Cinderella archetype is manifest in characters like Mathilde Loisel in Guy De Maupassant's "The Necklace," Cinderella in Charles Perault's "Cinderella," Wassilissa in Russian folktale "The Beautiful Wassilissa," and Princess Ann in the 1953 film Roman Holiday. Guy De Maupassant's short story "The Necklace" is about a working class woman, Mathilde, who longs to be wealthy but learns a hard lesson about the illusion of glamor. Perrault's Cinderella is about a young woman raised by an abusive stepmother and finds upward social mobility by meeting a handsome prince. Wassilissa of "The Beautiful Wassilissa" folktale meets a powerful sorceress Baba-Yaga, who helps her use supernatural power and a magic doll to achieve her upward social mobility. Finally, Princess Ann in Roman Holiday is an actual princess who longs to be a normal woman. Therefore, Roman Holiday is a fun reversal of the traditional Cinderella story. Each of these stories has elements of gender and how it relates to social status. These stories highlight what Elizabeth Cady Stanton claims in her History of Woman Suffrage: "He has endeavored, in every way that he could, to destroy her confidence in her own powers, to lessen her self-respect, and to make her willing to lead a dependent and abject life." Some of these Cinderella archetypes, like Wassilissa and Princess Ann subvert patriarchy, while Mathilde and Cinderella remain unaware of the oppressive nature of male political, economic, and social dominion. Mathilde Loisel is more entrapped by the idea of wealth and social status than she is purely a victim of patriarchy. However, her lack of initiative and self-confidence highlight Mathilde's inability to perceive the ways her mental suffering is a product of her own illusions related to gender and social status. Mathilde's happiness is linked to her perceived wealth and social status. She struggles to break free of her working class social status, which is all she wants: "She suffered endlessly, feeling herself born for every delicacy and luxury." In stark contrast to Mathilde's sense of entitlement is her husband's positive attitude. He secures her an invitation to a social event, and he is extremely excited no matter what they are eating...
Yet when Mathilde receives the invitation to the event, she is only upset that she has nothing to wear. Her husband is dismayed, but manages to raise the money for her dress. Yet Mathilde laments a lack of a necklace. It is clear that Mathilde will never be satisfied. She is obsessed with glamor, image, and status to a degree that none of the other Cinderella characters are. "There's nothing so humiliating as looking poor in the middle of a lot of rich women," Mathilde states. The ending of "The Necklace" showcases the fact that the necklace symbolizes the illusion of glamor. Mathilde is not just a product of patriarchy; she is a product of the illusion of wealth and power.
Cinderella / Transformation Stories Variants on the "Cinderella" Story The Cinderella story is one that is much loved throughout the world; more than seven hundred versions exist. Many of these versions have been told for centuries. The story has universal appeal because of specific elements that are part of human nature. It is a story in which good triumphs over evil. It is a story that shows that dreams really can come
Cinderella Perrault's "Cinderella" and the American Dream The Cinderella story has existed since the age of antiquity and has been told in many different cultures in as many different fashions. Yet, in America, one version stands out above the rest. Charles Perrault's version, popularized by Disney in 1950, became the standard, sentimental (Disneyfied) "some day my Prince will come" spawning fairy tale that became the classic progenitor of other animated features like
Cinderella: Or, On the Virtues of Shutting Up and Sitting Down There are many ways of critiquing folktales. However, they all agree on one central point: the tale is told to children so that they will behave. In less coercive terms, one might say the story is that so that the child will grow up to be a functional part of society. Either way, it boils down to the same thing.
Cinderella The Salvation of Cinderella: Moral Character and Virtue Two entirely different versions of the same basic theme show that gender norms and social roles remain relatively constant and consistent across cultures. The Disney version of the "Cinderella" story, which was originally a European folk tale, is about a girl who lives with her mean old stepmother and step sisters, who work Cinderella like a slave and treat her terribly. Cinderella eventually
The second significant difference between the French and Germany version of Cinderella is the tone used by the authors. Perrault provides a sense of triumph for Cinderella, a caring guardian in the fairy godmother and a positive moral at the end of the story. The Brothers Grimm use grotesque descriptions to illustrate the evil of the stepmother and stepsisters. They force Cinderella to separate lentils while they attend the ball. They
Morrison-Summary 'Cinderella's stepsisters' Toni Morrison's 'Cinderella's stepsisters', was actually a speech given by her at Bernard College. The occasion was chosen carefully as the speech could be most effective in this setting. In this essay, Morrison, highlights the similarities between Cinderella's stepsisters and modern, educated young women of today. Discarding all generally accepted notions about the stepsisters, the author explains that stepsisters were "not ugly, clumsy, stupid girls with outsized feet" (590)
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