The protagonists in both stories of “Cinderella” and “Donkeyskin” are perhaps a vivid example of a character who is lost. In both stories, the girls are bound by one reason or another, whether it consist of her father, or two sisters and a godmother who have no care for her fate. Both stories portray her as helpless and equally unwilling to rebel against other characters, perhaps out of fear or her personality alone. Instead, she essentially beats them out in a more passive yet effective way. However throughout both these stories, it is clear that she does not have the wealth or luxury of doing this alone, hence where other characters take on that role.
These characters are possibly abstract, or perhaps visions/voices from the thoughts of another character, such as “Cinderella” when the prince carries away the step sisters one by one, but the birds offer a piece of advice, telling the prince of a poem that explains that he has chosen the wrong girl. When reading this line, that repeats itself as he confuses the other step-sister for Cinderella, I wondered if these were just images or lines within his head instead of real birds talking as the fairytale world may suggest. This way of thinking may suggest that the prince knows exactly of
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Returning to “Cinderella”; when it comes time for the ball, a ball in which the prince is seeking to find a bride, Cinderella meets a woman, perhaps one that portrays her stepmother’s alter ego. A majestic godmother who offers her materials in which she comes to realize her greatest wish. Although, this “majestic woman” does not do this without help. The author describes animals and pieces of nature that aid in helping Cinderella transform into the most beautiful appearance. “The bird tossed down a dress that was even more splendid than the previous one.” In theory, the tree is handing down opportunities that were never before available to
Have you ever wondered if there were other versions of Cinderella? Well there are, there isn’t just one version of Cinderella. Each version is a little bit different from each story because of the culture behind it. For example the “Cinderella” we know and love and the Ireland version the “Cinderlad”.The two cinderella stories, “Cinderlad” the Irish version and “Cinderella” the French version have both differences and similarities. Using the Motif “Damsel in distress” I can show that they are different & similar because of the culture they originated from and their social necessities.
The Disney version of the story, Cinderella, illustrates a different moral than that of the original story. This story believes an ideal child should do what they are told and follow directions and in the end they will reap the rewards. In this story, Cinderella’s mother dies and her father remarries to a woman who has two daughters. While the daughters are pampered, Cinderella must work to keep the house from falling into disrepair. She befriends the animals and they help her to get ready to go to the ball by finishing her chores and making her a dress. When the evil stepsisters discover the dress they become furious because the mice used trimming from their clothing when making the dress. In revenge, the stepsisters rip the dress, leaving Cinderella out of options and out of hope. Just as Cinderella is about to give up, her fairy godmother appears and with a wave of magic creates a dress and turns a pumpkin and the mice into a horse and carriage. The only problem is that everything will turn back to what it was beforehand at midnight. Cinderella and the Prince fall in love at the ball but she must quickly leave because the
“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.”
Cinderella, by the Brothers Grimm, described the life of a maiden named Cinderella. Born to a loving family, Cinderella’s life had drastically changed when her ailing mother had perished from her disease. After the death of Cinderella’s mother, her father had married another woman, who had two daughters. Unfortunately, Cinderella’s step-mother and step-sisters were cruel to Cinderella, forcing her to wear rags and perform chores. Instead of voicing the abuse, Cinderella submissively endured the appalling treatment and had her value reduced to a servant. As years progressed, the king organized an extravagant ball for three days, designed to attract the prince to the maidens in the ball. Even though Cinderella desperately wanted to attend the ball, because of the cruelty of her step-sisters, Cinderella remained meek and was warned she would be severely punished if she didn’t sort the lentils. Rather than performing the task and arguing for her freedom, Cinderella wept and was helped by the pigeons. As the ball continued, the step-sisters were discontent with the completion of their tasks, so they resumed to mistreat Cinderella by requesting her to complete further preposterous tasks. However, the pigeons would resume assisting Cinderella, even advising her to shake the tree on her mother’s grave for the appropriate attire to attend the ball. Thanks to the pigeons and the tree, Cinderella attended the ball and established herself as the candidate of the prince’s affection,
Cinderella and Donkeyskin by Charles Perrault both have the same overarching theme of an abused girl who has been forced to grow up without a mother, who ultimately through the help of a magical entity becomes married to a prince. However, the roles of their prospective female protagonists and the characteristics they portray are very different. Both fairy tales focus on the idea of good overcoming evil, as both Cinderella and Donkeyskin are forced to comply with the orders of a higher authority figure, a stepmother, and an incestuous father respectively, but they choose to rise above this oppression to find happiness. However, the way in which Cinderella and Donkeyskin play a part in bringing about their ultimate happiness is drastically
Cinderella’s story is undoubtedly the most popular fairy tale all over the world. Her fairy tale is one of the best read and emotion filled story that we all enjoyed as young and adults. In Elizabeth Pantajja’s analysis, Cinderella’s story still continues to evoke emotions but not as a love story but a contradiction of what we some of us believe. Pantajja chose Cinderella’s story to enlighten the readers that being good and piety are not the reason for Cinderella’s envious fairy tale. The author’s criticism and forthright analysis through her use of pathos, ethos, and logos made the readers doubt Cinderella’s character and question the real reason behind her marrying the prince. Pantajja claims that
However, this is not the case in Perrault’s version of Cinderella. In Perrault’s version there are no doves sent by Cinderella’s late mother, but rather Cinderella has a fairy godmother who uses her magic to help Cinderella attend the ball. The fairy godmother turns a pumpkin into a coach, mice into horses, a rat into a coachman, lizards into footmen, and her old rags into a dress of gold and silver and warns Cinderella that the spell will break at midnight and everything will turn back as it once was. Similarly, when Cinderella enters the ball she meets the prince and they dance while her stepmother and sister do not recognize her. However, in Perrault’s version
The two stories of “Cinderella” are “Tam and Cam”; and “The twelve Months: A Slav legend adapted by Alexander Chodzko. These stories have similar ways in portraying the hard working Cinderella including her suffering, but they are different in Cinderella’s motive of rescue one tale use violence if necessary; the other just more of a genuine resourceful approach. This means this character isn’t relying on a prince charming to be her rescue, so this makes the concept different from the other because “Tam and Cam” Cinderella lives forever happy with her lover, while “The twelve Months: A Slav legend adapted lives by herself and then a farmer she likes shows up. These tales went for a more sophisticated setting, each displaying the peasant overcoming the struggle; in which she is set free from all of her hurting. Throughout each story Cinderella is taking and caring she always seemed to get the short end of the stick. But, when the odds back fired on the step-sisters and step-mother the karma was naturally set upon to benefit Cinderella in her favor “Tam and Cam” or set in motion by her as payback to get even with her rival characters of a family in “The twelve Months: A Slav legend adapted lives.
