Mother Gothel as Satan
First, Mother Gothel steals Rapunzel when she was a little girl and has held her captive ever since. Mother Gothel stops Rapunzel from learning the truth about her identity and keeps her held captive from living a life with her true family. This is just how Satan can hold us captive from learning the truth about God and eventually living a life with him in Heaven. Satan holds us back from entering Heaven and being reunited with God just how Mother Gothel stops Rapunzel from being reunited with her true family. We also see a similar characteristic between Satan and Mother Gothel which is dishonest. “Dishonesty may be shown by deceiving others, either by falsehood or suppressing the truth." Mother Gothel was not honest with Rapunzel when it came to telling her where she really comes from, who her true family is and why she cannot leave the tower. Satan is dishonest when he tries to tell us that what God wants for us is not true. This movie teaches us that God is honest and Satan is always looking for someone else to lie to. The bible tells us in 1 Peter 5:8, "Be alert and of sober mind. [Our] enemy the devil prowls around like a lion looking for someone to devour."
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
1 Peter 5:8 (NIV)
Second, Mother Gothel tells Rapunzel about how scary the world is and how there seems to be no good in the world so Rapunzel won’t have any ideas about leaving the tower. She tells her there are “ruffians, thugs, poison ivy, quicksand, cannibals, and snakes, [and] the plague.” “Also, large bugs [and] men with pointy teeth.” Of course, Rapunzel believes these things because Mother Gothel is her mother and she believes she only wants what is best for her, when, in reality, Mother Gothel only wants what is best for herself. Satan works much the same way as Mother Gothel. Satan makes us scared and wants us to believe that we won’t succeed if we try something outside of our comfort zones. He makes us think of the worst things that could happen instead of supporting us like God does when we pray for him to guide us through our problems and fears. Satan fills our lives with thoughts of fear and discomfort so we won’t be brave enough to succeed. "The devil cannot “make” us do anything, but he is a master deceiver who is very much experienced at making people believe anything that interferes with God’s plan." This movie teaches us that Satan is not for us, he is against us. As long as we put our trust in God, we do not have to be afraid to try new things and go out of our comfort zone. Deuteronomy 31:6 says, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."
Third, Mother Gothel keeps nagging at Rapunzel about how she is not ready to leave the tower. She says she is “Sloppy, underdressed, immature, clumsy” “gullible, naïve, positively grubby, ditsy, and a bit, well, vague.” She also follows Rapunzel to the Snuggly Duckling, the camp fire with Flynn Rider, and later when Flynn gets tricked into leaving Rapunzel. Mother Gothel is always there to tell her that she is making the wrong decisions and that she must follow her instead. This is like how Satan wants us to believe that following God is the wrong thing to do. He is always in our heads trying to make us do the wrong thing. He wants us to believe that following him will lead us down the right path when we should really be going in the complete opposite direction. In the book “Integrity: Doing the Right Thing for the Right Reason,” it says, “Somewhere along the path I’ve trod, I’ve lost sense of Self, of God, I’ve lost the sense of who I am.” When we start following Satan, we lose sight of who we are and where we’re supposed to go. We get lost, just like how Rapunzel wanders from her path when she listens to Mother Gothel. This movie reminds us that as long as we listen to God and what he has planned for us, we will never lose sight of where we are going. God will always lead us in the right direction.
Fourth, Mother Gothel is scared of dying. She tries to cheat death by keeping Rapunzel in her tower and using her hair to make her young when her grey hair and wrinkles start to come through. This goes against the teachings of the Bible in that if you believe in God and follow his teachings, you don't have to be afraid of dying because you will go to Heaven and live eternally. We can see that Mother Gothel does not believe this. This is where we also see how selfish Mother Gothel is. She keeps Rapunzel for herself when this power that Rapunzel holds in her hair could be used for healing others. But, sometimes “a person’s behaviors is driven by psychological processes called goals that guide his or her behavior, at times in contradictory directions. When [these goals are] activated they can trigger downstream effects on a person’s information processing and behavioral possibilities that promote only the attainment of goal end-states.” Mother Gothel will do anything to make sure Rapunzel does not slip out of her reach so she can keep using her hair for her own selfish needs. Satan is selfish as well. "He's the king of his [own] castle. All he can think of is his own (destructive) ends." He will do whatever it takes to lead us in the wrong direction so his plans will succeed.
Lastly, Mother Gothel makes Rapunzel believe that she is unlovable and unwanted. When Rapunzel tells Mother Gothel about her knew love interest and how he might like her back, Mother Gothel denies it and says “Likes you? Please, Rapunzel, that’s demented. This is why you never should have left. Dear, this whole romance that you’ve invented just proves you’re too naïve to be here. Why would he like you? Come on now, really." In reality, Flynn really does love her. Mother Gothel is the one who does not love her and is only using her for her special powers. This is exactly what Satan does. He wants us to believe God doesn’t love us and that we are worthless, “helpless minorities to him.” But, this is not true. God is merciful and jealous. He desires to have a relationship with us even though we are unworthy sinners who do not deserve his everlasting love. If God did not love us, he would not have sent his one and only son to die on the cross for us. Satan is the one who does not love us; God is the one that will love us forever.
Good vs. Evil
In all of these examples, we can see the common theme of good vs. evil. It is always Mother Gothel, who is bad, vs. Rapunzel's parents and the floating lights, which are good. This is the same as Satan, who is bad, vs. God, who is good. In life we are always left to make the right decision or the wrong decision. We have a choice to tell the truth or lie. When we sin, we side with Satan. This is when everything starts to go wrong and God is not pleased with us. When we listen to God, our paths become clear and God is pleased with us. We learn this theme from Rapunzel while on her journey to find the floating lights. When she followed Mother Gothel and her "advice" about the world, Rapunzel was discontent and she felt everything was going wrong in her life. When she finally started listening to her heart and the floating lights, everything seemed to fall into place. She listened to the floating lights rather than Mother Gothel who was leading her down the wrong path her whole life. When we sin we feel uncomfortable and unhappy with our lives, just like Rapunzel. When we follow God, we feel content.
"Mother Knows Best" from "Tangled"
