Cinderella -Analysis

“Going up in the World: Class in ‘Cinderella’” is a scholarly article written by Elisabeth Panttaja that analyzes the roles of the mothers and the importance of class within these times. Panttaja focuses her article on the Grimm version, which is most famously critiqued and discussed. The article analyzes the importance of the mothers, which leads to the overall concept that the natural mother’s role seems irrelevant, yet Cinderella’s entire destiny is based upon her. The mother’s also show similar goals: get their daughter(s) married into power. Cinderella wins this battle, however, for she is the “true bride.”

Society can learn a lot from Cinderella-like movies such as Maid in Manhattan. However, what society learns from these fairy tales is not always that Cinderella meets a prince and lives happily-ever-after. In the movie Maid in Manhattan, directed by Wayne Wang, a hotel maid meets a wealthy politician and lives a Cinderella-like tale after wearing a wealthy guest’s designer outfit. Most people focus on the obvious love story between the maid and the politician. Many overlook the psychological plight of Cinderella herself. In these tales Cinderella loses her mother and often her father too. This has a tremendous effect on the young girl’s self-worth. However, other complex relationships are also revealed, including the mother/daughter relationship. Similarly, the text “Cinderella: Not So Morally Superior,” by Elisabeth Panttaja, discusses the influences of Cinderella’s mother. These sources are worth exploring because they demonstrate how a woman’s self-worth is shaped by her relationship with her mother.

"Cinderella" is perhaps the most recognized fairy tale in history, one of the few that spans across generations and cultures. Every prominent culture in the world tells some similar version of this story of a poor girl going from rags to riches; over 700 versions have been accounted for worldwide. In America, numerous authors have penned their own version of the classic folktale. One of these is Tanith Lee, a prolific writer of stories for young adults. Lee cleverly found a way to include all of the traditional elements of the classic "Cinderella" tale, but added a new twist: Cinderella, or the character similar to her in this story, had malicious intentions for the prince, and her purpose throughout the tale was a malevolent one: revenge.

In “Conte” by Marilyn Hacker, Cinderella shows the reader a glimpse of her life after the childhood tale ends, a less happier ending than the original story implies. She feels trapped in a constant state of misery and boredom in the royal palace. Without life experience guiding her, Cinderella is in a dilemma caused by her ignorance of the potential consequences of her actions. With the use of irony, structure, and diction, “Conte” shows how innocence and naïveté result in regrettable mistakes that create life experience.

Anne Sexton was a junior-college dropout who, inspired by emotional distress, became a poet. She won the Pulitzer Prize as well as three honorary doctorates. Her poems usually dealt with intensely personal, often feminist, subject matter due to her tortured relationships with gender roles and the place of women in society. The movies, women’s magazines and even some women’s schools supported the notion that decent women took naturally to homemaking and mothering (Schulman). Like others of her generation, Sexton was frustrated by this fixed feminine role society was encouraging. Her poem “Cinderella” is an example of her views, and it also introduces a new topic of how out of touch with reality fairy tales often are. In “Cinderella”, Anne Sexton uses tone and symbolism to portray her attitude towards traditional gender roles and the unrealistic life of fairy tales.

In both “Cinderella Is Traditional and Straightforward, but Plenty Charming,” by Richard Lawson, and Madonna Kolbenschlag’s “A Feminist’s View of Cinderella,” the popular fairytale of a girl becoming a princess is discussed. Lessons of identity, rivalry, and grief are displayed through both the tale of Cinderella herself and the film. Even though both Lawson and Kolbenschlag address the lessons taught by the story of Cinderella, the extent as to which each author elaborates on if the morals of the story are convoluted or simply modest differ drastically.     Both pieces agree that Cinderella conveys moral lessons to children. Lawson expresses the belief that Cinderella emits simple and straightforward messages to both young girls and boys.

All people recognize the charming story of Cinderella, and at its core, it is a story that relates to the hearts of all societies worldwide. The magic that transforms an underprivileged girl into an affluent beauty captures the attention of a prince, but outside of the story, it also mesmerizes readers in their pursuit of their own happily-ever-afters. In “America’s ‘Cinderella’,” Jane Yolen expounds upon the “true nature” of Cinderella that is hidden from modern, American society but lives in the tales of other cultures. She criticizes the modern, mass-marketed version of Cinderella that is leading society to a false hope in America. Also, an art historian, Bonnie Cullen, writes about the Cinderella tale. In “The Rise of Perrault’s ‘Cinderella’,” Cullen investigates how Charles Perrault’s version of Cinderella grew to its fame and how the story was affected by the Victorian Era. Both authors see the Cinderella story in diverse colors; however despite all controversies, the enchanting tale of Cinderella continues to thrive in modern society. As an example, Ever After, directed by Andy Tennant, came to theaters and restored the obsession with Cinderella. In the movie, the Cinderella story is given a transformation: fresh colors, heroic protagonists, deceitful enemies, and glitzy clothing. However, the story maintains the Cinderella plot. Like most Cinderella stories, Danielle, the main character, is forced into servitude by the hands of an evil stepmother after the passing of Cinderella’s beloved father, but her life changes when she meets Prince Charming. While audiences can see that Ever After parallels Perrault’s version of Cinderella and contains the necessary ingredients for the traditional story, the main character, Danielle, exhibits new, contemporary attributes that alter the personality of a standard Cinderella figure, but ultimately, Danielle still falls victim to Victorian ideology.

