The Wicked Stepmother's Lament By Sara Maitland

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

The significance of this retelling is to challenge the notion that women are often portrayed as rivals in traditional fairy tales, as there should not be an encouragement for a woman who holds power to use that against another woman. The stepmother in Maitland’s retelling says that her actions could not be justified. The story also provides a deeper explanation of why characters considered “evil” do what they do instead of portraying evil female characters to make impulsive thoughts based on strong emotions, enabling the stereotype that women are emotional. The stepmother figure in Maitland’s version says “I couldn’t bear it, that she was so like her mother and would go the same way” (Maitland 281). She is describing how Cinderella resembled her biological mother which is what made the stepmother angry since they both possessed positive traits such as being agreeable which contrasted with the step

Relatively, Gaiman’s “Snow, Glass, Apples” confronts similar ideas by depicting female rivalries. The story switches the roles of the Queen character and Snow White. The Snow White character is a vampire who the Queen feels threatened by in the sense that she is in the role of the victim. Gaiman’s retelling does address the patriarchal ideas in earlier versions of “Snow White” by giving the imagery of a weak King. Referring to the King’s body in his final moments The Queen says, “His bones showed, blue and white, beneath his skin” (Gaiman 292). This description of the King implied that the daughter may have fed from him, which is significant to challenging the ideas of earlier versions where the daughter, “Snow White” lacked autonomy. Patriarchal undertones which motivate female rivalry exist in Gaiman’s “Snow, Glass, Apples.” Although, there are ideas of female rivalry that are motivated by a male presence which reinforces Lau’s argument that female subjectivity is limited due to male-dominated perspectives in fairy