In Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, The Little Mermaid, we see life from under the sea through the youthful and curious eyes of the little mermaid. Several of her experiences are enhanced through the use of color, descriptive nature, and her connection to nature, such as the one she has with her garden. The little mermaid’s garden is what grounds her in her environment, rooting her existence in her natural world, which also serves as a place for her to find emotional comfort and refuge. The recurring use of the color red throughout Andersen’s story is used as a literary device to flag transformation, danger, and perhaps the most obvious, love. As red is also the color of human blood, the repetitive use of red indicates the little mermaid’s anticipation and desire to join the upper world, and be one with the humans. It is important to look into the use of the color red throughout the story because we are able to better visualize and understand the emotional turmoil and pain that the little mermaid endures, almost always being described right before huge life altering events, marking transformations within her life as she has always known it, towards the unnatural state of being human.
From the beginning of the story we are introduced to the little mermaid’s living quarters, which naturally included the color red, “In front of the palace was a large garden with bright red and dark blue trees, whose fruit glittered like gold, and whose blossoms were like fiery sparks […]” (Andersen, Pg. 109), the color first being mentioned in yet another pivotal place in the little mermaid’s life, the garden. The little mermaid had a garden where she planted, “[…] red flowers that resembled the sun above […]” (Andersen, Pg. 109), as well as, “[…] a bright red weeping-willow beside the statue […]” (Andersen, Pg. 109), the white marble statue being of a handsome young man, reminiscent of the young human prince that the little mermaid would eventually meet, and fall desperately in love with. One could perceive the sun, not to mention its color, as a sign of her blossoming into her womanhood. Opening herself to lust and desire, which holds symbolic meaning within the marble statue of the man, given that this statue is one of the only items that she claimed, meaning it held a deeper meaning to her. An important thing to note as well is how the red weeping-willow that she had planted beside the statue represents the tears the little mermaid would never be able to shed around her love, the prince, as she was incapable of expressing her emotions through tears, “[…] the mermaid heaved a deep sigh, for tears she had none to shed” (Andersen, Pg. 125), since mermaids were not able to cry. The weeping-willow, besides the garden as a whole, being an outlet for her emotions, frustrations towards her reality of not being a human, and absent ‘tears’ to shed.
While there are several occasions within the story where red marks the beginning, a revelation, or the end of a factor within the little mermaid’s life, there seems to be three main points in which the color red served as a mark for a big change or development within her life. The first occasion being her introduction to her soon to be lover, the young, handsome prince celebrating on a ship on her turf, the sea. When the little mermaid had reached the age of maturity at fifteen, her grandmother allowed her to rise to the surface where she then saw and became enamored by the prince, frightened, yet pulled in by a scenery engulfed in the color red, “She had never seen such fireworks before; large suns were throwing out sparks, beautiful fiery fishes were darting through the blue air, and all these wonders were reflected in the calm sea below” (Andersen, Pg. 114). She had been so entranced by the young prince to the point where, “ […] the little mermaid could not take her eyes off the ship or the handsome prince” (Andersen, Pg. 114), her first introduction to desire, giving into her sexuality, yearning for a being she found attractive at a time where she was now deemed as sexually mature within the context of mermaid society’s standards. This trance had continued till the eventual shipwreck where the prince had almost drowned, and the little mermaid had saved him, bringing him towards the surface where, “The sun rose red and beaming from the water, and seemed to infuse life into the prince’s cheeks” (Andersen, Pg. 115). The color red here signifying the beginning to what will be the start of emotionally tolling circumstances for the little mermaid.
Secondly, following the little mermaid’s introduction to the young prince was her seed of curiosity, which had been planted and nurtured by the love she had for the prince, was beginning to grow wildly. This yearning and wild curiosity was reflected within her garden post-prince revelation, “Her only consolation was to sit in her little garden and to fling her arm round the beauteous marble statue that was like the prince; but she ceased to tend her flowers, and they grew like a wilderness all over the paths, entwining their longs stems and leaves […]” (Andersen, pg. 116), the wild nature of her garden embodying the current state that she found herself in, anxious and conflicted over a man who she doesn’t even know, yet would go to great lengths to meet, “ I would willingly give all the hundreds of years I may have to live, to be a human being […] and to see the beautiful flowers, and the red sun” (Pg. 118). This wild state of mind that the little mermaid found herself in was fueled not only by the prince, but by other details she had become aware of. While on a search for the prince after an in on his whereabouts on the surface, she saw within the prince’s palace, “In the middle of the principal room, a large fountain threw up its sparkling jets as high as the glass cupola in the ceiling, through which the sun shone down upon the water, and on the beautiful plants flowing in the wide basin that contained it” (Andersen, Pg. 117). The little mermaid seeing the large fountain, the contained plants, and the sun all were the final sign for the little mermaid to give herself the green light to continue onward with the beginning of her transformation into becoming a human. While the little mermaid tended to her own garden below the sea, she also realizes that she is also capable of bringing the life she knows at sea, on land given the details within the prince’s palace that match her life at sea.
