The Playhouse

The trouble with Frog Princes is that they are, by their very definition, not what they appear to be. They are slippery customers, masters of deception, illusion and evasion with hidden qualities. Kissing them is a big risk, you may end up with the fairy tale prince we all know about from childhood fairy tales, equally, you may end up with something quite different. But, the original story, before it was prettified, doesn’t involve kissing the frog. The princess was repulsed by the ugly little green jumper. Interpretations could be that she was a selfish little madam and in a fit of rage threw it against a wall in defiance of her father’s wishes to treat it kindly after it had saved her golden ball which she had accidentally dropped down the well.

Other interpretations could be that this act was carried out in defiance of the traditional status, and role of women generally, to do as they are told by men. It is only when she carries out this seemingly cruel act that the frog transforms and the princess has what she wishes on her own terms. Or does she?

Is this all quite as it seems? We may be looking at the frog and princess descriptions too literally, seeing the characters for their surface qualities. What if the frog’s enchantment by the witch isn’t literal, but a metaphor for his dark psyche. What if the frog doesn’t simply appear to be ugly, but is truly ugly? Perhaps he has done something so ugly, so horrible that it has turned him into an “ugly frog”. What if, the frog’s enchantment spell is more about his character than his physical appearance, perhaps the frog is seriously unpleasant. We take it at face value that the he is a cursed handsome prince, but what is there to support that? Maybe he is just a bad frog masquerading as being enchanted so he can have his wicked way with unsuspecting princesses.

What if the princess knows that the frog is a teller of untrue tales, and the fly catching tongue that wrapped itself around her is a trap. Time perhaps to stop the kissing tactics and adopt the throwing against the wall tactics and see what is revealed.