Cinderella

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Gustave Doré's illustration for Cendrillon
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Gustave Doré's illustration for Cendrillon


For other uses, see Cinderella (disambiguation).

Cinderella is a popular fairy tale embodying a classic folk tale myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward, of which there were hundreds of versions before modern times. The earliest version of the story originated in China around A.D. 860. It appeared in Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang by Tuan Ch'eng-Shih, a book which dates from the Tang Dynasty. The best-known version was written by the French author Charles Perrault in 1697, based on a common folk tale earlier recorded by Giambattista Basile as La Gatta Cenerentola in 1634, but, especially in the English speaking world, the animated film from Walt Disney Productions, (see Cinderella (1950 film)) has become the standard contemporary version despite the fact that it somewhat sanitises the original plotline.

Contents

[edit] Plot

"Cinderella and the Glass Slipper" (book cover)
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"Cinderella and the Glass Slipper" (book cover)

The familiar plot revolves around a girl of a rich family deprived of her rightful station in the family and given the cruel nickname "Cinderella" by her horrible stepmother and two step-sisters. Her father is completely under the thumb of his second wife in these stories. However, in some versions, especially the popular Disney film, the father has died. Forced into a life of domestic servitude, she was forced to tend the fireplace, hence the nickname. Cinderella accepts the help of an attendant spirit ("fairy godmother") who transforms her to attend a royal ball and attract the attention of the handsome prince. In some versions of the tale, there are three balls, although most modern versions only mention one. In the most familiar version of the story, told by Charles Perrault, Cinderella attends two balls.

Common western versions find Cinderella benefacted by a Fairy Godmother who turns a pumpkin into a coach, mice into a team of horses, lizards into footman, and a rat into a driver, before transforming Cinderella's clothing into a splendid gown and jewels, with fantastic slippers of some unusual material. In versions featuring a magical transformation, the magic all comes to an end at the final stroke of midnight. In the three-ball version, Cinderella keeps a close watch on the time the first two nights and is able to leave without difficulty. However, on the third (or only) night, she loses track of the time and must flee the castle before her disguise vanishes. In her haste, she loses a glass slipper which the prince finds. He declares that he will marry only the girl whose petite foot fits into the slipper.

Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters (in some versions just the stepsisters — and, in some other versions, a stepfather and stepsisters) conspire to win the prince's hand for one of them.

In the German telling of the story, popularized by the Brothers Grimm, a number of changes are present. Cinderella's attendant spirits are birds in a hazel tree, growing beside the road, over her mother's grave. Cinderella or Aschenputtel often asks the birds for aid. When she wishes to attend the three night ball at the palace, birds bring her a gown and slippers, which increase in cost and materials until the final evening, when the shoes are golden. Cinderella enjoys each evening with the Prince, but slips away when she is tired, hiding on her father's estate in a tree, and then the pigeon coop, to elude her pursuers. The third evening, Cinderella loses a golden slipper either on the staircase by tripping, or it sticks in a trap left her by the prince, pitch or tar. In a variation, the road has been tarred and her shoe sticks fast. The prince conducts a search, allowing the maidens of the land to try on the slipper in the privacy of their own bedchambers. The first stepsister fits into the slipper (usually made of gold) by cutting off a toe, but the doves in the hazel tree tell the prince to notice the blood dripping from the slipper, and he returns the false bride to her mother. The second stepsister fits into the slipper by cutting off her heel, but the same doves give her away.

In all but one variant, Cinderella arrives and proves her identity by fitting into the slipper (in some cases she has kept the other, as in the Disney retelling). In Rossini's opera "La Cenerentola" ("Cinderella"), the slipper is replaced by twin bracelets to prove her identity. The evil stepsisters are sometimes punished for their deception by having their eyes pecked out by birds, or in other cases forgiven, and made ladies-in-waiting with marriages to lesser lords. In the The Thousand Nights and One Night, in a tale called "The Anklet" [1], the stepsisters make a comeback by using twelve magical hairpins to turn the bride into a dove on her wedding night.

The German retelling is not the only version where no fairy godmother is present. For example, in "The Anklet", it's a magical alabaster pot the girl purchased with her own money that brings her the gowns and the anklets she wears to the ball. Another variation is, again, Rossini's opera "La Cenerentola" (where the Prince's former tutor, the philosopher Alidoro, arranges for his own carriage to take Cenerentola to the ball, and also arranges for the gown and twin bracelets she wears to the ball).

The midnight curfew is also absent in many versions; Cinderella leaves the ball to get home before her stepmother and stepsisters, or she is simply tired. Similar tales are also present, where a noblewoman must pose as a peasant, in order to win the prince such as in Kari Woodengown.

