Cinderella

Cinderella

Illustration by Otto Kubel.

Author Anonymous Published 1812-??-?? Type Fiction, Short story Genre Fairy tale, Romance Themes Drama, Romance Age Group Teen

Cinderella is a fairy tale with themes dating back as far as 2,000 years. This page refers to the version published in the 1812 compendium Children's and Household Tales, compiled by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. The tale is derivative from many earlier tales, even those with the title "Cinderella," This version and all prior versions are in the public domain. The story has become one of the most popular fairy tales and has been professionally adapted scores of times.

Personal

Own?	Compilation book.
Read?	? / Margaret Raine Hunt translation.
Finished	1998 / 2025-02-25.

I first read this story in my high school English class, I believe it was my senior year, because the teacher wanted to class to see just how different the story is compared to the Disney version most of us were familiar with. I was shocked by how different, and graphic, it was. I don't remember which version it was, but I read the Margaret Raine Hunt translation on 2025-02-25.

Review

Overall:

Good

• The overall theme is quite nice: a young lady is abused, but her sweet disposition and good looks causes a prince to want to marry her.
• The step-mother is a well-devised villain. She makes Cinderella believe she'll be allowed to attend the festival, but places insurmountable chores in her way, and then, when Cinderella somehow succeeds, she still says no.
• There is some dark humor with the cruel step-sisters cutting off chunks of their feet, yet still failing to become queens. Then they each have an eye pecked out by white doves at church, and, when they come back, their other eye is pecked out!

Bad

• Like most tales that exist as a mish-mash from many earlier tales, the story jumps around a lot. However, it's still one of the more coherent fairy tales.
• In one instance of Cinderella leaving the prince to go home, the prince thinks she is hiding up a tree, so the king has the tree chopped down! Good thing she wasn't there, or you would have killed her!
• The clever prince puts pitch all over the stairs to trap Cinderella before she can run away. But, considering that other guests of the festival will use the same stairs, it probably isn't that clever.
• Like so many other fairy tales, the primary villains are women.

Ugly

• The story is very light on details, possibly because it assume the reader is already familiar with the tale, so a lot of questions remain unanswered:
  • No clear reason is given for why the prince and Cinderella like each other.
  • No reason is given as to why the father begins to loathe his daughter. He allows his new family to abuse and rob her, and eventually refers to her as "a little stunted kitchen-wench," but why?
  • No reason is given for why Cinderella doesn't want the prince to see her home.
  • When Cinderella is denied permission to go to the festival, she just goes anyway. Wouldn't that be a very long walk in a ballgown? Do they live next door to the castle?
• Basing your future wife on whomever fits a slipper is patently absurd. It's not as though shoes are all that customizable. The prince doesn't even care that the sisters don't look anything like the woman he danced with, he just goes along with it until supernatural birds tip him off!

Media

Illustrations

• 

  Illustration by Elenore Abbott, 1920.

• 

  Illustration by Otto Kubel, 1930.

Representation

Strong female character?	Pass	Though she's ultimately saved by a man, Cinderella doesn't let her abusive family prevent her from getting what she wants.
Bechdel test?	Pass	The four women talk about various things.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	The setting implies everyone is white.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Adaptations

Cinderella is one of the most adapted stories in Grimm's fairy tales, so there exists a number of unofficial sequels and re-imaginings, movie and TV versions, an opera, a ballet, plays, cartoons, video games, and so forth. I have seen the 1950 Disney movie, the movie Ever After, and the ballet. This story is included in Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes.

Links