Who Fräulein Rottenmeier is
Fräulein Rottenmeier manages the rich Frankfurt household where Heidi comes to live as Clara Sesemann's companion. She is stiff, proud and anxious about manners, and she thinks Heidi is wild and ignorant.
Her concern with proper behavior contrasts with Heidi's ease among mountains, goats and open sky. The house offers comfort, but its rules and closed rooms leave Heidi feeling shut in.
What Fräulein Rottenmeier wants
Fräulein Rottenmeier wants an orderly household where people understand and follow the rules of polite behavior. Heidi arrives with little knowledge of how to behave at a table or in a drawing room.
When Heidi does not understand what she means by a proper name, the housekeeper scolds her. Yet the story does not present Fräulein Rottenmeier as a monster, but as someone who values the wrong things.
Questions
Who is Fräulein Rottenmeier in Heidi?
Fräulein Rottenmeier is the housekeeper who runs the Sesemann home in Frankfurt.
Why does Fräulein Rottenmeier scold Heidi?
She scolds Heidi because the child's unfamiliar ways conflict with her expectations of good manners. Heidi tries to please, but does not understand the household's rules.