The little Mermaid

[Merman Ray]

I recently checked out from my library the english translation of the original Hans Christian Anderson "The Little Mermaid". I checked it out because I remember some people here mentioning the book, and I have never read it. I saw the Disney movie of the same name back when it was out in the theatre. I was curious as to what the orginal story was so I had to read it. The ending was very sad to me, but the thing that bothered me was that the mermaids did not have souls. Personally I do not know how you can even live if you have no soul, or even fall in love as she did.

[Prince Calypso]

they didn't have human souls. back in those days and still even today, people believed that only humans had souls and things like animals didn't so if something was part animal it clearly wasn't human and couldn't have a soul. at least that's how they saw it.
also a person can live and not have a soul
haven't you ever heard or even called another persona soulless
as for falling in love without a soul i'm on the fence about that one.
the thing that always bothered me about the original little mermaid was the fact that even when her sisters made their sacrifice and gave their long flowing hair to the sea witch for the dagger that could save the little mermaid from her fate she still chose to throw it all away for love. now that may seem romantic but what about the sacrifice her sisters made. a mermaid hair is one of her most prized assets in fairy tales and legend and myth. cutting was a huge thing to do.
then what about her family who would miss her and mourn for her for the rest of their lives. didn't she ever think about that.
ive been in love before but honestly if the man i loved didn't love me and i knew i was going to die because he didn't love me and then then somebody told me
"hey stab him in the heart and you can be a mermaid again" i would have been like hells yeah

[MermanJV]

Perhaps this is just me, as a criminal psychology buff, but the only people/creature that doesn't have a soul is a psychopath (note: not a sociopath... they aren't the same thing. You can TELL when you find a sociopath, but not when you find a psychpath. You won't know until after they're gone.)

What bothers me most about the "Mermaids have no souls": Mermaids are humanoid, and are supposedly the most intelligent and oldest creatures in the sea. They have families (most aren't loners, really.... That's why we have the Pods.) In order to form any kind of emotional attachment to anything, you have to have a soul. Even her sisters making that sacrifice for their sister shows that they have souls as well; they love their sister and don't want to see her as sea foam, so they gave a piece of themselves to save her.

Now, in the same vein as what Prince C said, I've been in love before. I've been in the, "i need them or I will die." stage. but this man here done lied to her, cheated on her, an his behind wanna go and get married to some stupid broad with money? Who da h*ll does he think he is? No, at that point, I'd have stabbed him BEFORE my sisters gave me the knife. Probably would've taken his treasure to the sea with me.

Perhaps this story exists to explain the whole "Sirens make sailors crash their ships." Well maybe if they didn't spurn us so badly, we wouldn't have killed them. -shrug-

[AniaR]

I think we are souls, and have a body. Not we are a body but have a soul! lol

[Aquatarian]

I personally didn't find the story appealing until the recent past few years. I was really in love with the Disney version as a kid and whenever I had the chanceI would check out the original version from the library (I currently own at least 10 different versions haha).

I personally find it beautifully tragic. And I love the fact that it mirrors Mr. Anderson's own love life.

[Prince Calypso]

Perhaps this is just me, as a criminal psychology buff, but the only people/creature that doesn't have a soul is a psychopath (note: not a sociopath... they aren't the same thing. You can TELL when you find a sociopath, but not when you find a psychpath. You won't know until after they're gone.)

What bothers me most about the "Mermaids have no souls": Mermaids are humanoid, and are supposedly the most intelligent and oldest creatures in the sea. They have families (most aren't loners, really.... That's why we have the Pods.) In order to form any kind of emotional attachment to anything, you have to have a soul. Even her sisters making that sacrifice for their sister shows that they have souls as well; they love their sister and don't want to see her as sea foam, so they gave a piece of themselves to save her.

Now, in the same vein as what Prince C said, I've been in love before. I've been in the, "i need them or I will die." stage. but this man here done lied to her, cheated on her, an his behind wanna go and get married to some stupid broad with money? Who da h*ll does he think he is? No, at that point, I'd have stabbed him BEFORE my sisters gave me the knife. Probably would've taken his treasure to the sea with me.