[edit] Variants

Cinderella tries on the slipper
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Cinderella tries on the slipper

The glass slipper is unique to Charles Perrault's version; in other versions of the tale it may be made of other materials (in the version recorded by the Brothers Grimm, German: Aschenbroedel and Aschenputtel, for instance, it is gold) and in still other tellings, it is not a slipper but an anklet, a ring, or a bracelet that gives the prince the key to Cinderella's identity. In the Finnish variant The Wonderful Birch the prince uses tar to gain something every ball, and so has a ring, a circlet, and a pair of slippers. Interpreters unaware of the value attached to glass in 17th century France and perhaps troubled by sartorial impracticalities, have suggested that Perrault's "glass slipper" (pantoufle de verre) had been a "fur slipper" (pantoufle de vair) in some unidentified earlier version of the tale, and that Perrault or one of his sources confused the words; however, most scholars believe the glass slipper was a deliberate piece of poetic invention on Perrault's part.

The original Chinese version of the story emphasized that Cinderella (or Yeh-Shen; 葉限/叶限; Yè Xiàn as she was called) had the smallest feet in the land. Small feet were an important aspect of beauty in Chinese culture, leading to practices such as foot binding.

The translation of the story into cultures with different standards of beauty has left the significance of Cinderella's shoe size unclear, and resulted in the implausibility of Cinderella's feet being of a unique size for no particular reason. Humorous retellings of the story sometimes use the twist of having the shoes turn out to also fit somebody completely unsuitable, such as an amorous old crone. In Terry Pratchett's Witches Abroad, the witches accuse another witch of manipulating the events because it was a common shoe size, and she could only ensure that the right woman put it on if she already knew where she was and went straight to her. In "When the Clock Strikes" (from Red As Blood), Tanith Lee had the sorcerous shoe alter shape whenever a woman tried to put it on, so it would not fit.

The fairy godmother that aided Cinderella is in the Brothers Grimm's version Aschenputtel's dead mother; Aschenputtel requests her aid by going to her grave, on which a tree is growing, which shakes down the clothing she needs for the ball. This motif is found in other variants of the tale, as well, such as The Cinder Maid, collected by Joseph Jacobs, and the Finnish The Wonderful Birch. Giambattista Basile's Cenerentola combined them; the Cinderella figure, Zezolla, asks her father to commend her to the Dove of Fairies and ask her to send her something, and she receives a tree that will provide her clothing. Other variants have her helped by talking animals, as in Katie Woodencloak, Rushen Coatie, Bawang Putih Bawang Merah, or The Sharp Grey Sheep -- these animals often having some connection with her dead mother; in The Golden Slipper, a fish aids her after she puts it in water

Although many variants of Cinderella feature the wicked stepmother, the defining trait of type 510A is a female persecutor: in Fair, Brown and Trembling and Finette Cendron, the stepmother does not appear at all, and it is the older sisters who confine her to the kitchen. In other fairy tales featuring the ball, she was driven from home by the persecutions of her father, usually because he wished to marry her. Of this type (510B) are Cap O' Rushes, Catskin, and Allerleirauh, and she slaves in the kitchen because she found a job there. In Katie Woodencloak, the stepmother drives her from home, and she likewise finds such a job.

The despised third child who sits among the ashes is not a role limited to daughters. In The Princess on the Glass Hill and others, a third son is also despised and lives in the kitchen. In some variants of The Seven Foals, he is even called "Cinder-lad."

Also there is Gregory Maguire's novel Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, which gives the classic story from the view of one of the ugly stepsisters. In this version, the Cinderella character is unusually beautiful, but also a shy enigma. Her stepsister, though plain, is charming and intelligent. The novel has themes much more adult than the traditional story.

In 1982 Roald Dahl rewrote the story in a more modern and gruesome way in his book Revolting Rhymes.

[edit] Discussion

The idea that "Cinderella" embodies myth elements was explored in The Uses of Enchantment (1989) by Bruno Bettelheim, who made many connections to the principles of Freudian psychology. In more recent times, as Freud's concepts have found more support as myth and poetry than as neurological science, it has seemed to mythographers less useful to explain one myth in terms of another myth. Instead, cultural elements ("memes" to some writers) may be disentangled from the Cinderella tale. Each social group, in re-telling "Cinderella," has emphasized or suppressed individual elements and has given them interpretations that are especially relevant within each society. Mythographers return to Cinderella for hints of the social ethos embodied in it, and the familiar story proves to be a useful case example for young students beginning to understand how myth works. Thus serious uses come from what appears on the surface to be a trivial wish-fulfilment narrative.

An example of the "uses of Cinderella" is presented by Shirley Climo, The Egyptian Cinderella (1989), aimed at young children: "Rhodopis, a Greek slave girl living in Egypt, is teased by the servants about her coloring. Eventually, one of her rosy-gold slippers is carried to the pharaoh's court. He searches for, and finds, the girl. Based partly on fact (a slave named Rhodopis did marry Pharaoh Amasis) and partly on folk legends, this story is remarkable for its details of life in ancient Egypt and for the Egyptian-style illustrations". As a document, this reveals some contemporary American approaches to historicism, cultural multiplicity, racism, and educating for a spirit of tolerance. The anachronism of a supposed skin-color sensitivity in Egypt itself is revealing.

