The Little Glass Slipper (Interpretation)
Fairy tales are narratives which have been around for centuries and have continued to be the most important source for instilling morals among children through witches, fairies, dwarfs and other such mystical creatures. Cinderella is one such fairytale which is engraved in everyone’s mind from the very beginning of their childhood. As time has passed various versions of this story have evolved to suit a plethora of purposes ranging from common lore to literary works to television adaptations.
The Cinderella that English speakers know and love can be traced to the French story Cendrillon, first published in 1697 by Charles Perrault, though Chinese and Greek versions of this classic tale go back to the 9th century CE and 6th century BCE, respectively. Today there are over 500 variants of Cinderella in Europe alone. The most celebrated adaptation of the story continues to be the one by Walt Disney which indeed is mirthful in comparison to its previous literary work by the Grimm Brothers. The authors were known for penning down tales which through their not-so-happy endings made an impact on the readers, page by page, word by word.
Differences in the two adaptations pop up not just in the characters but also the theme that they incorporate. Disney version of the story on the outset believes that an ideal child should do as they are told by following the orders and being obedient at all times and it is then that they will reap rewards for their conformity whereas the original work gives more emphasis on the aspect of what goes around comes around.
The end of the story portrays pigeons pecking out both the eyes of the step-sisters leaving less for the readers to decipher that the moral of the story actually had karma as an integral part of it. The two different versions, in fact, represent the idea of social construction of knowledge or that social reality varies according to the times one lives in, so that the two different versions reflect different perspectives of the different periods. Grimm’s Cinderella talks about a maiden who grieves for her demised mother and has a closeness with nature. There is a certain medieval atmosphere to the entire story which is missing in the later version of it. The birds listen to her wishes. Cinderella frequents her mother’s grave. The fairy godmother is missing and instead we have the birds and the tree that supply her with her splendour.
Not just that, the Grimm’s version of the story focuses on how talented Cinderella actually is as she does not just mope about but actually sorts things out herself, and considering that her pragmatism involves a magic tree, some enchanted birds, and the apparent ability to disappear, it seems that she isn’t actually an emotionally neglected kitchen maid, but a talented witch. The original literature does not involve fairy godmother, mice, frogs and pumpkins in it. Instead it entails an enchanted tree which was planted by her on her mother’s grave and watered through her tears of sorrow. This idea leaves an impact as the tree was actually a twig from her father’s business visit which was desired by Cinderella as a present much contrary to her sisters materialistic demands for clothes and jewels.
The theme highlighted the power of wishful thinking and digs in deep a sense of remorse for the choices people make in their lifetime. The end further eloquently embeds the idea of how lust and greed are more gullible than innocence itself as even the act of chopping off her toe could not get the step sister to be the Prince’s bride. The constant need for grandeur and galvanic endings has led to deterioration of the essence of the tales of past which can only be restored through accurate portrayal of the stories.
