Universality Of Fairytales In Cinderella By Brothers Jacob And Wilhelm Grimm

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I think we can all agree on the universality of fairytales and how they play an integral part within an individual’s childhood, and the development of their character as they mature. It allows generation to generation to explore profounder connotations and attain principled teachings of their own environment through a fantasy world where new ideas can be explored, and these fantasy worlds’ are continually reworked and remade to better relate with the current context of each cohort. In 1857, Brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm told the tale of a beautiful, young girl called Cinderella, who was treated with malice and cruelty by her jealous stepmother and her two stepdaughters. One day, the king proclaims a festival for the kingdom, where his son would choose his bride, but her stepmother forbade Cinderella to attend. She wept in sorrow when a bird gifts her with a gown and shoes, allowing her to attend the ball where she catches the attention of …show more content…

Throughout the novel, she is an active participant in her journey to save herself and through her display of strong will and drive breaks the spell, thus challenging the traditional ‘damsel in distress’ archetype and providing a reflection of our own current feminist context. Furthermore, Ella’s obedience is a common trait of a passive and compliant female figure, and is connotative of retained patriarchal values within my narrative. Her internal docility is disputed however through, “I knew I was only happy because I’d been ordered to be… but I was glad nonetheless” which elucidates her ambivalence underlying the evident aversion for passivity towards her circumstance. This suggests that females need to empower themselves on a personal level to overcome psychological and physical oppression thus reinforcing the feminist ideals of our