Mother Knows Best (song) siren motif" for Gothel's appearance and personality. A "big" musical number, "Mother Knows Best" begins within the first fifteen minutes of "Tangled" during the film's first act when, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Rapunzel finally summons enough courage to ask Gothel for permission to travel and see the floating lanterns in person. Gothel, whose eternal youth and beauty solely relies on the safety and protection of Rapunzel's magical hair, denies this request by sarcastically reminding her that "mother knows best," warning her ward that "the world is full of wicked people who want to steal her hair's magic,"
Mother Gothel most potent schemers in the Disney canon", "Time"s Richard Corliss felt that Murphy's performance was worthy of a Tony Award for Best Actress, concluding, "no one can summon the malice in humor, and the fun in pain, like this prima Donna". In his review of the film's soundtrack, James Christopher Monger of AllMusic wrote that both "Moore and Murphy take on the lion's share of the work here, and both deliver the goods". IGN ranked Mother Gothel fourth on their list of "the 12 Disney Villainesses". In a list of the thirty-three greatest Disney villains conducted by E!, Mother Gothel