Comparing Grimm Brothers And Perrault's Story Of Cinderella

Contradistincts of Cinderella

How many different versions of a fairy tale are there? It is truly astonishing how so many authors can the same story, but with different features. For example, Grimm Brothers and Charles Perrault’s version of Cinderella are different and unique in their own way. Grimm Brothers gave the story of Cinderella a more gruesome touch, while Perrault’s story of Cinderella is similar to the stories of Cinderella we see and hear today. There are many similarities in each Cinderella story, but the Grimm Brothers and Perrault’s version share various differences that separates one story from another.

One big difference separating Perrault’s version from Grimm’s version is the magic that is involved in the story. Perrault involved a fairy godmother in his story, while the brothers involved a few birds inside a magical tree. These things have a big effect in each story, as they both lead Cinderella to her happy ending. The Godmother gives Cinderella a coach covered in gold, horses to make travel easier, coachmen, and footmen. As a result of giving her all of these things, it made Cinderella seem more elegant. This was

all fantastic, but there was a downside to all of this magic; Cinderella had to leave the ball by midnight, before the magic wore off. In Grimm’s story not only could she leave the ball whenever she wanted to, but she also went to the ball three times. The downside of this version was the fact that the birds could not give Cinderella a coach, horses, etc. Magic usually plays a big role in each fairytale as it did in botyh stories, just in a different way.
Along with the magical differences, Cinderella’s Godmother gave her a golden and silver dress with glass slippers. Grimm allowed the bird in the tree to give Cinderella golden slippers along with a gold and silver dress. The dresses were similar, but the shoes were completely different. One made of fragile, yet sturdy glass, the other made of gold. Not only was there a difference in the shoes, but there was a difference in how the shoe had gotten into the Prince’s possession. This detail is quite important because if Cinderella had not lost her shoe, the prince most likely would not have found a way to find her. In Perrault’s story, her glass slipper simply slips off as she runs down the stairs, trying to get home before the magic fades away. In the Grimm fairy tale, the prince has to set a trap for her the final time she goes to the ball because she kept slipping away from him.
The last difference to be stated is the theme of each story.

While reading the Grimm fairy tale, the reader usually notices how the sisters are mean and cruel to Cinderella. The step sisters bark orders, make Cinderella do whatever it is they please, and behind all that, they cut off parts of their feet in an attempt to become royalty. At the end of the story, when Cinderella is getting married to the Prince and her step sisters are walking down the aisle, a pigeon picked out each one of their eyes. One of the themes of this story would be: “You get what you deserve” because of how the Grimm Brothers gave the sisters something in return for how Cinderella was treated poorly. Charles Perrault gave off a theme more similar to “Forgive and forget”. At the end of his version, Cinderella forgave the sisters for how they mistreated

her.
In Conclusion, many versions of fairytales share various similarities along with differences. From the magic to the theme of the story had many differences, considering how Grimm Brothers decided to take a gruesome look of Cinderella. Even though a story may have different authors, the story could be very similar to the original. For the big question: How many versions are there of Cinderella? In what ways are they similar? Just have to keep reading to find out what else is out there.