Kaitlin Aardah
Cinderella, a tale of a girl rising from “obscurity and oppression to success and celebrity”(Hallet, 37) is a story that has remained popular in many cultures throughout centuries. According to Martin Hallet and Barbara Karasek, editors of Folk and Fairy Tales, a main attraction to Cinderella appears to be the “theme of virtue revealed and rewarded” (37). Another attraction is that this story invites the reader to recall a situation where he or she has felt unappreciated and ignored and then to share in Cinderella’s happiness to discover her true role as a princess (Hallet, 37). The idea of being rescued from a terrible life by a “knight in shining armor” is one that many little girls grow up listening to and hoping will one day happen to them, which is just one way that the story of Cinderella is perpetuated in our modern-day society. Cinderella also served as a great vehicle for expressing the proper role of females and ideas concerning femininity (Cullen, 74), and perhaps the continued success of this story shows that our modern day opinions concerning the role of females and femininity have not really changed much over the years. The nature of the story of Cinderella is to reinforce and continue the spread of the morals and views expressed in Perrault’s Cinderella, as well as their traditional text format and narration create conservative texts in the majority of cases. There are a few examples of versions of the story of Cinderella that attempt to alter the morals and views expressed in Perrault’s Cinderella, and through innovative techniques create more progressive versions of the Cinderella story.
Charles Perrault’s Cinderella serves as an excellent example of the typical case prototype of the Cinderella story. The plot closely follows the typical plot and establishes the personality of the characters that is commonly associated with the story of Cinderella. When a person is asked to described the story of Cinderella, more than likely the plot and character description will be very similar to that found in Perrault’s Cinderella. Cinderella is described as being of “an exceptionally sweet and gentle nature”(Perrault, 67) and also as being “more beautiful than her sisters”(Perrault, 68). These are the characteristics we typically associate with Cinderella and can also be seen in other versions of Cinderella, such as in Cendrillon by Robert D. San Souci, where the description of Cendrillon says “Her smile was sunshine even when clouds hid the sun. . .Cendrillon seemed so happy” (San Souci, 8). These descriptions of Cinderella also depict the femininity and expected behavior of this proper female character. The idea of an evil stepmother who is “the haughtiest, proudest woman that has ever been seen”(Perrault, 67) and who “thrust upon her [Cinderella] all the meanest tasks about the house” (Perrault, 67) can also be seen in Perrault’s Cinderella. Similarly, the evil stepmother figure is seen in most other versions of the story of Cinderella, such as in Bubba the Cowboy Prince by Helen Ketteman where the book explains that “Bubba lived on a ranch with his wicked stepdaddy. . .Bubba’s stepdaddy spoiled Dwayne and Milton [to] no end, but Bubba worked from sunup to sundown doing the chores of three ranch hands”(Ketteman, 2). Although this version switches to male characters it maintains the archetype of the evil stepparent. Perrault’s Cinderella also provides us with the image of the evil stepsisters who “possessed their mother’s temper and resembled her in everything”(Perrault, 67) and did everything they could to make Cinderella’s life miserable. The evil stepsisters appear in some fashion in most versions of the story of Cinderella, for instance in the Grimm Brother’s Ashputtle, the stepsisters are described as having faces that were “beautiful and lily-white, but their hearts were ugly and black”(Hallet, 46) and “the sisters did everything they could to plague her. They jeered at her and poured peas and lentils into the ashes, so that she had to sit there picking them out”(Hallet, 46). By following the typical case prototype these versions of the story of Cinderella are preserving and protecting the portrayals of these characters as well as what they stand for, which is typical of conservative texts. Perrault’s Cinderella also establishes the idea of a slipper, “evoking female virginity, is made of glass in his tale”(Cullen, 59). The idea of the glass slipper representing female virginity is yet another example of maintaining society’s ideals concerning femininity in an effort to preserve a specific set of morals and beliefs.
The sequence of events is essentially the same in most versions of the story of Cinderella. The story begins by introducing the reader to a beautiful girl called Cinderella who is treated like a servant by her evil stepmother and stepsisters. It is announced that there will be a ball for the prince to find a wife and all single women are invited, but Cinderella’s stepmother won’t allow her to go. Cinderella’s fairy godmother appears and helps her get to ball by using some type of magic. This magic is usually accompanied with a warning that the magic will end at midnight. Cinderella arrives at the ball and is immediately noticed by everyone including the prince who spends the rest of the night with Cinderella. At midnight Cinderella rushes out of the ball, but loses a slipper. The prince uses this slipper to identify his mysterious love. The prince eventually finds Cinderella and he takes her away to be married and live happily ever after.
