Cinderellas

2. The heroine is a young and beautiful girl.
She has lost or is abandoned by her mother.
She is mistreated by a stepmother and/or stepsisters
She is forced to do menial service.
She is aided by supernatural powers (dead mother, animals, godmother).
There is a celebration, festival, ball.
Someone tries to prevent her from going to the celebration.
She meets a young and eligible prince.
She is identified (by a lost shoe, ring, something else).
She marries the prince and lives happily ever after.
Good triumphs over evil.

3.  Women are hostile to one another
 Men are distant
 Being pretty is the only ticket to a better life
 Housework is degradation
 Indolence is a sign of high class
 Status for women is tied to their marriage
 Evil stepmother, evil witches and old crones can
represent the “bad” disciplinarian side of the
mother.
 Fairy godmothers and other helpful creatures
represent the “good” mother side.

4.  Stepmother vies for the husband’s love, creating a
father/daughter/wife triangle.
 The hearth is the center of the home, representing the
heart and the mother, representing the opposite world
of the stepmother.
 The magical help (fairy godmother) represents the
spirit of the dead mother, the mother who will never
leave her, who can guide her into her transformation.
 Cinderella’s innocence is proof of her virginity, the
most important characteristic for a wife, traditionally to
ensure the paternity of her children once she is
married.
 Shoes are the means by which we can tell the change in
status; wooden shoes are the shoes of peasants; glass or
jeweled shoes are the signs of the upper class.

5. SIMILARITIES TO OTHER
TALES
CINDERELLA ELEMENTS
Childless couple longs for
a child
The girl is not named
The father turns against his
child
The father in the story
reappears at the end,
having been relieved of
the evil stepmother
The daughter loses her mother
Her stepmother cruelly taunts
her
She visits the grave of her
mother, who protect has
protected her (the bowl)
She does menial service in her
new home (makes fires)
The prince recognizes her feet
Someone tries to prevent her
from marrying the prince
(his parents)
She has to prove her worth at a
competition and is identified
by her skills and beauty

6. The Indian
Cinderella
Find all the
Cinderella
elements for this
Cinderella.

7.  Compare and contrast the differences between
Perrault’s version of Cinderella and Grimms’
version of Ashputtle. What are the elements
they have in common and what are the
elements that are different? What would you
say that the general differences in the tales are?

8. Read
 “(Folktales from around the world)
 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" 374-378
 "Hansel and Gretel" 149-152
 “Little Red Riding Hood” 23-24
 "Rapunzel" 378 - 380
 "The Magic Orange Tree " 353 - 356
 The Mother of the Waters 356 - 358
 The Water of Life 380 - 382
 Vasilissa the Fair 359 – 362
 “Jack and the Beanstalk” 394-397