Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society The Truth About the Little Mermaid
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Apr 7, 2026 
Diane Purkiss, Oxford Fellow and Renaissance literature specialist, traces mermaid lore from Andersen to global water spirits. She compares Disney’s Ariel with the darker original, explores sirens, selkies and Mamawata, and explains why mer-creatures recur across cultures. Short, intriguing dives into myth origins, transformations and sailors’ sightings.
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Sydney Childhood Shaped A Mermaid Affinity
- Diane Purkiss recounts growing up on Sydney beaches and learning tides, riptides, and weather as a child.
- She says this early water knowledge created a lifelong sense of being more at home in water than on land.
Andersen's Little Mermaid Is Brutally Tragic
- Andersen's original Little Mermaid is much darker: walking causes bleeding pain and she fails to win the prince.
- The mermaid endures sword-like pain, watches the prince marry another, and must choose between murder or dissolving into seafoam.
Andersen's Soul Bargain Softens Then Punishes
- Andersen rewrote the ending to soften the tragedy by creating 'daughters of the air' who can earn a soul through good deeds.
- Diane notes this extension still punishes the mermaid with centuries of labor despite her mercy.