The plot of Cinderella displays the incredibly conservative nature of this text. This plotline allows the interpellation of traditional beliefs concerning femininity and encourages the blind acceptance of these beliefs, such as the idea that all one has to be is “as kind and sweet as she”(Perrault, 77) to capture the prince’s heart. The role of females and the importance of femininity in finding a husband are also important messages in Cinderella. For example, Cinderella is described as being of an “exceptionally sweet and gentle nature. She got this from her mother, who had been the nicest person in the world. . . The poor girl endured everything patiently, not daring to complain to her father”(Perrault, 67). This description describes the ideal bride for a man of these times because she not only is beautiful and kind, but also won’t complain about having to do work. The typical plot also reinforces the idea of outer beauty to initially attract the man and inner beauty to capture his heart. The happy ending of the story reaffirms the common assumption that children’s stories need to have happy endings in order to protect childhood innocence. Finally, the plot sets up roles for people to be interpellated into. The story encourages little girls to want to be Cinderella and to believe that they will be rescued from their evil families one day and placed into their rightful roles as princesses, which further perpetuates the traditional beliefs of femininity expressed in the story. The presence of these elements indicates the conservative nature of the Cinderella plot.
The text format of all the versions of the story of Cinderella is very conservative because it treats the reader as an undiscerning consumer of text, and makes the text easy to read, understand and relate to. The texts are all written in a pretty traditional format and a monologic narrative style. All of the versions of the story of Cinderella are readerly texts that have a predetermined plot line and the author has made it clear to the reader what emotions should be felt during the course of the story, such as in Perrault’s Cinderella when her stepsister says “That is very true, people would laugh to see a cinder-slut in the ballroom. Anyone else but Cinderella would have done their hair amiss, but she was good-natured, and she finished them off to perfection”(Perrault, 68). The reader feels bad for Cinderella because her stepsisters call her a terrible name, yet she remains good-natured and completes her task without complaint, which makes the reader wonder if Cinderella is a saint. Cinderella’s behavior could also be considered another example of the conservative beliefs concerning the proper role of a female appearing in this story. The text repeatedly provides the reader with what he or she wants. For example, in the Grimm Brothers Ashputtle “the king’s son looked into her face, he recognized the beautiful girl he had danced with and cried out: ‘This is my true bride!’ The stepmother and the two sisters went pale with fear and rage. But he lifted Ashputtle up on his horse and rode away with her”(Hallett, 51). In the Grimm’s brother version the stepsisters have their eyes gouged out by birds after the wedding, which could arguably be yet another example of giving the reader what he or she wants because in many cases the reader would like to see bad fortune befall the evil stepsisters since they had treated their sister so badly.
A final conservative element of the Cinderella stories is their adult-centered nature. The most striking adult-centered element is the incredibly didactic nature of Cinderella. Perrault’s version is the most didactic because the moral is actually clearly stated at the end of the story in verse form. Although Perrault’s moral is strange it still serves the clear purpose of telling the reader what this story is suppose to teach them. The other four versions of the story of Cinderella are not as straightforward; however, the moral teaching is still present in the contents of the story. The moral to be carried away from Cendrillon, Bubba the Cowboy Prince, and Ashputtle is that if you remain a kind-hearted and respectful individual in all circumstances you will one day be rescued from your circumstances to live happily ever after. The moral of Cinder Edna is similar to the others; however, this story encourages the reader to rescue himself or herself as well as to just be yourself because in the end you will be happier that way.
Another adult-centered element of the stories of Cinderella is the idea that the only agency Cinderella gains during the story is that granted to her by her fairy godmother, who serves as strong, caring, superhuman and knowledgeable individual. The only other adult really portrayed in the story is the evil stepmother and she is considered a bad person and therefore not representative of adults. Cinderella never questions the authority of any of the adults in the story. Despite all of the tasks given to the Cinderella character she/he never complains about the tasks to the stepmother/father. Cinderella is also very obedient such as when the Godmother character tells Cendrillon that, “’The magic lasts only a short time. We must leave before the midnight bell is rung.’ ‘Yes, Nannin’,’ she promised”(San Souci, 19). Cendrillon’s unquestioning nature is very common in adult-centered texts, which are frequently considered to be conservative texts.