Lastly, after much heartbreak, emotional turmoil, the revelation to her that her prince would never truly love her like a different maiden, “She would be the only one that I could love in this world’ but your features are like hers, and you have driven her image out of my soul” (Andersen, Pg. 125), the little mermaid has called off this internal battle she has built within herself, alone, in silence, and had decided to end his life in order to regain back hers back at sea. True to form of the story, in order for the little mermaid to return to her natural state, she must follow the sorceresses advice to use blood of the prince, “[…] warm blood shall besprinkle your feet, they will again close up into a fish’s tail, and you will be a mermaid once more […]” (Andersen, Pg. 128), the same sorceress who had helped her turn into human form. As she approached the prince, “The little mermaid lifted the scarlet curtain of the tent […] She gave the prince one last, dying look, and then jumped overboard, and felt her body dissolving into foam” (Andersen, Pg. 129). As the final selfless act of her love she ended her life, and allowed the prince to carry on his life with a partner who wasn’t her. The scarlet, or red curtain, like the closing curtain at the end of a play on stage, symbolized the end of her life rather than of the princes’. One can see consistently throughout the storyline how Andersen’s use for color helped shine significant moments within the life of the little mermaid. Whether it showed up within small details such as the colors of the flowers within her garden, or the blood from the prince she would need to transform yet again, red served as a beautifully descriptive marker. While the meaning behind the color may not have been consistent within each use in the story, the marker or change, transformation, or death held great power.
The color red throughout the whole story serves as a clear flag for any change, warnings, or signifiers of death which are added in several parts of the little mermaid’s transformations and changes, ultimately leading to her death. If we take a look at the color red as a whole within the context of the present day, the symbolic meaning behind the color still stands today with a handful of modern adaptations. For example the color red signifying a stop at a cross walk, a stop sign at an intersection while driving, an individual being referred to as a red flag, red as a low battery indicator on smart phones, etc. These meanings have evolved over time through different contexts and with different needs than the ones the little mermaid and other characters would have faced within the time period where they existed within Andersen’s story. Color can provoke emotions, but most importantly can work as a visual aid, especially within literature as was made clear throughout the evolution of the story. In the journal, The Color Red Attracts Attention in an Emotional Context, this point is made clearer and emphasizes how within Andersen’s story, while Andersen may have chosen the color red to signify certain emotions and markers, it simultaneously alerts its readers while representing the little mermaids changes and warnings throughout her own life. As a modern day individual would agree, “The color red is known to influence psychological functioning, having both negative (e.g., blood, fire, danger), and positive (e.g., sex, food) connotations” (Kuniecki, et al.), themes that were prevalent throughout the story, consistently proving that throughout history like in the little mermaid, red holds power.
The main theme throughout Andersen’s story is the little mermaid undergoing transitions and her desire for not just a man, but a deeply unattainable man that she can not gain access to without enduring pain, and jumping through several hoops to get there. This uphill struggle to love, or in achieving anything as a female character is reminiscent of the female experience today. The little mermaid symbolizes the pain that women, aside from mermaids, endure throughout the course of their lives. For many women the feelings and emotions of pain and suffering, or any others relating to that, are the blueprint for almost any woman’s experience from child birth, menstrual cycles, menopause, etc. To be a woman is to endure pain, yet one endures it without much of a choice, however the little mermaid had a choice and chose to take on the pain that it means to transform into a woman as she spoke with the sorceress, “You will retain the floating gait:no dancer will move so lightly as you, but every step you take will be like treading upon such sharp knives that you would think your blood must flow”(Andersen, Pg. 121), which she would refer to as “sufferings”. The little mermaid endured the same kind of pain human women face, but through a different context, in her case transitioning from the sea to survive on land. Regardless of her physical state of being, the little mermaid still undergoes a different transition turning of age and is finally deemed ready to go out onto the surface of the ocean and explore the world outside of what she already knows. One could assume that she may have entered the stage of her life where a menstrual cycle is now a part of her life. As a woman’s right of passage into womanhood, starting to seek out the possibility of a partner like the prince.
