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Cinderella Research Paper

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Many versions of Cinderella have been written and each one is slightly different. However, all of them have similar plot elements that makes each of the stories a tale of Cinderella. The kind hearted Cinderella will be abused by her stepparent and two stepsiblings, who will not let her go to a big party. But an outside force will allow Cinderella to go to the party, and the prince will fall in love with her. Cinderella will run out, leaving behind an identifier that will allow the prince to find her and marry her. This of course, is all changed a little from story to story.
In a Cinderella story, the story will begin with the kind hearted main character having a stepparent and two stepsiblings who treat the main character badly. In the following …show more content…

This time however, a bird in a tree that Cinderella planted hears her cries and send down all that Cinderella needs to go to the party (Grimm). In this version of the Cinderella, the bird in the tree is the outside force that helps the main character go to the party. The force of nature that was not present in either of the two other sources.
In the third source, much like the first source, Cinderella, unlike her two stepsisters, is unable to go, but a fairy godmother helps her to go (Grant). The fairy godmother is the outside helping force in this Cinderella story. Although in most cases the outside force is supernatural, it does not need to be in order to be considered a Cinderella story. The outside force is the most changed circumstance in this plot element.
A third plot element of Cinderella stories is the important person falls in love with the main character, who runs out of party and leaves some identifier behind. With each source of Cinderella the identifier is a shoe of some kind, but it can be anything that only a certain person would be able to be identified with. The identifier is usually kept the same, but if it is not, it will still be able to claim itself as a Cinderella story. The Cinderella stories will have some form of this plot element, …show more content…

It is important to note that the main character and the important person can become anything from friends to spouses in the basic plot of a Cinderella story. The following elements, though, will only have the important person and main character getting married, but it can still be a Cinderella story. The Cinderella stories all have this plot element in it.
In the first source, after Cinderella left her slipper at the party the two sisters “did all they possibly could to thrust a foot into the slipper, but they could not succeed” (Parrault). Cinderella fit the shoe and “a few days after, married her” (Parrault). In each version of Cinderella, the stepsiblings try in vain to claim ownership of the identifier. Then, after the main character successfully claims ownership of the identifier, the important person and the main character begin a

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