Have you ever read any other version of Cinderella except Disney’s? There’s many similarities and differences between the French and Zimbabwe versions of Cinderella. Both versions have one daughter getting married to a king, but the French version has a sister and step mother, whereas the Zimbabwe version had one sister and no stepmother.
However both stories, Cinderella ended up marrying the king of each. In the Zimbabwe story of Cinderella, toward the end it says, “It would make me so very happy if you would be my wife”, says the king (Jacob and Welham Grimm). She didn’t have to prove much to the king, but she did have obstacles to face on the way to see the king, because she finished them, that pleased the king, therefore he wanted to marry her. The French version Cinderella had to try on her glass slipper that she
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left at the ball to prove to the king she was the woman at the ball he had danced with. As a result, both women married the king. They proved themselves to the kings that they were worthy of being queen. All in all, both stories are similar in that manner. There are also many other differences as well though. Although these Cinderella versions have similarities, you can’t forget about the differences as far as how the family members are in the families in these two versions. The Cinderella story of Zimbabwe had one sister, and never once mentioned a stepmother or of the father re marrying or being married, a mother figure was never mentioned. This version of Cinderella, the girl didn’t have to deal with the verbal abuse from a stepmother. The French version was completely different. In the French story, the story says “once there was a gentlemen who married, for his second wife, the proudest and most haughty woman that was ever seen, and two daughters of her own” (Charles Perrault). Which proves the two families are different in each story. The French Cinderella had to deal with a hateful stepmother including two stepsisters. The Zimbabwe Cinderella had to deal with a somewhat rude blood sister, she wasn’t a step sister. This difference of the versions is almost similar to the last, having to do with how the family members are different in each story.
The French version of Cinderella had one stepmother and two step sister sisters. Cinderella was bullied in a way by her stepmother. In the French story it says “she employed her in the meanest work of the house” (Charles Perrault) speaking on the stepmother. The stepmother made Cinderella the maid of the house and she was not to dare tell her father. The sisters were very rude to her, followed right behind their mother on how they treated her. They never had nothing positive to say to her. The sisters told Cinderella, “It would make the people laugh to see a Cinderwench at a ball.”(Charles Perrault) when Cinderella wanted to join her two stepsisters at the ball.
The two versions of these Cinderella stories are culturally different and exciting to read. Although they have a lot of differences, there are similarities. It’s fun to read both stories and be able to compare and contrast them. Most people in the United States only know of the French version of Cinderella. It’s always a good thing to try out new
things!
It all begins with “Once upon a time” and ends with “and they lived happily ever after”. “Cinderella” is a very widely known story that many children around the world look up to and admire through their entire life. The history of this story, how scholars interpret this tale, and how the authors have retold the story are all key points to keeping this story fresh and popular. Most of the time when people hear the story of “Cinderella”, they think about the Disney version and maybe it is time that changes. All in all, the story brings light to everyone’s life even if they only know the original “Cinderella”.
Cinderella is known all around the world. Cultures are never exactly the same but yet they have some things in common. The main thing they have in common is fairy tales. The story of Cinderella is told all around the world. It is told in many different languages and in many different versions. Some cultures have other names for their Princess. In some versions the Cinderella of the story is not a girl it is a boy. Cultures have some of the same fairytales but their versions are a little different from the ones known today. One of the most common fairy tales known around the world is Cinderella. Cinderella is usually a pretty girl with evil stepsisters and a stepmother that treat her poorly.
Walt Disney’s Cinderella is adapted from the original fairy tale written in 1697 by Charles Perrault. There are some key differences between Walt Disney’s Cinderella and Charles Perrault’s Cinderella. In Charles Perrault’s tale, Cinderella’s father is not dead, but the father is controlled by the stepmother. Cinderella’s younger stepsister is much more polite than the older stepsister, who calls Cinderella Cinderwench. The king in Perrault’s tale hosts a two day Ball, which Cinderella attends with the help of the fairy godmother. During Cinderella’s preparation for the first night of the Ball, Cinderella helps the fairy godmother find a coachman when the fairy godmother could not find one. Cinderella’s glass slipper comes off on the second night of the ball. Similar to Walt Disney’s Cinderella, the prince in Perrault’s story announces to marry a woman whose foot will fit in the glass slipper. Unlike the Walt Disney’s tale, Cinderella is not locked up in the attic and the stepmother does not physically attempt to stop Cinderella from trying the slipper. Instead, the step sisters ridicule Cinderella when Cinderella suggests trying on the glass slipper. Cinderella wears the slipper and takes out the other slipper from a pocket which Cinderella puts on the other foot. Suddenly, the fairy godmother appears and transforms Cinderella’s ragged outfit to a magnificent gown. After the transformation, the step sisters recognize Cinderella as the unknown beautiful princess who attended the Ball and beg for forgiveness. Cinderella forgives the step sisters and marries the step sisters to the great lords of the castle. The prince marries Cinderella, however, Perrault does not mention about the prince and Cinderella living happily ever after.