Perhaps this story exists to explain the whole "Sirens make sailors crash their ships." Well maybe if they didn't spurn us so badly, we wouldn't have killed them. -shrug-

love this guy

[Prince Calypso]

I think we are souls, and have a body. Not we are a body but have a soul! lol

? do you know my grandmother? cause i swear she has rasied me saying the exact same thing

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

There is some distinction between a spirit and a soul. Spirits are ethereal essences that are possessed by beings with a higher existence and an understanding of the spiritual. Hence, angels, demons, fairies, elementals, nymphs, etc, do not have souls, because they are spirits themselves. Souls are possessed by beings with bodies... the soul is the primal essence and lifeforce. Humans are supposedly the only creatures with both a spirit and a soul, as they are the only creatures with a physical body that houses higher intelligence and life and emotion, as well as religion, a curiosity about the higher planes of existence but . Also, I'll have to check the writing (I seem to have misplaced my copy of the book), but I thought I recalled the grandmother specifying an immortal soul. This might mean that merfolk have souls, but they rejoin the water afterwards, so their souls are not immortal, but get recycled, sorta.

As for love and the soul, that is even murkier territory. What is love? We refer to Aphrodite as a goddess of love, but she really was a goddess of sexual attraction, by our standards. Did the little mermaid really love the prince? Or did she think she loved him? She had no way of communicating with him. He's an attractive guy. He takes care of her, treating her not unlike a pet (and people do love their pets, but that's not the same sort of LOVE that is used in the sense of the sort of love that exists between two souls). He clearly wasn't very smart (how could the princess have saved him from drowning if she was in dry clothes when he woke up in front of her on the shore?) and didn't take the little mermaid's feelings into account at being treated as a pet instead of a lover and then watching him marry someone else. Also, according to legend, it is possible to sell your soul in exchange for something, and plenty of evil sorcerers and diabolists have been shown with amorous feelings for others, even if they lack the true strength and power of sacrifice of love. I don't know much about psychopaths, but I can see how one could be convinced he (or she) was in love with someone without any evidence. Supposedly demons and Sidhe and Grigori can "love" humans as well, but is it actually Love, by our modern understanding? Many of the original legends were written in a period where marriage was an economic and military and governmental concept, not a romantic one, and where what we would consider casual sex were merely the proper entertainment due for a man (or woman, in some cultures). Even in Andersen's time, romantic love was a concept, but gender roles strictly enforced the idea that women were dependent on men for economic security, shelter, and safety for their children, while men viewed women as freely giving everything to them, and allowing the men to return to their games of politics and work after their long courtships and weddings (and strictly within the same social and economic class... a penniless, mute girl found on the beach would never be able to marry a prince, and a mermaid would never be able to marry a human). Scholars often came up with bizarre theories about women (or "The Female Creature") and how they were different (often meaning "lesser") than men. Andersen himself expressed his desire not to have sex several times throughout his life, only to fall in "unrequited love" with people of both sexes (and I'm still not sure unrequited love counts as True Love, even if it is romantic and makes for a good story).

I think the message of the little mermaid (and the story) isn't a sad one... it's a hopeful one. Though all seems lost, many times over, the Little Mermaid still lives, and still has the ability to gain an immortal soul, which is what she wanted in the first place, before she was distracted by the attraction of the prince. Her sisters may have cut their hair (and women's hair was traditionally more a symbol of their beauty than anything inherently magical at the time... nuns were expected to cut their long hair when they entered the convent, for instance, making them no longer attractive women and more like unattractive religious sisters... just as the sea witch took the Little Mermaid's beauty by requiring her voice/tongue as payment, so too did she take the sisters' beauty with their hair) but people can survive without hair, as hair grows back. The prince and princess did feel some loss when the little mermaid was found missing, and she forgave them both, which is an act of courage (which, even if she lacked an immortal soul, the little mermaid had in spades from the beginning) and inner strength.