Sophia Raya

ECL 305

Professor Pressman

March 3rd, 2024 

The Search for a Soul

In many stories involving mermaids and other aquatic creatures, the mermaid’s monstrous nature is highlighted by their lack of a soul and aversion to Christianity. During the 19th century, many people were concerned about the welfare of their souls and were still largely devoted to Christianity. In Hans Christan Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, the little mermaid yearns to have an immortal soul and will do anything in her power to obtain one. She decides to leave her watery home behind and rises onto land in search of a soul. As the story progresses, the little mermaid eventually transforms into an air spirit that inhabits the sky and will be eligible to obtain a soul in three hundred years. Within the structure of the text,  Andersen uses each section of the story to represent three different planes on the vertical scale: the aquatic plane, the terrestrial plane, and the aerial plane. This vertical ascension maps onto the biblical ascension of the soul to heaven. As the little mermaid travels through these different planes, she comes one step closer to obtaining a soul. 

Andersen begins the tale of the little mermaid in the depths of the ocean, far below any human development. This introduction is purposeful and places emphasis on where the initial physical setting occurs, and shows the placement of the mermaid world beneath that of the human world.  “Many church steeples need to be piled upon one another to reach the bottom to the surface. It is there where the sea folks dwell…” (Andersen, pg. 108). The use of church steeples as a unit of measurement adds a Christian layer to the setting, and the direction of these church steeples is purposeful as well. Instead of going from the surface of the ocean to the bottom of the sea, they are heading upwards. This upward motion paired with the steeples suggests that as one moves further away from the bottom of the ocean, they are getting closer to God which mirrors a soul’s upward motion to heaven. In some literary texts involving mermaids, the area below humanity’s domain is considered to be hell or the underworld. It is here in this place furthest from God’s reach where the little mermaid first inquires about obtaining an immortal soul. The little mermaid’s grandmother reveals that the only way to gain an immortal soul is to forfeit her life beneath the ocean and have a human fall in love with her (Andersen pg. 118-119). This information reveals that the direction that the little mermaid needs to go in order to obtain her soul is up which reflects in her transition from the aquatic plane to the terrestrial plane. 

When the little mermaid reaches the prince’s castle and undergoes a painful transformation to become human, she finally has the potential to gain a soul but she is not guaranteed it. In finally meeting the prince, there are only two directions she can potentially move to. If she wins the love of the prince and becomes his queen, she would be able to secure a soul and eventually move upwards to heaven when she died. If she didn’t win his affection, she would melt into sea foam where she would go down the vertical plane and forfeit any chance of eternal life. With these two options facing her, she attempts to win the princes favor and exists as a human being on land for some unspecified time. The prince and the little mermaid form a bond together and on one occasion, he takes her to the top of a mountain where they could see clouds rolling beneath them (Andersen, pg. 124). In this event, the little mermaid is still connected to the earth but she is also located in the sky due to how high up they are in the mountain, inhabiting both planes. At this point in the story, her potential for a soul is high due to the princes favor, and she is in arms reach of the heavens. As the story progresses, the prince and the little mermaid never go back to that high point together which marks the downturn of her probability of obtaining a soul through matrimony. 

The little mermaid’s transition from the terrestrial plane to the aerial plane did not go as smoothly as one would have hoped. Because she was unable to secure the princes love and by extension her immortal soul, she is faced with the choice of either killing the prince and remaining on the terrestrial plane, or sacrificing herself and dissolving into foam, leaving behind all possibilities of entering heaven. Because her love for the prince overpowers her desire to exist as a human, she decides to jump overboard and go back down to the aquatic plane, which would be akin to descending into hell. After this scene occurs on page 129, there is a large blank space before the scene continues, which is a point of transition for both the little mermaid and the text itself. This pause is purposeful and jolts the reader out of the story and may cause them to ponder the direction that their own soul is heading towards. After this space occurs, the little mermaid rises out of the water and slowly ascends high into the air like a soul going to heaven. It is here where she finally enters the aerial plane and becomes an aerial spirit. As an aerial spirit, it is here where her form more closely resembles a soul. In the Christian religion, souls are intangible and have no physical form despite being connected to the body. Once the body dies the soul is judged and may rise into heaven or descend into hell depending on the outcome of the soul’s judgment. This judgment depends on a number of factors including how closely one follows Christian values. One of these values includes loving one’s neighbor and doing good unto others. As an aerial spirit, the little mermaid has an actual shot at entering heaven by spreading good deeds across the world and following Christian teachings for the next three hundred years (Andersen pg. 130).  Despite the increased length of time it will take the little mermaid to gain a soul, her spot in heaven is essentially guaranteed. As an aerial spirit, the terrestrial plane and the aerial plane blend into one, there are no harsh boundaries that separate the two. As long as she continues to perform good deeds, she will not run the risk of losing her spot in heaven. Near the end of the story, the little mermaid mentions gliding into heaven (Andersen pg. 130). By using the phrase gliding, it implies that heaven is in the same plane as them. Because she’s an aerial spirit, she is already at the highest level vertically and doesn’t need to rise any higher to reach the Kingdom of God. 

Just as the soul ascends upward, so does the little mermaid herself also rise to the heavens. Despite some setbacks, the little mermaid rises into the aerial plane from the terrestrial and aquatic planes beneath her. Each vertical plane builds upon the previous one in both a textual sense and as a place where the little mermaid has learned to inhabit and explore. As she goes up through the ocean, terrestrial, and aerial planes, she displays care towards others and embodies Christian values which help to gain her a position in heaven in the future. 

Works Cited:

Andersen, Hans Christian. “The Little Mermaid.” The Penguin Book of Mermaids, edited by Christina Bacchilega and Marie Alohalani Brown, Penguin Books, 2019, pp 107-130.