This story shows the opposite, in the case of Cinderella. Her father's lack of refuge, is what allows Cinderella's lifestyle to be impacted so greatly by her stepmother. If he were fulfilling the role that society set for him, he would be controlling the interactions between his daughters, and the behavior of his wife. .
One of the only other men mentioned in the story is the prince. Although the prince is the ultimate goal of all of the young women in the story, and he ultimately shifts Cinderella's unfortunate circumstances, he is not the valiant stock character that most would expect. The prince is the male equivalent to a trophy-wife, nameless, and nondescript. Since he has no identifiable traits within the story, other than him being a prince, readers are lead to believe that the many women who attended the ball were only interested in his wealth. Many would argue that his status is what makes him powerful, but his status alone does not fulfill the, "prince charming," character that most expect. He is not described as brave, kind, or even handsome; he is simply there as a means for Cinderella to escape her lifestyle. Since neither his personality, nor his looks seem to be important within the scheme of the story, it is safe to assume that he is replaceable with any other man of status.
Throughout the entire story, women are the catalysts of action. The entire plot begins with unmentioned death of Cinderella's mother, which allows Cinderella's new stepmother and stepsisters to come into her life. Once Cinderella's father has remarried, it is her stepmother who decides her fate. An illustration of the stepmother's matriarchal power is provided within the text saying, "She could not abide by the young girl, whose good qualities made her daughter's appear all the more detestable. So she ordered her to do all the most demeaning tasks in the house," (450). If Cinderella were not obligated to live the life of a servant, the typical Cinderella narrative would be completely different.
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...