Cinderella is a fairytale for children that displayed love, loss and miracles; however, when it is further analyzed, it has a deeper meaning. Cinderella is a story about a young girl who became a servant in her own home after her father remarried a malicious woman with two spoiled daughters. She was humiliated and abused yet she remained gentle and kind. She received help from her fairy godmother to go to the prince’s ball after her stepmother rejected her proposal. Cinderella and the Prince fell madly in love but she had to leave at twelve o’clock and forgot to tell him her name but she left her glass slipper behind. He sent his servants to find her and Cinderella was the only maiden in the kingdom to fit into the shoes. She
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
The Prince stereotypes the role of women being in need of a destined lover. He is the one that identifies Cinderella as the one in the dress, though excluding behavior, her appearance dazzles him for two nights at the ball. Most importantly, he’s not the hero of the fairytale, but readers can interpret the fairy godmother as the savior of Cinderella’s demise. The role of magic comes in part with the acceptance of achieving the imagery of an elegant woman, impressing the Prince who gains interest in her. The
The men in “Cinderella” also value women for their beauty. The prince has a ball for all the maidens in the land to find his future wife, which “amounts to a beauty contest” (Lieberman 386) for a new trophy wife. While some argue that Cinderella’s rebellion of going against her stepmother’s instructions of staying home shows that the story has feminist qualities, the prince weakens her achievement when he chooses her only because of her beauty as “girls win the prize if they are the fairest of them all” (Lieberman 385). Her need for independence is transformed into the prince’s need for a pretty wife, making her again an object in her family. Once integrated into the prince’s family, Cinderella goes from the maid of her family to the smiling porcelain doll next to the prince as the “first job of a fairy tale princess is to be beautiful” (Röhrich 110). This gives the impression that the only way
In some instances, Cinderella’s behaviour in Perrault’s tale display characteristics that are alike to a modern western woman, today. On the first night of the Ball, the fairy godmother struggles to find something turn into a coachman. Then Cinderella suggests to transform the “...rate in the rat trap...into a coachman” (Perrault). This act reveals that Cinderella is capable of solving problems individually (Robbins, 107); a quality of a modern western woman. In addition, Cinderella demonstrates intelligence when the step sisters talk to Cinderella after returning from the first night of the Ball (Robbins, 107). Cinderella pretends to be sleepy by “...rubbing her eyes and stretching...” (Perrault) when the step sisters visit Cinderella’s room, after returning from the first night of the ball. By pretending to be sleepy, the step sisters assume that Cinderella did not attend the Ball. The step sisters tell Cinderella that a “finest princess” (Perrault) came to the Ball, however, when Cinderella inquires about the unknown princess name, the step sisters state that they did not know. Also, the step sisters tell Cinderella that the prince “would give all the world to know who...” (Perrault) is the unknown princess. This way Cinderella slyly and confidently interrogates the step
With her magnificent gown and majestic shoes in hand, Cinderella proceeds to the ball where the prince falls madly in love with her solely based on her appearance. However, the prince is unable to recognize Cinderella after she changes back to her sooty face and ragged clothes. The shallow relationship between Cinderella and the Prince reveals another fault of society: the pressure placed on superficial characteristics and the emphasis placed upon beauty is a priority set too high. When people must "gussy up" (30) to be noticed, the person within is unable to be seen.
The author explains early on the initial absence of Cinderella’s mother proposes a sign of disempowerment. This in term changes the events of the story and leaves Cinderella bewildered with her stepmother and stepsister. Cinderella has the advantage that her mother is now a form of power through symbolism and is now a magical figure. The author explains that there are similarities between Cinderella and her mother and the stepdaughters and their mother because each child is trying to perform to impress ones maternal figure. This creates tension between Cinderella and the stepdaughters through competition for the ball to attend with a prince. The author explains firmly that “Cinderella is also a competitor, she plots and schemes, and she wins.