Week 3

  Some of the readings this week focused on Cinderella and the numerous versions of the story. I did not realize there were so many versions of the story. Of course last week I found out there were many versions of Little Red Riding Hood as well. Like many of the fairy tales we have covered, there seemed to be good reasons of why certain elements stayed the same. We’ve also seen specific areas which have been changed to more than likely cater to a specific audience. The variations in the story may have also been because of changing views on morality and what is acceptable to our contemporary times.

  One of the central themes which seem to stay the same throughout all versions of Cinderella is the lack of parental goodness most importantly on the part of the father. Just as Maria Tatar points out in the introduction to the readings of Cinderella “the central focus comes to on the unbearable family situation produced by the father’s remarriage” (141). In some cases, it is just the wife’s death which creates the unsavory situation. Maybe the fathers in each of these versions are upset about a wife’s passing (which also seems to happen in each version more than not) but does that give the father the right to neglect or even engage in incestuous relations with the daughter? Most of these versions of Cinderella follow along with this very line in the unacceptable. In this week’s readings, the plots most resembling this would be Donkeyskin, The Three Gowns, and The Princess in the Suit of Leather. This is most likely why the versions which involve father/daughter relations are probably not the most popular in current day. We prefer the version like that of the Brothers Grimm where the father lets the stepmother treat the daughter worse than her children, or better yet the father has passed away as well.

  Another similar theme to each story seems to be that of disguising the main character. In some versions, this is because Cinderella is genuinely dressed like a servant and in others, she hides from a pursuer. This is her father or someone which means to make her/him do something she/he doesn’t want to do like marrying someone. In the Brothers Grimm version, she is in disguise, so she is not found out by her father, step mother, step sisters, and even to mislead the prince. In Donkeyskin, for instance, the idea is to hide her great beauty from others and her father who intends to marry her.

  There are also many similarities between the stories and an item which fits just right; whether that is intellect, a glass slipper, an anklet, or a ring. At times this is the determining factor of whether or not the handsome prince can find his princess. But as we see in the story of Donkeyskin or Princess in the Suit of Leather it is the perfect fit which solidifies the king’s rant to engage in incestuous relations with his daughter.

Works Cited

Tatar, Maria., editor. “Cinderella.” The Classic Fairytales, 3^rd ed., W.W Norton and Company, 2017, pp. 139-181.