A Cinderella Story: How Fairy Tales Evolve

Cinderella is one of the most well known and popular fairy tales. Why this is, is a little unclear. Perhaps it is because her story is so straight forward and simple. As with the moral her tale presents; Good things come to good people. Cinderella is forced to become a virtual servant in her own home. She is forced to “scoured the dishes, tables, etc. And rubbed madam’s chamber, and those of the misses her daughters” (Walker, 2). Yet she doesn’t complain and does the work diligently. In the end, her loving qualities win over the heart of the Prince and her beauty shines through not only from the outside, but her inner beauty as well. Throughout time, the story of Cinderella has changed very little. With minimal ex

Walt Disney took Cinderella and created a version that would appeal to the masses and aimed it directly at children. His cartoon was in the same form as many of his others movies before and the movies to come after. Filled with song and dance, talking animals and enchantment. Except for the latter, these are things are limited to Disney’s version. Disney included a fairy Godmother, and the basics of mice being the horses, the pumpkin was used as the carriage. Other animals from the story were used as the coach men and the foot men. His version also included only one night at the ball, which was different from all the other versions. This seems to be because of time issues for the movie. Disney chose to completely ignore the sisters for the end. Cinderella never saw them after she fit into the shoe and was whisked away to the Prince. The sisters are never seen again and we do not know how Cinderella chose to deal with them, you are just left content in seeing Cinderella drive off away happy. With this version, Disney had Cinderella’s father fall ill and die soon after he remarried. It would not have been fitting for her father to ignore her treatment. Disney writes happy fairy tales with happy endings. If this one had included a neglectful father, it would have not been deemed “appropriate” for his target audience, being children.

ceptions, the stories from different eras are very near the same.

As time travels and goes on through the years, so do fairy tales. Some are merely shadows of their former selves. Others can be recited word for word from generation to generation. What happens during this time in the world affects this. As well as the simplicity or complexity of the story and the moral. When the story is put into print, it tends to stay the same a little more than when passed on just by words. But when passed on from country to country, it sometimes has a variation when translated to another language. No matter what the differences, there is always one thing that remains the same, “and they lived happily ever after.”

These examples show four very different versions of the same character. A completely missing father, an ignorant one, one that endorses the cruel treatment of his daughter and finally one that is so distraught over his new families cruelty, he eventually dies from it. Although this aspect is not a major point in the story, it is nonetheless a detail not to be overlooked. It may be a representation of the way family life was held at the different times. When a writer, or someone who is relaying the tale, changes it slightly from the way it was told to them, there is a reason. It may be for dramatic effect or it may be for a more profound reason. Perhaps the Grimms chose to have Ashputtle’s father condone her treatment as a testament to how parents treated their children during those times. Or maybe it is a reflection on their personal l

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