but by killing the prince, she will be able to reestablish the contract with her” ( SPLASH!: SIX VIEWS OF “THE LITTLE MERMAID” (jstor.org). At a particular moment, Ariel made the sacrifice of choosing to save the prince from drowning, putting his needs ahead of her own. Even though Ariel’s desire of becoming a human didn’t come true, she still had the opportunity to save herself and didn’t “Unlike the ending to the movie and the conclusions we learn to expect in fairy tales and in life, the little mermaid never gains the love of the prince, her reward is her continuing capacity to give love whether or not she receives it.”. (Cravens, G).This shows that Ariel chooses the happiness of someone else even though it wasn’t herself.

ANNOTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 

 Andersen, Hans Christian. “Hans Christian Andersen: The Little Mermaid.”  Gilead.org.il, 2019, hca.gilead.org.il/li_merma.html. 

This website link is the original written version of “The Little Mermaid” by Hans Chirstian Anderson, I used it to refer back to the original version for evidence that shows themes mentioned in my essay. 

Andersen’s the Mermaid: A Tale of Female Sacrifice | Children’s Literature       Student Exhibitions.” Cla.blog.torontomu.ca, cla.blog.torontomu.ca/andersens-the-mermaid-a-tale-of-female-sacrifice/. Accessed November 14, 2023           

This website link of “The Little Mermaid” refers to Ariel’s/her sisters sacrifice found in the original fairy by Hans Chirstian Anderson, “In Andersen’s tale is a sexualized, symbolic figure of female sacrifice, following the desire of her heart and making choices which suit her want for love and human form. Flouting social conventions of the sea, she makes a decision to pursue a different life despite the clear risks involved.” This is a quote from the website and deeply dives into the theme of sacrifice.

   Scandinavian Studies, vol. 62, no. 4, 1990, pp. 403–429, www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/40919202.pdf?refreqid=fastly-default%3Af558ac0b627432a329e9f44e21a8bd51&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&origin=&initiator=search-results&acceptTC=1.Accessed 14 Nov. 2023.

This resource is a data-based source I used to conduct more research and certain the idea of Arial goals, but it is not easy to get to them. For example, “The price for this help is high; she has to suffer a lot of pain and the loss of her beautiful voice”. This resource shows models and examples of the ways the fairy tale is structured with themes. 

Tearle, Oliver. “A Summary and Analysis of Hans Christian Andersen’s”

“The Little Mermaid” Fairy Tale.” Interesting Literature, 9 Apr. 2020, 

interestingliterature.com/2020/04/little-mermaid-fairy-tale-andersen-summary-analy

This website gives a summary and analysis of “The Little Mermaid” by Hans Chirstian Anderson and how he gives readers an unexpected ending, but at the same time he gives the reader a realistic lesson at the end. “We cannot make people love us if they do not, and we have to live with that fact. The best we can do is to act well towards them, and to the world at large”. This website talks about the theme of sacrifice but also analysis the fairy tale.