While red can be a signifier of negativities, for the little mermaid it is a factor that fuels her attraction for the young prince. Since red can vary from different types of meanings, “[…] red does not always signal hostility or danger. Among many species (e.g., primates and fish), red is an evolved biological signal of attractiveness” (Kuniecki, et al.), a color that we see surrounding the little mermaid’s desires. This correlation isn’t inherently human, not limiting the little mermaid from experiencing attraction related to the color. One instance of this would be with the white marble statue that she placed within her garden that was surrounded by red flowers as she had planted the red willow beside the figure within her garden. In fact, her desire was intensified by this biological need given that, “In humans, women and men wearing red clothes are regarded by the opposite sex as more desirable” (Kuniecki, et al.). We can see her actions being directly influenced by the color red as the story continues, pushing her closer to the prince, although at the beginning it was for the most part an unrequited love, “The sun rose red and beaming from the water, and seemed to infuse life into the prince’s cheeks, but his eyes remained closed. The mermaid kissed his high polished forehead, and stroked back his wet hair; she fancied he was like the marble statue in her garden, and she kissed him again […]” (Anderson, Pg. 115). As the color red washed over him the little mermaid’s attraction for him grew with the push of her own curiosity regarding who he was and how to save him in that moment.
The aspect of attraction is clear given her new innate feeling to be desired now as a mature and grown mermaid. The little mermaid is first adorned in a modest and pure manor by her grandmother when she first turned fifteen, “‘Well, now that you are grown up!” said her grandmother […] ‘let me dress you like your sisters.’ And she placed in her hair a wreath of white lilies, every leaf of which was half of a pearl; and the old dame ordered eight large oyster shells to be fastened to the princess’s tail, to denote her high rank” (Andersen, Pg. 113). Considering that color holds symbolic meaning, the grandmother pushed this look of purity, virginity, and innocence, all of which oppose everything that red symbolizes. The little mermaid, true to form, preferred the color red to be adorned in as she endeavored her new journey, pushing the narrative of her preference for lust and to be desired, “Oh! How gladly would she have shaken off all this pomp and laid aside her heavy wreath – the red flowers in her garden adorned her far better – but she could not help herself” (Anderson, Pg. 113). Her contradictory nature is not out of rebellion, but is coming from a perspective of an individual who has now blossomed into her womanhood, and is actively seeking to distance herself from her innocence, moving closer to the next biological step of being ‘deflowered’. Looking through the antiquated lenses of the roles of a woman during the time period like the one the story takes place, a woman’s role is also to be of service to a man and serve as a vessel to bring children into the world. While she was told of her sufferings and what her conditions would be as a woman she asks, “‘But if you take away my voice,’ said the little mermaid, ‘what have I left?’ ‘Your beautiful form,’ said the witch, ‘your buoyant carriage, and your expressive eyes. With these you surely can fool a man’s heart’[…]” (Andersen, Pg. 122). The little mermaid subjected herself to a lifelong pain with what seems like nothing other than the purpose to reproduce with her beautiful carriage of a figure, perfect for reproducing, yet not capable of expressing her own needs. Giving into her own needs had led her to lose her ability to gain her desires on her own terms.
The story of the little mermaid is a great display of emotion and transition through the creative use of the color red as a literary device, but is also a direct reflection of the female experience. Through our color sensitive lenses while reading the story, the little mermaid serves its readers as a figure of the hardships the female body endures throughout their lifetimes, the same way that she faces pain and emotional hardship. The color red, while it may not hold a consistent symbolic or emotional meaning, is a powerful choice in Andersen’s story as it helps convey the experience the little mermaid goes through to his readers, and will continue to offer them different perspective to view color, nature, and its connection to the natural world not only in a terracentric way, but including the ocean.
Work Cited:
Kuniecki, Michał et al. “The color red attracts attention in an emotional context. An ERP study.” Frontiers in human neuroscience vol. 9 212. 29 Apr. 2015, doi:10.3389/fnhum.2015.00212.
Bacchilega, Cristina and Marie Alohalani Brown. The Penguin Book of Mermaids. Penguin Books, 2019.