Cinderella In Grimm's Fairy Tales

This literary study will define the origins of the folk tale, Cinderella, in Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Originally, Cinderella is an ancient theme that can be found in ancient stories, such as, the Greek story of the courtesan Rhodopis. This tells the story of how Rhodopis lost her sandal and it was retrieved by a king, which culminated into a quest to find and, eventually, marry Rhodopis. This is not unlike the story told by Giambattista Basile in 1634 that tells the story of a Zezolla and the importance of “the slipper test” that the king gives to women to find her. Finally, Charles Perrault wrote the most important version of Cinderella in 1697 when he published “Cendrillon”, which served as the template for the Grimm’s version of 1812. In essence, these various versions of Cinderella define the origins of the story up until the publication

In this manner, the Brothers Grimm were the not original authors, but they had taken the “archetype” of Cinderella from ancient stories told over many hundreds of years. In “Cenerentola”, a poor courtesan named Rhodopis. The plot is based on an eagle snatching the slipper of Rhodopis, which eventually ends up in the obsession of King. The King becomes obsessed with the beauty of the slipper, which results in a massive search for Rhodopis: “The king, entranced, sent his men to search for the woman to whom the shoes belonged (Carruthers 56). Of course, Rhodopis is eventually found and brought before the king. This early story may, in fact, be one of the sources of Cinderella, which others writes, such as Giambattista Basile, applied by utilizing similar themes in the early 17th century. Surely, other versions of Cinderella appear in China, the Middle East, and other nations over the centuries, but it is the European style of the story in ancient Greece that laid the foundation of the story for the Brothers Grimm