Some of the following themes are developed from Michiko Kakutani’s analysis of Into the Woods.

 

The Responsibilities of Adulthood

There are four songs in Into the Woods that depict the process of learning, through the repetition of the word “knowing” and its variations: Little Red Riding Hood’s “I Know Things Now”, Jack’s “Giants in the Sky”, Cinderella’s “On the Steps of the Palace”, and the Baker’s Wife’s “Moments in the Woods.” For the familiar fairy tale characters, each of their “learning” songs recount, not their adventure or not just their adventure, but what the adventure meant to them, according to Sondheim and Sarah Lapine. These fairytale characters may be understood as young people beginning to understand the world of adulthood; Little Red Riding Hood may be understood as a child, Jack as an adolescent, and Cinderella as a young adult. 

In “I Know Things Now”, Little Red Riding Hood learns that maturation and the acquisition of more knowledge can be both “nice” and “not”. In “Giants in the Sky”, Jack learns about the excitement and thrill of adulthood, while wishing for the responsibilities, or lack thereof, associated with childhood, singing “you wish that you could live in between [the ground and the sky].” In “On the Steps of the Palace”, Cinderella learns that leaving home means that one must make decisions for oneself, ultimately making the decision of indecision, “You know what your decision is / Which is not to decide.” Similar to Jack, the Baker’s Wife, in “Moments in the Woods”, decides between the thrill of romantic passion (a dalliance with Cinderella’s Prince) and the dependability of commitment (her marriage with the Baker), choosing to enjoy the “moment” in the wood, and then to “leave the woods.”

In each of these situations, a binary is proposed and then broken. As the Baker’s Wife concludes, life is sometimes not an “or”, but an “and”; many contradictory things can be true at the same time. Little Red Riding Hood must acknowledge that the thrill of learning comes with more danger. Jack must find a balance between life’s wish for thrill with life’s necessity for responsibility. Cinderella learns that indecision is itself a decision with consequences. The Baker’s Wife chooses a path that allows for moments of enjoyment among moments of responsibilities. Each character learns how to make peace with contradictory truths in life, acknowledging that life itself is paradoxical.

 

The Tension Between the Individual and the Community

Just as the characters begin to have their own, individual journeys through the woods, as in both the literal paths they take and the process of maturation that they undergo, Into the Woods complicates the image of individualism to suggest that individuals must take responsibility for how their actions as individuals have consequences for the collective. In “Your Fault”, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack, Cinderella, and the Baker pass blame for the crisis of survival with a vengeful giant, and in the following song, “Last Midnight”, the Witch takes responsibility for the crisis, while pointing out that the immaturity squabble placing blame does not get rid of the problem at hand. 

Following the Witch’s disappearance, the four characters begin to realize that their actions have collectively caused the crisis (“Maybe I shouldn’t have stolen from the giant…”), and they decide to collectively work to solve it, each pitching in with motifs from their individual stories/journeys. Cinderella spreads pitch to trip the Giant and sends her birds to peck the Giant’s eyes out; Jack climbs vegetation (a beanstalk first, now a tree) once more to strike the Giant; and Little Red Riding Hood engages with paths (earlier, one she should not have strayed, and now, ones she directs), intentionally pointing to where the Giant should go to encounter the attack. In between their moment of blame (“Your Fault”) and the attack on the Giant is “No One is Alone.” 

Amidst each character’s loss of loved ones (Cinderella for her mother’s grave, Jack for his mother, Little Red Riding Hood for her mother and grandmother, and the Baker for his Wife), the four are reassured by others that they are not alone; however, this reassurance encompasses a double meaning, assuring that humanity will always have company, but that with that company comes responsibility. Individual actions—such as stealing from the Giant, straying from the path, or attending the ball—come with consequences for the community, because life and community is made of a complexly woven web of causes and actions. Into the Woods endorses the process of individuation while pointing out the responsibility that one has for the collective. 

 

The Fallibility of Trusting Stories

The European tradition of fairy tales associates the stories with a moralistic purpose, traditionally understanding that fairy tales are to teach morals to children. Into the Woods counters this perspective on storytelling, creating a fairytale for a different audience, for adults, and by pointing out the randomness and lack of meaning of life. In some traditions, children’s fairy tales end with a “happy ever after” or a punishment, implicitly or explicitly communicating the moral or what should be learned from the story. In Into the Woods, the second act proves that life goes on after resolution, and that one still “wishes” or desires; this characterizes life as unending desire, an aching want. Because most who live life don’t anticipate their death (save for instances such as in terminal illness), life can be understood as a never-ending middle to the story. One cannot trust that things will work out, as in a story; Into the Woods is anti-narrative. The end of Into the Woods reiterates that there will be more journeys ahead for the characters as they adventure once more “into the woods”. In contrast with the childhood-storybook’s perspective on their being a moral to learn from every journey, the adult fairy tale, Into the Woods posits that some things are not good, nor bad, but simply that they are. We are met with indifference from this universe.