In her article, “Cinderella: Not So Morally Superior,” Elisabeth Panttaja illustrates the important role of parents in a childhood. She talks about the importance the mother plays in all versions of Cinderella as well as evidence showing what lack of parenthood does to children. Panttaja claims by way of the Grimms Brothers version of Cinderella and how each mother wants to guarantee a bright and happy future for their daughters by marrying them off to the prince. The similarities between the wanting of Cinderella and the stepsisters married- and doing anything to get it- contradicts the idea that Cinderella and her mother were morally superior, or different at all, from the stepmother and sisters.

To sum up, Sexton’s “Cinderella” highlights despair and the misconceptions women have about love and life. Fairytales bring hope to young hearts around the world but get crushed when real world situations happen. Happily ever after’s can exist but not in any kind of perfect form, there is no such thing as perfection, and life’s complications come up from

In Cinderella Man, Ron Howard illustrates the events that occurred in the life of James J. Braddock, a boxer in the early 1900s who overcame rigorous challenges and became the world heavyweight boxing champion. While many people believe the film was made purely to entertain, it actually displays many prevalent issues in today’s society, with one of these issues being the importance of maintaining a proper appearance. Although it isn’t blatantly displayed throughout the film, Ron Howard demonstrates the importance of appearances in today’s society through the subtle interactions between the on-screen characters. The issue traces back to even the most well known Cinderella story, as is shown in “Walt Disney’s ‘Cinderella,’” adapted by Campbell Grant.

Two early Cinderella stories, that of the early Egyptian Rhodopis and German Grimm Brothers’ Cinderella, show how two cultures perceive the world through the story of Cinderella. The Egyptian culture focused more on the godly intervention and how human gods are separate from the gods above. While the German story focused on nature and how the dead that were good hearted are in nature (the mother), which in turn helps out those like Cinderella. The two cultures show how they believe that the gods and nature rule the earth. Even though others don’t like Cinderella, she can still succeed, her fate isn’t predestined by others actions. This is a compelling idea that intervention made Cinderella a beautiful bride. Her

The story of Cinderella has become a classic fairy tale, known around the world, and past down from generation to generation. Yet, over the years, the story has been rewritten to better relate to different cultures. While some things never change, authors still manage to convey different messages by making the story their own. This can be clearly seen when the Grimm brothers version of Cinderella is compared to Charles Perrault’s version of Cinderella. While the core of the story does not change, the moral, tone, and “magical” aspects of the two stories are clearly shaped by the different cultures in which they were written in.

The Grimm Brothers version of Cinderella is a written down oral story that people passed down from generation to generation, meant to teach a lesson about piety and good behavior. Before the Grimm Brothers ever wrote it down, the story had been told several times by memory. It is thus not surprising that the descriptions of certain events in the story, such as the way Cinderella went to the Ball, are lacking in details. It is obvious that these parts of the story are unimportant to the overall message of the story. Instead, it focuses on the piety of Cinderella and the wickedness of the step-sisters. Through the events of the story, it becomes obvious that the goodness of Cinderella is justly rewarded, and that

Lastly, the feminist perspective is shown in this fairy tale. It demonstrates how women are easily manipulated, and are in constant need of men to help nurture and support them through their journey. After Cinderella’s father dies, she is forced to live with the evil step-sisters. She is mistreated, but still completes her chores. As the story progresses, she becomes happy after she marries the Prince. She then uses her transformation method to attract and seek all the attention she can possibly gain from him. She does this to dressing up to look her best. In conclusion, it shows, without men, Cinderella has no control over her life. Subordinately, by her husband and completely relies on him to provide her with metal, emotional, and physical

In my short analysis of “Cindarella”, understanding the basic concepts of the story was not as easy as I had once predicted. The author Elisabeth Panttaja explains in her essay different views and ideas in the sense that Cinderella is successful because of the magical powers created by her dead mother. The author tells that “It is not suprising . . . that modern criticism of (Cinderella) . . . has been so strangely indifferent to the roles that Cinderella’s mother plays in the story.” This to my knowledge is giving me a different view on how people thought Cinderella acted to the situations that occurred.