Throughout time, the opera La Cenerentola by Gioachini Rossini has proven to be one the composer’s most famous works, as well as the most famous operatic adaptation of the Cinderella story. However, the opera is in fact quite different from the well-know fairy tale. There are certain advantages and disadvantages to Rossini and his librettist Ferreti’s setting of the piece; significant pieces of the story are removed to make way for thoughtful substitutions. However, in the end he manages to deliver a fresh interpretation of the tale without sacrificing the timeless charm of the original fairy tale.
The “Cinderella Story” has been a classic trope in literature throughout the ages, and there are numerous variations of the story across Africa, Asia, Persia, and even Native American Algonquian traditions. Some cite the earliest appearance of Cinderella as far back the first century CE with Greek Scholar Strabo’s mention of the myth of Rhodopis. This story recounts a woman whose sandal was snatched by an eagle as she bathed in the river and carried to the king of Memphis, who immediately sought out the woman to whom the shoe belonged. However others cite the first documented Cinderella story as the tale of Ye Xian, written by Chinese scholar Duan Chengshi in 850 CE. In this version, Ye Xuan is gravely abused by her stepmothers and sisters, and her only friend is a fish, which the stepmother cruelly kills and eats. However, a magical spirit appears from the fish bones, granting Ye
The Native American story that is known as "Cinderella" is called "Oochigeaskw- The Roughed-Faced Girl." Native American tales were passed down through the generations. In this tale, "the roughed faced girl," unlike Perrault's "Cinderella", is not beautiful. Her sisters burned her with cinders and left scars on her face, which is where the title "The Roughed Faced Girl" comes from. In the village the girls live in is an invisible man, who all wished to see. The one that could see him would be the one he marries. The older sisters dressed their best to go see the invisible one. They are unable to, even though they lied and said they could. When the sister ask they could not answer correctly. When the youngest sister went, she could see the invisible man and could answer his sister's questions correctly. She is the one that he marries (639-640). When she could see the invisible man, the young lady became beautiful and all her scars were washed away. In this story, we see the transformation from "rags to riches." The sisters never recognized the youngest sister, although she had talent and beauty, it was not recognized until she found her true love and her beauty became known.
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.
Cinderella is a famous tale to all. Adults, children, and the elderly; but why? Its was told for many years even during ancient Egypt. They’re multiple stories about the same tale, one of the most famous has to be Disney’s Animated Film Version Cinderella. Comparing this famous tale to another one on the other side of the world, In China a Story called Yeh-shen.
Have you ever had a dark and gloomy day? Imagine having that feeling every single day. The Grimm’s Cinderella was written in 1812. 1812 was one of the harshest years for America. An event that formed it was the war against Great Britain and the United States. Not only was there a war, but there was also a series of disastrous harvests. Taxes got higher, and more than twenty people who were involved with a Luddite Act were hung. In 1812, there was also the only assassination of a prime minister, who was shot dead in the House of Commons. The Grimm Brothers have put the dark times of 1812 into their stories. Some of their stories contain violence, child abuse, and wicked mothers. They came up with these types of stories after their father died, and when they struggled out of school. That gave them enough time to research and put together a collection of folk tales. Now you can see why the Grimm’s Cinderella was dark and gloomy. Although the plot stayed the same, over the years, the story did get lighter. Disney’s Cinderella came out in 1950. In 1950, learning information was not by fear, but by engaging happiness. Disney’s Cinderella transforms the Grimm’s Cinderella into a happier atmosphere. While some similarities between Disney’s Cinderella and Grimm’s Cinderella are noticeable, the differences are pronounced, especially when referring to the slippers, her father, and the ball.
Triumphant reward in spite of unjust punishment is a universal sentiment that transcends languages and cultures. There are thousands of folktales and fairy tales that are firmly rooted in individual cultures, yet the tale of Cinderella has been told through many centuries and throughout the far corners of the world. With thousands of versions of this classic tale in print worldwide, the tale is believed to have originated with the story of Rhodopis, a Greek slave girl who is married to an Egyptian King. The story of Rhodopis, which means rosy-cheeks, dates back to 7 BC and is attributed to a Greek geographer named Strabo. The Chinese variation of this fairy tale is named Yeh-hsien. The Chinese version is traceable to the year 860 and appears in Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang by Duan Chengshi. Yeh-hsien is a young girl, motherless and in the control of her stepmother, who befriends a treasured fish. The jealous step-mother kills the fish, but it’s bones provide Yeh-hsien with magical powers, eventually enabling Yeh-hsien to escape the control of her step-mother for a royal life. The Story of the Black Cow which is found within the pages of Folk Tales from the Himalayas by John Murray, published in 1906, the child who is mistreated by a stepmother is a male and the role of savior is portrayed by a snake, with a cow serving as the moral of the story, faithfulness. These two versions of Cinderella carry many common threads that are
The central focus of this unit is to identify the elements of stories and how their themes may relate to each other in a variety of ways. Students will be guided in a variety of comparison and contrasting activities in order to gain understanding of main ideas, characters, and cultural themes across similar fairy tales from different cultures. This unit focuses on three different versions of Cinderella from different cultures. I chose to focus on the common elements of the fairy tales and the cultural differences because this was something the students were struggling with previously.
"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.
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
Bruno Bettelheim, the author of the article “‘Cinderella’: A Story of Sibling Rivalry and Oedipal Conflicts” expresses his opinions on how the fairytale Cinderella causes the views of sibling rivalry and also displays oedipal conflicts. Bettelheim argues throughout his article that the tale Cinderella leads children to feel emotions such as jealousy and envy towards their siblings. He also depicts the belief that the story Cinderella leads children into oedipal jealousy and makes them feel that they need to get rid of the parent of the same sex. Bettelheim expresses his opinions and beliefs to uncover the secrets held within the fairytale Cinderella.
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
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.
One of the most recognized stories around the world is the story of Cinderella. There are between 345 to 1500 versions of Cinderella in rotation. With tons of books, movies, plays, and more it's no wonder Cinder contains an abundance of elements from many different Cinderella stories. The first Cinderella type story was called Rhodopis by Herodotus and was written in Egypt during the XXVI dynasty. This version was about Rhodopis, a Greek slave in ancient Egypt, is given a pair of rose-red slippers by her kindly old master.
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 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
Charles Perrault’s Cinderella or The Little Glass Slipper was published in 1697. It is considered to be one the most prevalent reinterpretations of the classic story. Perrault’s version was “addressed largely to an adult and highly sophisticated audience” (Cullen 57). For this reason, Perrault seldom emphasizes the details of Cinderella’s mistreatment and instead shifts the stories’ focus on the moral and materialistic concerns related to his audience in order to “to please [his] aristocratic audience” (Tatar 189). Accordingly, Perrault portrayed Cinderella to be dependent, self-sacrificing, and “exhibits