Folklore, modern media, and historical events within the western world tell us that women are meant to be the fairer and weaker of the two sexes; while reiterating the idea that men are strong, and ultimately the saviors of women. This notion has been used to fortify the difference between the two genders. It claims that women cannot save themselves, or each other, and can only find their, "happily ever after," with the help of a man. Perrault's, "Cinderella: or The Glass Slipper," is the story of a mistreated girl, who eventually marries a prince, and goes on to live happily ever after. Within Perrault's, "Cinderella," women are illustrated as powerful, and are the sole characters that drive the plot. While the male characters within the story remain flat and generally unimportant. This story challenges the gender dichotomy that has depicted women as demure, and men as being critical in the lives of women. .
Perrault's, "Cinderella," is essentially a story about women. The women are given identifiers that allow the readers to foresee their actions, while the men in the story are flat. The males are nearly unidentifiable, showing an absence of importance amongst the male characters. "Cinderella," begins by characterizing the women in the story, describing Cinderella's new stepfamily as the, "haughtiest and proudest," (449). It introduces Cinderella and her late mother as, "gentle," "good," and the, "best in the world," (450). What stands out the most amongst these descriptions, is the lack of characterization of Cinderella's father. He is only described as being, "totally under the control of his wife," (450). It is presumed that without Cinderella's father being so feeble under the rule of his new wife, he would better protect Cinderella from being mistreated by her new stepfamily. In society, men are often portrayed as the safeguards of women, especially in the case of female relatives.
Cinderella in Different Versions. ... "Cinderella" by Charles Perrault and " A Chinese "Cinderella"" by Tuan Ch"eng-shih are two of the stories that are very different. ... Perrault's version had Cinderella and Tuans version had Yeh-hsien. ... While Perraults version had rats, a dog, and horses. ... Perrault's version Cinderella lived in a house with her stepmother and stepsisters. ...
Among other cultural versions are: the Native American version "Oochigeaskw - "The Rough-Faced Girl"; and the most familiar to today's readers is Charles Perrault's version. ... I choose to expose my 4-year-old daughter to Perrault Cinderella version. ... Although in all the Cinderella's variations the characters and events are exaggerated somewhat beyond reality, I prefer Perrault's most popular version. Unlike many of the other versions, Perrault's focuses on kindness, forgiveness and humility. ... In this version, Cinderella found forgives in her heart towards...
In "Rashin Coatie", the Scottish version of the tale, Cinderella's dead mother returns in the form of a calf, who helps Cinderella. ... Perrault's version gives Cinderella a godmother with no apparent connection to the spirit of her mother; it is this version which gives us the pumpkin, mice and fairy godmother, and which has become the most well-known version of the tale. ... This may have influenced the version which Perrault drew on, Giambattista's " Sun, Moon and Talia". ... The Ogress Mother-in-Law Perrault rang his own changes on this version. ... The behaviour of the ...
Perrault introduces Cinderella as a girl of "rare goodness and sweetness of temper" (17). ... A difference in the portrayal of Cinderella in the Brothers Grimm version of the fairytale, where she is called Aschenputtel, helps illustrate further how passive Perrault's Cinderella is. ... Though she takes more action than Perrault's Cinderella, in the end, both Cinderella and Aschenputtel are reliant on outside forces to change their destiny. Additionally, at the end of the Perrault's version, Cinderella immediately forgives her sisters for this mistreatment and rewards them with ...
In the Dowling's movie version, "Ever After" she presents the Cinderella story in the same manner however there are a few changes. ... Asputtle didn't care about beauty as much of the other Cinderella versions did. ... In the Perrault's version of Cinderella, she is a beautiful, kind, passive, humble girl that takes all the hardship that the stepmother and stepdaughters with a pleasant attitude for example, "Anyone else would have done their hair in knots for them, but she had a sweet nature, and she finished it perfectly." ... The Cinderella in this version is a very sweet ...
In Charles Perrault's version, which is considered the most common, Cinderella is seen as passive, limited, dependent and inferior. ... In order to see how gender roles have changed in fairy tales from the old to the new, let's compare the classic version of Cinderella by Charles Perrault to a recent version which is a movie that was released in 1998 called "Ever After"which was directed by Andy Tennant . ... As in most versions of Cinderella, she is beautiful, and characterized as the perfect fit for the Prince. ... A definite trait of many versions of Cinderella is the reward for s...
In the Fox's movie Ever After and in various written versions of Cinderella it is apparent that there is a very fine line between deception and magic. ... After Cinderella's father dies, the woman and her daughters treat Cinderella with cruelly and demean her into the position of a servant. ... Because she sleeps by the fireplace, her face is always dirty with ashes, and thus the stepsisters coin the names Cinderella, Ashella, or Ashputtle (depending on the version). ... In the versions of Cinderella by Charles Perrault and Walt Disney, the king invites all the families in the kin...