The first clear difference is seen in the format the versions are written in. While the Grimm’s is written in prose, Sexton’s is a poem, with many stanzas and a few rhyme schemes as well. Despite the stories being similar, this format helps Sexton, who was a poet, separate her version from that of the Grimm’s, and helps her story create its own original identity. The Grimm’s prose form allows a more straightforward approach to its audiences, while Sexton’s poem helps it give the story a deeper meaning. Another major difference was Sexton’s addition of a new introduction and conclusion to her story. The poem starts off by mentioning other stories and fictional tales, but ends with truthful statements that show just how fictional the relationship between Cinderella and the prince is, like “Regular Bobbsey twins” (Sexton 79). Sexton also breaks the fourth wall in some instances, mostly to show her cynical and sarcastic attitude towards her story’s own character, Cinderella. In comparison, the Grimm’s Cinderella is shown to be the typical goody-two shoes damsel in distress, which every girl should try to be like. Sexton’s commentary in her poem changes this attitude towards Cinderella, and instead makes Cinderella look like the fragile, naïve, and helpless woman that she is. These divergences are what grab new and old readers of either the fairy tale genre, or Cinderella’s story alike. Old readers get to experience new elements and a fresh take on an old story, while newer readers can find it easier to understand and follow through Sexton’s story and the ideas it’s trying to convey. All these contrasting elements help change Sexton’s versions tone and connotations, despite the stories being very
The Grimm brothers were motivated to change the stories up a bit as their tales captivated more people. They incorporated a softer side with a primary moral of the story for the readers (GrimmFairytales.com). It is from these original Grimm versions that modern fairytales, such as Cinderella, originated from. The original version, published in 1812 portrays Cinderella as a poor child who lost her beloved mother; she lived a life of misery as a result of this death. Her father remarried and took on a new life, letting the evil stepsister torment Cinderella.
Even though the time periods are very different (by 200 years) the formulas for their fairy tales seems to remain constant. Character development, which is very important in fairy tales is both well done and accurately portrays the living situation for a character in the time period of when it was written. Perrault's version seems to put Cinderella's family in a higher, well-off situation of the Grimm's because she is still abided to obey the rules that her dying mother had set for her. Something that you would see a women do in the late 1600's. Her higher class and the rules of her generation has set her to not have revenge on her step-sisters and helps them marry in the end, making a happy ending to the story for everyone. This also gives off the rules of the time to the young girls who would be listening or reading this story back then. They knew their place in society and tales like Perrault's reinforced it. The Grimm's version, titled Ashenputtle, has key elements in the story line that make it very different from Perrault's Cinderella. The theme becomes very different as the end of the tale results in revenge on the step-sisters from Ashenputtle. This variation in the story line represents the setting in which the Grimm's either lived in themselves, or the living situation of the people who related this tale to the Grimm's.
