The Bad Mother In The Cinderella

Although the stepmother-stepdaughter relationships in all version of the fairytale were on the border of domestic and emotional abuse, there remains a large portion of attachment to the stepmother. The stepmother is consistently the “bad” mother throughout the entirety of the narratives, yet she is the character who has the most meaningful interactions with the protagonist, though they are meaning in a negative aspect. Because the “bad” mother is a split from the good mother, it is possible to consider Aschenputtel, Yeh-Shen, and Cinderella’s interactions with their stepmothers as reluctance to detach themselves from the relationship. Aschenputtel’s stepmother forces her to sleep by the hearth, covering herself in ash in the process, while

One interesting aspect is the conflicting role that the Cinderella of each of these narratives takes on. She is essentially a subservient maid who is abiding by the wishes of the master of the house, which in these cases is her stepmother. This situation is similar to the experiences that many children have with their parents, in particular the mother figure in a heteronormative, where they must obey the commands given to them. Some of these rules and orders may seem harsh from the child’s perspective, and there are potential feelings of wanting to disobey. However, parents are authoritative figures that wield that power in the relationship, especially at a young age. Like the different versions of Cinderella, they may want to rebel, but in an unnoticeable manner. Aschenputtel, Yeh-Shen, and Cinderella decide to go to the ball against their stepmothers’ wishes, which seems to reflect the desire children have to do what they wish despite their mothers’

The female protagonists’ subservient behavior in each of the narratives seems almost too perfect for the experiences they are subjected to. Not only do they not retaliate, they also do not show any negative attitude towards their stepmothers. Instead, they are diligent to the tasks assigned to them, and extend their extreme kindness to everyone within the household. This resembles the usage of the defense mechanism of reaction formation. According to the theories of ego psychology, reaction formations occur when individuals’ anxiety or conflict-driven intended behaviors are masked by exaggeration of opposite behaviors. Children relate to how the female protagonists suppress their conflicted emotions because the children themselves may using similar defense mechanisms to regulate their affect towards their