Cinderella

Cinderella CharacteristicsThe heroine is a young and beautiful girl. She has lost or is abandoned by her mother.  She is mistreated by a stepmother and/or stepsisters  She is forced to do menial service.  She is aided by supernatural powers (dead mother, animals, godmother). There is a celebration, festival, ball. Someone tries to prevent her from going to the celebration. She meets a young and eligible prince. She is identified (by a lost shoe, ring, something else).  She marries the prince and lives happily ever after. Good triumphs over evil.

Louise Bernikow in Saturday Afternoon at the Movies

Women are hostile to on another Men are distant Being pretty is the only ticket to a better life Housework is degradation Indolence is a sign of high class Status for women is tied to their marriage Evil stepmother, evil witches and old crones

can represent the “bad” disciplinarian side of the mother.

Fairy godmothers and other helpful creatures represent the “good” mother side.

Continued Stepmother vies for the husband’s love, creating a

father/daughter/wife triangle. The hearth is the center of the home, representing the

heart and the mother, representing the opposite world of the stepmother.

The magical help (fairy godmother) represents the spirit of the dead mother, the mother who will never leave her, who can guide her into her transformation.

Cinderella’s innocence is proof of her virginity, the most important characteristic for a wife, traditionally to ensure the paternity of her children once she is married.

Shoes are the means by which we can tell the change in status; wooden shoes are the shoes of peasants; glass or jeweled shoes are the signs of the upper class.

The Princess Who Wore a HachiSIMILARITIES TO OTHER TALES

CINDERELLA ELEMENTS

Childless couple longs for a child

The girl is not namedThe father turns against

his childThe father in the story

reappears at the end, having been relieved of the evil stepmother

The daughter loses her mother

Her stepmother cruelly taunts her

She visits the grave of her mother, who protect has protected her (the bowl)

She does menial service in her new home (makes fires)

The prince recognizes her feet

Someone tries to prevent her from marrying the prince (his parents)

She has to prove her worth at a competition and is identified by her skills and beauty

The Indian Cinderella

Find all the Cinderella elements for this Cinderella.

Exercise Compare and contrast the differences

between Perrault’s version of Cinderella and Grimms’ version of Ashputtle. What are the elements they have in common and what are the elements that are different? What would you say that the general differences in the tales are?

HomeworkRead

“(Folktales from around the world) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" 374-378 "Hansel and Gretel" 149-152 “Little Red Riding Hood” 23-24 "Rapunzel" 378 - 380 "The Magic Orange Tree " 353 - 356 The Mother of the Waters 356 - 358 The Water of Life 380 - 382 Vasilissa the Fair 359 – 362 “Jack and the Beanstalk” 394-397