Earlier, less self-consciously instructive Cinderellas have more revealing mythic content.

The term Cinderella has evolved from its storybook beginnings to become the name for a variety of female personalities. Some girls are described as a Cinderella if they are meek and immediately submissive to stern orders. Others are called Cinderella if they tend to quietly complain. For example, a girl from a wealthy household who has been ordered to wash the dishes as a fulfilment of her once a month chores would be deemed a Cinderella; a fallen princess who has finally met with tough reality.

Cinderella, along with the more general "princess," are shorthand for a particular approach to weddings and Western wedding attire, especially the white dress. A bride with the Cinderella mindset believes that the dress and the occasion exist in order that she may be transformed for the day into a beautiful princess. Detractors of such princess brides argue that the wedding is not solely about the bride; nevertheless, many wedding gown retailers appeal, directly or indirectly, to the Cinderella ideal.

The Cinderella story is much criticised for what many perceive to be a negative, traditionalistic, approach to women. From the point of view of these critics Cinderella is oppressed, and does nothing about it; a magical event takes her to a powerful prince who is so taken with her appearance that he chooses her as his consort (it is assumed that she will accede), decorative, but existing only as an adjunct to him. They believe that she has no personality or character of her own; she is simply pretty and good-natured and mindlessly obedient, and advances because of this. Little girls in Western society are told the story: they can infer that if they are obedient and take care of their appearance they will live Happily Ever After.

On the other hand, others claim that the story should be taken on its own merit, to them Cinderella is not meant to be read into and critiqued as some complex academic social manifesto, but to be enjoyed as a fairy tale and its simple powerful message that good can come to decent people.

Going even further, many do not see Cinderella's personality or actions in a negative light. Simply that she has come under criticism because more confrontational headstrong heroines have become perceived as the new ideal of what a women is expected to be in Disney and American culture in general. To them, Cinderella has many admirable qualities, taking a more calm and discreet approach in fulfilling her wishes, and chooses to be kind even to those who mistreat her.

[edit] Vehicles

The story of "Cinderella" has formed the basis of many works:

[edit] Opera

[edit] Ballet

[edit] Pantomime

The subject of Cinderella is very common for British and Australian pantomimes, but is not the most popular to produce because of the cost involved. In the traditional pantomime the opening scene is always set in the forest with the hunt in sway and it is here that Prince Charming and Dandini meet Cinderella. Except that she thinks Dandini is the Prince and the Prince is Dandini (all very confusing and not at all politically correct, but then traditional pantomime isn't). Cinderella's father (Baron Hardup) is under the thumb of his two step-daughters the Ugly sisters who are jealous of Cinderella and cruel to her. There are also added characters such as Buttons (Baron Hardup's servant, and Cinderella's friend) — and Dandini, the Prince's right-hand man, the character and even his name coming from Rossini's opera ("La Cenerentola"). Throughout the pantomime, the Baron is continually harassed by The Brokers Men (quite often they are named after politicians) for outstanding rent. The Fairy Godmother must magically create a coach (from a pumpkin), footmen (from mice) and a coach driver (from a frog), and a beautiful dress (from rags) for Cinderella in order for her to go to the ball. However, Cinderella must return by midnight as at that time the fairy godmother's magic spell ceases. As with all traditional pantomimes, all turns out well in the end as good triumps over evil.

[edit] Musical Comedy

Mara Wilson in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella (2005)
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Mara Wilson in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella (2005)

[edit] Films

Over the decades since the invention of motion pictures, literally hundreds of films have been made that are either direct adaptations from, or have plots loosely based on, the story of Cinderella. Almost every year at least one, but often several such films, are produced and released, resulting in Cinderella becoming a work of literature with one of the largest numbers of film adaptations ascribed to it, perhaps rivaled only by the sheer number of films that have been adapted from, or based on, Bram Stoker's novel Dracula.

[edit] Television

[edit] Ice skating

"Cinderella on Ice" — on stage in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
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"Cinderella on Ice" — on stage in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
  • "Cinderella on Ice" is the ice skating version of the Cinderella story.

"Cinderella on Ice" was staged in the Queen Street Mall, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, as part of Brisbane's Christmas celebrations.

[edit] Books

[edit] Concept Albums

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Mardrus, Joseph-Charles, Powys Mathers (June 1987). The book of the Thousand Nights and One Night. London and New York: Routledge, 191-194. ISBN 0415045436.

[edit] External links

The True Story of Cinderella -A fiction where tight-lacing is the key element, and the glass slipper is instead a silver corset.

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