Why Cassandra blames Rapunzel about Gothel’s behavior???
Well, I am a Cass defender, I love her sm as a character and I can understand her villain arc.
The scene in “A Tale of Two Sisters” where Cassandra blames Rapunzel for Gothel's abandonment and her trauma is undoubtedly one of the most questioned and even controversial in the TTS fandom.
In this scene, many people even came to dislike the character for being rude or feeling that she blamed Rapunzel for her own kidnapping, which I can understand why they think that lol.
In this post, I wanted to explain why I saw the scene as a channeling of trauma rather than judgment.
Cassandra always had problems with being overshadowed by the princess. She was always left out, and even in the second season, we see how everything falls apart because no one listened to her, no one followed her advice, and even Rapunzel herself replaced her after noticing that Cass questioned her judgment. Obviously, Zhan Tiri took advantage of the whole situation, confirming to Cassandra that she was the second choice by unlocking her trauma of abandonment by her biological mother, manipulating her and taking advantage of the fact that Cass was already feeling vulnerable.
After this discovery, Rapunzel becomes the “symbol” of that wound, and Cassandra ends up preferring to go through an ambiguous mourning process since her mother is no longer there, but in her mind she ends up feeling that this trauma gave her identity because it made her believe that she now finally had everything and would be someone with the moonstone.
Gothel abandoned Cassandra when she was 4 years old, keeping her memories of who her mother was and why she was rejected locked away. When she discovers that it was to kidnap Rapunzel and leave, in her mind Rapunzel represents the reason why she was not chosen or loved.
Insecurities during the series
Throughout the series, we see different moments of Cassandra living in Rapunzel's shadow.
There is obviously a dynamic of power and privilege between the two, but we won't delve into that.
We will only see that Cassandra feels she loses out to Rapunzel, even when Rapunzel is not at fault.
When she finds out that she also has a connection to Gothel, it reopens the wound of “Once again, Rapunzel got everything.”
Likewise, Cassandra always struggles to find her own identity and discover who she really is. When she learns that Gothel is her mother, she sees it as an opportunity to assert herself. But at the same time, her anger toward Rapunzel and fate makes her believe that she must take away what Rapunzel has in order to become someone.
Cassandra was just projecting her pain.
In psychology, when someone suffers a deep wound, that pain is often projected onto another person.
Rapunzel was not to blame for what Gothel did, but it was easier for Cassandra to blame someone else than to accept that “My mother never chose or loved me”, accept that would cause Cassandra to face a primary wound: never having been chosen.
In psychoanalysis, projection is one of the defense mechanisms proposed by Anna Freud, in which an individual attributes unwanted thoughts or motives to another person. This is generally attributed to being used to protect self-esteem or protect oneself from a threat. In Cass's case, recognizing that her mother was a fraud would not only mean losing a mother but also losing the meaning that sustained her identity. Her obedience, for example, was a desperate attempt to be loved, to deserve a place, and to indirectly avoid abandonment.
From the perspective of trauma psychology, it is argued that unprocessed trauma is not remembered in a narrative way but is relived through action. Cassandra was never able to mourn Gothel and was never allowed to feel vulnerability—ahem, her father's fault, but that's a topic for another essay—instead of mourning, a conflict arose, blaming Rapunzel also allows her to transform the passive wound into an active experience where she is in control, as she can confront and attack. Attachment theory adds another fundamental layer: when an attachment figure is lost, especially during childhood, the emotional system protests, characterised by anger and a search for those responsible. This anger is not always directed at the cause, but rather at those who remain close. Rapunzel, as a living and emotionally present figure, becomes a perfect target.
Cassandra was raised with conditional love, which led her to develop fragile self-esteem, sustained by the need to ‘deserve’ affection. She was taught to serve, obey, and be useful; her value depended on her performance. Accepting her abandonment would destroy her completely and lead her to conclude that she was not worthy of love.
She preferred to create a reinterpretation, where she was not abandoned because she was insufficient, but rather replaced by someone else.
Cassandra does not blame her because she believes she is guilty. The blame arises because her mind needs someone else to bear the burden of that abandonment, which would otherwise destroy her. It is easier to blame the ‘loved’ person than to accept the pain of not having been chosen. That action stems only from pain, not from genuine hatred.
I wrote this essay as a hobby. I researched each topic a little, but I am not an expert on these subjects. Any comments, corrections, or additions would be appreciated.
Thank u very much for reading <3
janainaart
yousharknotpass
theartofmadeline
dededos
