"Into the Woods" poll: Who is "the woman who regrets having had children" whom Sondheim said was partly based on his own mother?
The Witch
The Baker's Wife
Jack's Mother
Rapunzel
Other
Stephen Sondheim once admitted that Into the Woods contains a little of his own childhood. According to an article linked on Wikipedia, he claimed that the character of "a father uncomfortable with babies" was his father and that the character of "a mother who regrets having had children" was his mother. But he didn't name the specific characters.
Now, obviously, the "father uncomfortable with babies" is the Baker. His insecurity about helping his wife take care of their son, and his doubt in his ability to parent alone after his wife dies, are central to his character arc in Act II. But which character in this musical is the "mother who regrets having had children"? All the mother characters are flawed in their own ways, and some extremely so, but none of them ever explicitly say that they regret having had their child.
Sondheim famously had a terrible relationship with his mother. In interviews, he described her as an "overbearing, grasping, voracious" woman, who both loved and hated him, and who bluntly told him that her one regret in life was having given birth to him. So, which of the mothers in Into the Woods is she?
The Witch: Now, she never says that she regrets having adopted Rapunzel, and she obviously does love her desperately. The fact that she sincerely loves her is something that sets her apart from other, more straightforwardly evil versions of her character like Disney's Mother Gothel. But still, no other character in this musical better fits the description of an "overbearing, grasping, voracious mother," and even though she loves Rapunzel, it's clearly a selfish, emotionally abusive love. She isolates her from the world, supposedly to protect her but just as much to avoid having to "share" her with anyone, then banishes her to a desert when she finally dares to love someone besides the Witch (although she insists it was meant to be only a temporary exile, just until Rapunzel "learned her lesson"), and tries to put a curse on her when she won't come back to her afterwards, only failing because she's lost her powers. And while in Act II she tries to protect her from the Giantess and is devastated by her death, she still takes no responsibility for how she wronged Rapunzel, but blames the dead Rapunzel for never listening to her, and bitterly declares that "Children can only grow from something you love to something you lose." Maybe in that line, we can read the subtext of "I regret having adopted a child." But again, she never says it outright.
The Baker's Wife: Well, since the Baker is the character partly based on Sondheim's father, it would make sense for the Baker's Wife to be based on Sondheim's mother. And while her entire motive in Act I is to have a child, in the opening scene of Act II see that it hasn't brought her the endless joy she thought it would. Having to actually raise the baby is stressful, especially because her insecure husband never helps her take care of him: this stress is undoubtedly part of what leads to her fling with Cinderella's Prince later on. And in the song "So Happy," she's a part of the ensemble who sings "Wishes may bring problems, such that you regret them..." But in the very next lines, she reaffirms (possibly trying to convince herself?) how happy she is to have gotten her wish, and insists that she's "going to be the perfect mother." She never outright says that she regrets having a baby or shows any resentment toward her son (just a little toward her husband). And while she obviously has her flaws and morally gray areas, she's certainly not "overbearing, grasping, voracious." In interviews, Sondheim insisted that the Baker's Wife was meant to be the sympathetic heart of the musical, and that her death is supposed to be devastating to the audience... not, as some critics assume, a punishment for her adultery with the Prince. It seems hard to reconcile his sympathy for her with the negative feelings he always expressed about his mother.
Jack's Mother: Well, she is overbearing, and she complains constantly about her son's stupidity. But at the same time she loves and protects him fiercely and never implies that she regrets having had him.
Rapunzel: Hmmm... She barely even acknowledges her own baby twins, except to cite having had to give birth to them alone in the desert as one of the traumas the Witch inflicted on her.
For now, I'm most tempted to think the Witch is the character Sondheim was talking about. But I suppose a case could be made for the Baker's Wife, or maybe for one of the other mothers. I'm not sure...
