Question 1: “The Wicked Stepmother’s Lament” by Sara Maitland “The Wicked Stepmother’s Lament” written by Sara Maitland is treated as a “Cinderella” tale. The indicators of a “Cinderella” tale would be a story which depicts a young protagonist who is treated poorly by the stepmother and step-sibling figures. Additionally, the story should include that the protagonist is cast to do all the household chores and is not allowed to participate in the same activities as her stepsisters. The story could conclude with the damsel character being brought out of the undesirable conditions by a male figure who is higher in socioeconomic status. Maitland’s “The Wicked Stepmother’s Lament” pulls from the part of the story where the stepfamily is treating
In the essay “Cinderella: Saturday Afternoon at the Movies, ” Louise Bernikow explains women’s relationships and their life goals in the story of Cinderella. She believes that the ultimate goal for women in this fairy tales is to get and a life that can not achieve on their own by marrying a powerful and rich man. In order to achieve this goal, women must compete with each other and be pretty to catch rich men’s eyes. Bernikow uses Cinderella’ stepmother as an example to describe this situation. In the story, the stepmother mistreats Cinderella because Cinderella is beautiful and her daughters are in competition with Cinderella.
There are many stories or versions of Cinderella, but I will only be talking about 4 of over 900 versions there are. These four stories are similar but also have their differences, which is what I will be point out throughout this essay. I will be talking specifically about the stories called “Aschenputtel”, “ Yeh-Shen”, “The Algonquin Cinderella”, and one poem called “Interview”. They are very interesting stories and I encourage you to read them.
There are plenty of various versions of Cinderella stories in different cultures and countries. The settings of geographies and environments can differ from one to the other, but a lot of them have similar plots and essential themes. Among four versions of Cinderella stories we have read in class, “Aschenputtel” by The Brothers Grimm and “The Twelve Months” by Alexander Chodzko show how Cinderella stories share the typical format but also have distinct storylines. First, typical Cinderella stories describe how blended families fail. Stepsisters and stepmother often appear evil in the stories.
During the 50’s TV and media usually portrayed women in domestic roles or the ones taking care of the household and children. In the fairy tale “Cinderella”, Ella is an example of these domestic roles that women play. Ella is a kind- hearted girl, she is loved by all of the animals because she treats them like humans and is very kind to them. After her father's passing, Ella was forced to live with her evil stepmother, Lady Tremaine, and her two stepsisters, Anastasia and Drizella. Her stepmother and stepsisters were cruel and mean to Ella, they enjoyed making her do all of the cleaning and cooking, and they named her “Cinderella”.
“Cinderella” is a tale about a young girl who recovers through support, unlike Robert Louis Stevenson’s main
Cinderella reflected the image of subordination but it also explored the sense of dignity and realization (147). In this essay, Al-Barazenji discussed the polemic voices of women through the good and bad images in fairy tales. The struggles of Cinderella manifested through her silence. The transformation of her clothes from the torn dress to a magnificent sapphire ballroom dress depicted her realization of her dreams and hopes. The role stepmother in the tale acts as the contrast of another image of woman who made women realized and gave chance for the women to express their identity.
Analysis of the Poem of Cinderella Cinderella is a short fairy tale story but is this case is being written as a short poem. Cinderella gain its popularity after the release of Disney’s Cinderella animation story. The poem of Cinderella transcend time and culture having a lasting effect on both aspects the young and the old. Cinderella has been a story in which all children grew up listening to this story and there is still parents that continued telling the story to their children. Cinderella has been an effect in many cultures and in some way it was found as a way to show many of those cultural believes.
It is nearly impossible for a tale to be passed down generations and still stay the same. The fairy tale “Cinderella” told by the Grimm brothers is almost 206 years old, and differences can be seen between the modern “Cinderella” story and the original. In “Cinderella,” by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, a young girl named Cinderella is treated like a servant by her family. Luckily she is gifted with beautiful clothing, enabling her to attend a festival, meeting her one true love. Cinderella gets married to the prince, and the step-sisters are punished by getting pecked in the eyes by birds.
Determination in “Cinderella” “Cinderella”, the original fairytale, is found in a collection of stories created by the Grimm brothers. The story of “Cinderella” is used in order to display and teach children and adults a way of living. This fairytale reflects values such as perseverance and determination. Cinderella, the protagonist, is an outcast her family, as her father is her only blood relative. She is forced to do housework and is not allowed to take part fun activities or share luxuries with her stepsisters.
Obedient and tolerant Cinderella takes orders from her stepmother and sisters without defending her worth even once, in fact, she begins to accept that she will only ever be a Cinderwench. We can arrive at this understanding through Cinderella’s own words, “you only jeer me; it is not for such as I am to go to such a place”. Cinderella truly believes that she is not good enough to be in such imperial company, so instead she “followed them with her eyes as long as she could [and] when she lost sight of them, she started to cry”. Adding to the already weak depiction Perrault gives us of Cinderella, we see her so passively accept her pitiful destiny as a Cinderwench when she begins to cry. At which point the true heroic character of the story, her fairy godmother, shows her that she too is good enough to go to the ball and that she possesses the capacity for greatness.
One of my favourite movies, ‘Cinderella’ tells a story of a young girl, Ella (Lily James), Cinderella who lived in a beautiful kingdom. Ella was taught by her mother (Hayley Atwell) to believe in magic and existence of fairy godmothers from a young age. Ella’s life was perfect until her parents passed away. Desperate for money, Lady Tremaine (Cate Blanchett), her stepmother dismissed all the servants and made Ella to do the housework. She started to reveal her cruelness towards Ella.
A Cinderella Story The Cinderella story is a popular archetype that has been present in almost every culture, representing a girl's dream of achieving a happy and wealthy marriage. However, a careful reading of some "Cinderella" folk tales reveals instances of abuse and even incest. In the past, for many girls, the only relief available from abusive households was to marry well. In modern times, some authors present the Cinderella myth in a positive light, while others offer a more feminist interpretation.
However, she has to leave the ball at midnight as the magic wears off and she turns back into her former self. She leaves behind a glass slipper that the prince uses to find her and they both live happily ever after. The main focus of this comparison essay is to analyze the similarities and differences of two movie versions of Cinderella: Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s Cinderella and A Cinderella Story. There are a number of similarities in both versions of the movie. Both movies illustrate the mistreatment of step children, the importance of young girls having a father figure in their lives, and the hope of finding true love and living happily ever after.
The Brothers Grimm, Cinderella - Critical Analysis Description: This dark version of the many original Cinderella stories is by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, better known as the Grimm brothers. Cinderella is about a young girl who sadly loses her mother due to some kind of sickness, her father marries a woman who has two daughters, shortly after her mother’s death. The daughters are referred to as Cinderella’s “false sisters” due to their evil and wicked tactics during the story and also because they are not related to her by blood. Her father gets completely brainwashed by the stepmother and begins to treat his own daughter the same way they do, like a pest.
