Introduction:
The Cinderella story has been translated to over 500 different versions. This literature paper will, however, focus on three versions and attempt to use them as a basis of comparison. The comparison seeks to determine how these three versions attempt show that low circumstances can raise to good fortune. The three versions are "A Chinese "Cinderella" by Ch'eng-shih, "Cinderella" by Perrault and "Ashputtle" by the Grimms. Folks and fairy tales are the stories that are told to children. Children around the world get familiar with them mostly from infancy to their 2nd grade. They are used to entertain, educate about life and to instill good values in children. The Cinderella story is one of the many fairy tales and has been used as both an entertainment and as a teaching tale in many cultures for centuries. It is a story of a young girl who overcomes all odds in life to finally live and enjoy the happiness life can offer. Although there are many different versions, and the characters vary, it has remained a powerful teaching story from one society to the next. The analysis below seeks to show how different transformations of the Cinderella story are similar.
Perrault version is the most common and widely adopted version. It gives a story of a poor and mistreated girl who needed to look good for a ball organized by the prince. Her stepmother and her two daughters mistreated her. Luck, however turns to her side when a fairy godmother turned her into a beautiful princess on the day of the prince’s ball. She attends the prince’s ball where she loses her shoe during her hasty departure before the stroke of midnight. The prince finds her lost shoe and uses it to find her. They get married and they lived happily ever after. In this story, it is evident that a young mistreated girl is transformed into a princess to be adored by all. Therefore, the story shows that low circumstances can rise to good fortune.
The Yeh-Shen’s Cinderella story is based on a story of a Chief who married two wives. One of his wives had a daughter named Yeh-Shen. Unfortunately, she passed away leaving her daughter in the care of her co-wife. The stepmother in this story is portrayed as evil mistreating Yeh-Shen who is evidently the ‘Cinderella’ in the story. She even goes further to kill her best friend, a fish with golden eyes. The bones of the fish were filled with a powerful spirit. She was able to use this powerful spirit to turn herself into a beautiful princess in order to attend the spring festival. Just like Perrault version, she loses a slipper, which the king uses to find her and marry her. After Yeh-Shen’s success her mean stepmother is not allowed access to her. She is forced to live in isolation as the plot of the story turns the tables against her. As with the first story, it is evident that a young mistreated girl is transformed into a princess to be adored by all. Therefore, the story shows that low circumstances can rise to good fortune.
The Grimm’s version of Cinderella, originally referred to as “Aschenputtel”, varies slightly from Perrault’s version. After her mother’s departure, Cinderella’s rich father remarried, his second wife came to live with them, together with her two daughters. They had beautiful and fair features but nasty and wicked hearts and mistreated Cinderella. One day the king announced that he would be holding a three-day festival and invited all the beautiful young girls in the country so that his son could choose a bride. Despite all the obstacles her stepmother put in her way, she was able to overcome them and attended the king’s festival. She looked so beautiful that when she arrived at the wedding party, no one, not even her stepmother and sisters recognized her. After the third day Cinderella went running down the stairs to go home, her left slipper was stuck there. The prince held on to the slipper, which she used to find Cinderella, and married her at once. This version, however, has a twist where evildoers were punished on the day of the wedding, the sisters come to share in Cinderella’s good fortune but the pigeons that had helped Cinderella in the past appeared and pecked out the eyes of the stepsisters leaving them blind. As with the first story, it is evident that a young mistreated girl is transformed into a princess to be adored by all. Therefore, the story shows that low circumstances can rise to good fortune.
Cinderella does not let her past shadow her present. This is evident by her behavior while at the ball, she enjoys dancing with the prince. She takes her responsibilities and priorities with the uttermost seriousness. As the story unfolds, Cinderella loses her shoe as she runs out of the ball at the stroke of midnight. She follows the instruction of the fairy godmother to the letter. She is not greedy and does not try to get a job at the palace but rather returns home to her evil stepmother and stepsisters.
Conclusion
The story of Cinderella acts as a powerful remainder that life is not always a smooth sailing. It reminds us that life is full of challenges and we need to be strong in order to face and overcome any challenges in our way. Humility is a powerful trait that we should all embrace. The story also teaches us that prosperity takes a lot of effort and hard work in order to achieve it. It is a culmination of all our daily activities and behaviors. The story of Cinderella also goes a little bit further to show us that good begets good and evil begets evil. The story shows a strong example of how people in low circumstances can eventually raise to have good fortunes.
Work Cited:
Gottschall, Jonathan and Wilson, Dawd Sloan. Quantative Literary Study: A Modest Manifesto and Testing Hypothesis of Feminist Fairy Tales Study. Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 2005.
Levy, Howard S. Chinese Footbinding: The History of a Curious Erotic. New York: Waltons Rawls Publishers, 1966.
Tatar, Maria. The Classic Fairy Tales. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1999.
