SHATTERED FABLES: BOY'S CLOTHES, PAGE'S COSTUME (MANDSDRAGT)

Let's return to that prince, that handsome, oblivious man. When the mermaid first arrives, he is delighted by his new toy. He has clothes made for her, a boy's clothes, a page's costume, so she can ride with him and attend him. She is desexualized, made into a companion, a mascot. He loves her, yes, but in the way a man loves his horse. He does not see her as a woman. He does not see the depths of her sacrifice. He sees a beautiful mute creature who dances for his pleasure.

(Shattered Fables sees the mandsdragt, here called "boy's clothes" and "page's costume," as a token of desexualization, a defense mechanism by which the prince, who is straight, ceases to see the Little Foundling --mermaid as a human-- as an erotic temptation. I will not cease to state, like Maria Tatar, that it would have given her much more freedom, Andersen describes the couple riding astride their horses and mountaineering, not to mention the controversy that would rise at a Victorian royal court that a girl, moreover a castaway/foundling who caught the prince's eye, would crossdress - this was intentional on the queer Andersen's part!)

BENJAMIN LACOMBE, ROPA DE HOMBRE EN "LA SIRENITA"

 

BENJAMIN LACOMBE:

En todas las versiones está escrito que lo primero que hace el príncipe cuando la Sirenita por fin se ha convertido en humana, en la mujer que quería y es acogida en el palacio, es que la obliga a llevar ropa de hombre. Nadie en 180 años, lo ilustró. Ya ves cómo podés ponerte anteojeras.

En otra parte es muy complicado porque todo depende del subsentido, de la ambigüedad, porque Andersen dice algo que no podía decirse en ese momento, que dos hombres se aman.

–Sin embargo, a su manera, lo hizo.

–La obliga a ponerse ropa de hombre y juntos montan a caballo por bosques llenos de aromas increíbles. La palabra “montar” en francés también puede significar hacer el amor. En danés, significa ambas cosas.

–Montar o cabalgar tienen una connotación sexual en español.

–Exacto. Ellos montan juntos a caballo. En un momento dado, se encuentran con un tigre, algo que no es común en los bosques de Europa. Pero, bueno, aparece un tigre (en los esbozos originales) y la Sirenita toma su gran lanza sin demora, se la tira a la boca y se la mete en la cálida y húmeda garganta del tigre. Es sexualmente intenso.

Esta escena no deja lugar a dudas de que después de montarse a caballo, no estamos hablando de un tigre, estamos hablando de otra cosa. Así que es una historia particular si la ubicás en esa época.

Ilustraciones de Lacombe.

"Mandó que le confeccionasen un traje masculino para de ese modo poder acompañarlo a caballo". Benjamin Lacombe para Clásicos Ilustrados Edelvives, traducción de Alejandro Tobar (del danés original).

Para Lacombe, será una Sirenita dotada además con ojos y cabellos como los del danés (H. C. Andersen) ya que el personaje es avatar del autor. Mismo pelo rojo y corto, misma nariz larga... Su príncipe azul sería su amado imposible e hijo de su mecenas, Edvard Collin, que se casó por poderes con Henriette Thyberg.

Hans Christian Andersen y Edvard Collin, cuyo amor no correspondido inspiró el de la Sirenita. 

BENJAMIN LACOMBE: Pero cuando el príncipe le proporciona a la sirenita ropa de hombre, debemos prestar atención: ¿acaso a partir de entonces el cuento no trata en realidad de la realidad entre dos hombres? ¿Uno al que le atraen las mujeres y otro que prefiere a otros hombres? En resumidas cuentas, es la historia de un joven homosexual que se enamora locamente de su amigo heterosexual. En ese caso entendemos mucho mejor por qué la chica vestida con ropa de hombre no puede hablar, soporta todos los suplicios del mundo y no consigue al ser al que ama.

ON THE MANDSDRAGT WITH A FAIRYTALE AUTHOR

 CASSANDRA SOLON PARRY (the fairytale author): 'The Little Mermaid' is, of course, a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen which first appeared in print in 1837.

There are any number of interpretations of the original tale. The one I find most compelling is that the story expresses a love the author had for his friend, a man named Edvard Collin. Andersen's love was unrequited but he did (like The Little Mermaid) take the risk of expressing it.

'I languish for you as for a pretty Calabrian wench...' he wrote in a letter to his friend, 'My sentiments for you are those of a woman. The femininity of my nature and our friendship must remain a mystery."

Collin later wrote in his memoir, "I found myself unable to respond to this love, and this caused the author much suffering."
...

I'd love to hear if any part of the fairy tale resonates with you. What moment in the many versions of the tale of 'The Little Mermaid ' touches your heart?

SANDRA DERMARK: The fact that the prince had breeches sewn for her so she could ride on horseback like him and follow him mountaineering is my favourite part/moment. Male critics like Jacob Bøggild say he is doing it to protect himself as a betrothed straight male from sexual temptation (seeing her as a boy means friendzoning), while female feminists like Maria Tatar and yours truly focus on the freedom that this gender transgression gives the little maid in page's breeches when horseback riding and mountaineering. What is your humble opinion on this aspect of the tale?

CASSANDRA: Thanks for this interesting question. I actually see this moment in the story as signalling both of these things: the little mermaid's expanded personal freedom and the Prince's refusal to treat her as a romantic interest (similar to the earlier moment where he allows her to sleep on a silk pillow outside his doorstep). It's interesting to me because it also relates to the story's theme of transformation, hinting at a gender fluidity which has been noted as part of the story's subtext - a fluidity which was appealing to the author but would not have been accepted by the readers of the time if put in more explicit terms. Without writing an essay on the subject, that is my take. 

SANDRA: thanks for you seeing both sides of the story across the binary and even the gender fluidity/queering. Also if we take the Little Mermaid to be an avatar for bisexual Andersen himself and the Human Prince as a counterpart to his patron's son and unrequited love Edward Collin, who married a society girl for power and friendzoned Andersen, this detail of the breeches in the Little Mermaid original tale can be understood even through a queer lens!

SARAH VIEHMANN ON THE MANDSDRAGT

According to fantasy writer and fellow fairytale nerd Sarah Viehmann, on the little foundling (little mermaid as a human):

Andersen’s Themes

When she finds her prince on land, he treats her as something more like a pet, [...] dressing her in boys’ clothes. The prince is betrothed to a human princess, whom he believes is the one who rescued him, [...]

Pardon me, Miss Viehmann, but I may ask: what has treating a person like a pet have to do with crossdressing? Where does the connection lie?