A Deal With The Devil: The Little Mermaid
In The Little Mermaid, Ariel seeks to make a deal with Ursula the sea witch. To solve her love for a prince on land, she determines Ursula is her only opportunity. She is offered a deal; for three days, Ariel will be a human, but this is in exchange for her voice, and if she doesn’t receive true love’s kiss while she’s human, Ariel will turn back into a mermaid and be Ursula’s prisoner forever.
Ursula’s lair is filled with the trapped and tormented souls of those who’ve succumbed to her bargains, and provide a clearly telegraphed warning to all who seek her services, but despite this, Ariel hardly hesitates to sign her life away.
When comparing this to Satanic temptations in the bible, we find lots of differences. In the bible, especially if we look at Luke 4, Satan comes to Jesus and offers deals. Satan doesn’t directly cite or telegraph any negative consequences of the deal, leaving it to Jesus to understand himself, while Ursula makes it abundantly clear what would happen if she doesn’t follow through and the horrible fate that could befall her. I wonder what these kinds of differences that arise between original ideas of temptation and modern takes reflect about the view of Satan and the Supernatural among popular media.
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