Two picture book versions of the story of Cinderella appear to break away from the typical case prototype established by Perrault’s Cinderella and by doing so serve as more progressive versions of the story. The first version was Bubba the Cowboy Prince, which features a male Cinderella and a stepfather and stepbrothers rather than the typical female Cinderella and stepmother and stepsisters. The prince role is filled by Miz Lurleen who is described as being “the purtiest and richest gal in the county”(Ketteman, 6). These changes, although minor, take a huge step by broadening the message of this text to include the male population as well as the female population. This book says that it is acceptable for a boy to want to be rescued by a princess and to become a prince. Bubba the Cowboy Prince still uses the typical plot line of the story of Cinderella with a few changes, such as using a cowboy boot instead of a slipper, which is why this story is still on the conservative side of texts, but some progressive elements are present.
The second version of the story of Cinderella that is more progressive is Ellen Jackson’s Cinder Edna. This book completely mocks the traditional story of Cinderella by creating a second girl named Cinder Edna who is neighbors with Cinderella. Both girls live with evil stepmothers and stepsisters, but handle the events of their lives in very different manners. The book begins by describing each of the girls,
“Poor Cinderella was forced to
work from morning till night, cooking and scrubbing pots and pans and picking
up after her cruel stepmother and wicked stepsisters. When her work was done,
she sat among the cinders to keep warm, thinking about all her troubles. Cinder
Edna, the other girl, was also forced to work for her wicked stepmother and
stepsisters. But she sang and whistled while she worked. Moreover, she had
learned a thing or two from doing all the housework-such as how to make tuna
casserole sixteen different ways. . .
Even with her ragged, sooty clothing Cinderella was quite beautiful. Edna, on
the other hand, wasn’t much to look at. But she was strong and spunky and knew
some good jokes”(
When it comes time to find a way to the ball the girls use
very different methods of achieving their goal. Cinderella uses her fairy
godmother to get to the ball whereas Cinder Edna “didn’t believe in fairy
godmothers. Instead she has used her cage-cleaning money to put a dress on
layaway for just these kinds of occasions. ‘And my comfortable loafers will be
perfect for dancing’”(
When the girls arrive at the ball
everyone thinks Cinderella is a princess and Cinder Edna is not really noticed.
The king’s son Randolph immediately wants to dance with Cinderella, but she
“could only sway a bit to the music. She was afraid of mussing her hair, and
she knew those fragile glass slippers would break if she danced too hard”(
Both princes find their respective princesses and marry them.
Cinderella “ended up in a big
palace. During the day she went to endless ceremonies . . .And at night she sat
by the fire with nothing to look at but her husband’s perfect profile while he
talked endlessly of troops, parade formations, and uniform buttons. And the
girl who had been known as Cinder Edna ended up in a small cottage with solar
heating. During the day she studied waste disposal engineering . . .And at
night she and her husband laughed and joked, tried new recipes together and
played duets on the accordion and concertina. Guess who lived happily ever
after”(
This ending completely changes the moral of the story and in fact mocks the idea that someone could ever live happily ever after with someone that they have nothing in common with. Cinder Edna also resists interpellation by refusing to accept her situation and instead makes the best of her situation and uses her agency to find a solution. In the end Cinder Edna actually ends up happier than Cinderella. The changes made to the typical Cinderella plot makes Cinder Edna a more progressive text, although it does have some conservative elements in terms of text format, the plot and characters are more progressive than in many versions of the story of Cinderella.
The tale of Cinderella is one that can be found in every culture and typically represents traditionally conservative views concerning femininity, romance and marriage. Most versions of Cinderella are very conservative texts that preserve and protect the traditional beliefs and morals of society and are written in a traditional format with a monologic narrative style that perceives the reader as an undiscerning consumer of the text. Some versions of the story used progressive elements that challenged or mocked the traditional Cinderella story, by altering the typical characters in order to expand the audience of the story or to alter the moral of the story. Whether a conservative or progressive text the story of Cinderella is one that is able to spread beliefs and morals throughout the world as a result of its endearing plotline and memorable characters.
Works Cited
Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm. “Ashputtle.” Folk and Fairy Tales. Eds. Martin Hallett and
Barbara Karasek.
Jackson, Ellen. Cinder Edna.
Ketteman, Helen. Bubba the Cowboy Prince.
Perrault, Charles. “Cinderella.” Perrault’s Fairy Tales.
Trans. A.E. Johnson.
Publications, 1969.
San Souci, Robert D. Cendrillon.
1998.