Many people may find it odd that two stories that follow the same concept can be so different. “Aschenputtel” shows the horror of a story that we are so used to hearing, told in a different matter being told in a way that makes you completely forget about the modern version. You can also say that both stories are being told differently because of the time period and the location. So in a way the writers used the time period, and personal battles to tell these stories. Maid of Manhattan was told in New York in 2002, and they used a rich politician as modern version of a prince. It can be said that the time period impacted the choice to do so. One story shows happiness and joy of a mother who despite her troubles uplifts herself throughout the whole movie the other shows the dark story of a girl abused by her stepsister and her stepmother that would give anyone nightmares just reading right off the bat you notice the difference of two stories that are supposed to be the same going in two completely different directions. This goes to show that every happy and uplifting story has a dark side to it no matter the way we are used to hearing it every story can be interpreted differently in many different ways. Not just for Cinderella but for all fairy tales. People can see the concept of the stories in different ways which makes them interpret them differently it just goes to show every fairy tale has it’s downfall but it’s the ones that are told differently that shows that not every fairy tales has it’s happy endings. Even the most uplifting story can show darkness. It really goes to show how different two stories can be even if they have the same concept to them. “Aschenputtel” and “Maid of Manhattan” are great example of two extremely different interpretation but also contain the same concept. It may sound strange or odd but that’s the power of
In both stories, Cinderella and Zozella are basically rescued by man from their hard, sad life, who then marries them and makes them his queen. This is sending a strong message to not only females but males also that women cannot save themselves and that they need to be “rescued” by a rich man who will marry them and provide them with a luxurious life. However, in Perrault’s “Cinderella” there is a theme which is not present in Basile’s “The Cat Cinderella”, this theme is the idea that beauty equals kindness of character. Cinderella is shown to be good of heart and also incredibly beautiful, unlike her less beautiful, mean spirited sisters, Perrault describes her as “a hundred times handsomer than her sisters, though they were always dressed very richly” (Perrault, 16). This sends the message that if you’re kind you are beautiful and if you are not beautiful then you do not have a good character. This theme is even seen in today’s society where women are judged and judge others based on appearance. This theme is not present in “The Cat Cinderella”, Zozella is beautiful as well but her beauty doesn’t make a good hearted person and this is evident when she commits murder to get what she wants. Creating the stereotypical view of women being cunning and sly in order to get what they want, and sending a message to young girls that women are heartless selfish
“Cinderella� and “Tam and Cam� are so much alike especially using the workings of magic throughout these tales and also differ in the way that these stories use violence to represent their cultures. Their hope comes from these characters that help them on their paths for Cinderella it was her fairy godmother who created magic and for Tam it was a Buddha who hinted her to create magic reincarnation.
It is more obvious in this tale than others, but some of these aspects are the nickname of Cinderella, the evil stepfamily, the three balls, and the beautiful slipper. However, Perrault and the brothers Grimm made some parts of the story very different. In the Grimm’s version, Cinderella’s mother was very important to her and she was very important to her father, while in Perrault’s her mother is not even mentioned and her father is more attached to his new wife than he is to his daughter. Perrault described the stepsister’s as less beautiful than Cinderella, while the brothers Grimm described them as just as beautiful but with bad personalities. Another major difference was Cinderella’s magic helper. In Perrault’s story Cinderella had a fairy godmother that gave her horses, a carriage, footmen to escort her, and new beautiful clothes, and in Grimm’s story her magic helper was birds that only provided clothes. A main difference that a lot of people would notice is the fact that in the Grimm’s tale Cinderella’s slipper was made of gold, and in Perrault’s it was glass which is what most people are familiar with. The endings of the stories also differed. The Grimm’s version ended in a much darker way. Both stepsisters got their eyes pecked out and were doomed to live a life of blindness, which was clearly not a very child friendly way to end a story. In
There are many things one has learned from the experience, although the twelve versions of Cinderella are similar to each other but yet in some way they are different, which make it unique. Similar plot and similar circumstances however, different author with different minds. They are portraying with similar knowledge but the way the story may be told is different such as the characters names, locations, and the time it was created. No matter what it is I’ve learn that Cinderella will be Cinderella regardless of the different author, different time or different title. These creations of different versions is precisely similar to when one tells another person a story and is passed on to another person than the story will be shorten with less details and added with a few other exaggerations, in which will cause the stories to be different from each other.
A lot of the fairy tale stories that we have seen as young adults and even as adults are original folk tale stories that have been modified and rewritten to accommodate our new cultures. Cinderella happens to be one of these stories that have been changed over the years. There are many different versions of Cinderella, an African Cinderella, a Hungarian Cinderella and even a Chinese version. All of the Cinderella’s are similar in plot, but the author dictates the story’s theme based on the people whom he is writing for which completely changes the story’s tone, mood and other elements. While Perrault's version stresses the values and materialistic worries of his middle-class audience, Grimm’s' focus is on the harsh realities of life associated with the peasant culture. Perrault’s and Grimm’s Cinderella’s have the same plot, but their writing style is different which completely modifies the tale.
Even though the two versions are extremely similar, they contain slightly different morals. When the Grimm Brothers wrote their story, the world was a different place and children did not need to be babied. That is why they chose to write such a cruel ending to their version. In the modern-day Cinderella, there is a profusion of magic and there is no violence, which is a change from the original story. By changing this and the ending, children receive a different message from the story. However, both stories give kids hope that they will live happily ever after.
The origins of the Cinderella story date back around the beginning of the first century, or as far back as oral stories have been told. Many variations
The very first version of Cinderella was first written in 1697 by a French author