The Symbolism Of Cinderella Myth In Grimm's Ella Enchanted

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Throughout the years the Cinderella myth has been told countless times all around the world. It has changed time and time again. One of the few things that has stayed the same is the glass slipper that the prince used to find his true love. In the many different versions of the myth, the slipper is always a key part in the story. In Ella Enchanted, the main character, Ella, has been given a curse by her godmother, Lucinda. The curse makes it so Cinderella has to do everything she is told. Cinderella’s stepsisters use the curse against her and make her do things that she would not do because of her good nature. In Ella Enchanted, the glass slippers are used in a different scene than most Cinderella myths. The slippers are stolen by Ella because her sisters …show more content…

Having seen this symbolism, one might wonder what else the slipper could symbolize. The glass slipper symbolizes the hardships that Cinderella goes through and that no matter what weight she is put under she never breaks. There is never a point in any story where Cinderella is not kind. Even in Grimm where her stepsisters get their eyes pecked out, it was not Cinderella who did it. It was her mother’s soul seeking vengeance for the wrongdoings of the sisters. This raises the question of what did the author really intend for the slipper to represent. No matter how many times this story is told, the importance of the slippers never go away. In fact, when analyzing the story in modern day the slippers are more important because we can relate the hardships of Cinderella to our own lives in a different way than readers have related to the hardships in the past. There are many differences between Ella Enchanted and other traditional Cinderella myths, but through analysis and research it can be found that the symbolism of the glass slipper stays constant throughout these