Versions of Cinderella
Author: Aleena Shafqat.
Different variants
of Cinderella have been produced by various writers belonging to diverse
cultures and periods. In this essay, I have selected versions of Cinderella
from different historical eras in which tales reflect their respective
societies and cultures out of which they arise. The versions selected here are:
“The Golden Sandal: A Middle Eastern
Cinderella Story (1998)” retold by Rebecca Hickox from “The Little Red Fish and the Clog of Gold”,
Charles Perrault’s “Cendrillon” and Marie Catherine d’Aulnoy’s
“Finette Cendron” both written in late
17th century by French writers.
“The Golden Sandal: A Middle Eastern Cinderella Story” comes
from Iraq. As the story is set in Iraq so the name of Cinderella here is Maha rather
than any other name. Apart from names, this version has a cruel stepmother and stepsisters
who are always ruthless and pitiless as observed in other versions of
Cinderella. In the Middle Eastern version, the stepmother and stepsisters went
to a henna party where they watch and celebrate the bride’s hands and feet
painted with henna. Maha somehow manages to attend the henna party like her
counterpart in other versions but she forgets her gold slipper there when she
leaves the party in haste. Here Tariq, the brother of the bride, sends his
mother to find the girl rather than going himself in contrast to other versions
where the prince goes himself to find the girl.
Middle Eastern story of
Cinderella does not depart from its culture and society as different sayings,
proverbs and scenes are evidence of it:
“Allah says a kindness never goes unrewarded.”
“Oh Allah Whom we praise, how much this lady resembles my husband’s
daughter! But then, don’t they say ‘Every seven men were made from one clod of
clay’!”
Aside from the above lines,
the bride's henna ritual is an interesting cultural aspect of this story. Henna
is used by women in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa to create temporary tattoos
on their hands and feet. It is also worth noting that men and women attended
distinct functions and that the bride's henna ceremony was more of a chance for
young girls to meet the mothers of a young man they may marry than a chance for
young girls to meet a young man they might marry.
Perrault and d'Aulnoy wrote
their versions of the Cinderella story in late seventeenth-century France. It
was fashionable at the time to record oral folk tales, which had previously and
traditionally been told to young girls by older women to prepare them for
adulthood.
Perrault added a godmother,
an extra stepsister, animals, a magical pumpkin, and a time constraint to
Cinderella's ball attendance in “Cendrillon”, or “The Little Glass Slipper”.
Cinderella was shown as docile, compliant, passive, and lovely, able to obtain
her prince only through the help of her godmother and her magic. Her beauty of
face and nature was rewarded, as was her forgiveness of her stepsisters'
cruelty and mistreatment. Perrault believed "gentility, grace, and
selflessness" to be socially acceptable attributes for a well-bred
seventeenth-century female, and he emphasized them in his stories. With the
correct characteristics, a woman can achieve her biggest reward, marriage, as
well as financial security, which is crucial for women during that unstable
period.
“The Finette Cendron” of d'Aulnoy
differs from Perrault's. It was a considerably longer and more intricate story
than Perrault's, involving the heroine's actual and metaphorical journey to
adulthood and marital security. d'Aulnoy, as a female writer, painted a
different picture of women at the time. Finette Cendron, her heroine, was
"the best-hearted girl in the world" obedient, considerate, mindful
of customs, loyal, virtuous, practical, grateful, not greedy, accepting of
advice (by her godmother), secretive, resourceful, courageous, ingenious,
lucky, obedient, forgiving, possessed of common sense and finally, was able to recognize
and use her power to restore her and family’s fortune .Unlike Perrault's Cendrillon
who had few traits and was one-dimensional, Finette was a multi-faceted, three-dimensional
heroine who could affect not only her own but also her family's fate.
d'Aulnoy's story demonstrated
to readers, particularly girls, that they had influence over their own fates,
even if marriage and financial security remained the ultimate goal. Her version
dealt with issues of subordination - women to males, younger to older, lower
class to higher class. She demonstrated through Finette that women were far
from the ideal that Perrault sought to impose.
All above discussed versions
show that story remains same showing anti-feminist depictions such as patriarchy
and objectification, particularly sexual objectification, are depicted in the
story. The patriarchal societies are exhibited in above versions through the
concept of her living ‘happily ever after’ after getting married to the prince.
Cinderella is also objectified by her status as the princess who wins the
prince's affections due to her beauty. The prince simply wants to dance with
her since she is the most attractive woman in the room. Simone de Beauvoir in
her book ‘The Second Sex’ implies how females are generally regarded as below
men and are culturally gendered, “one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman”.
It is visible in Cinderella’s character as she being a female finds happiness
by marrying the prince. In contrast, d’Aulnoy being a female writer has come up
with a different story where she has empowered Cinderella by wit and
intelligence besides beauty.
Works cited
Butler, Judith. “ Sex and
Gender in Simone De Beauvoir's Second Sex.” Yale University Press, vol.
72, 1989, pp. 35–49.
“Cinderella; or, the Little
Glass Slipper.” Perrault: Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper,
https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/perrault06.html.
Crossman, Rachel Hope.
“Cinderella #46 the Golden Sandal: A Middle Eastern Cinderella Story (1998).” Cinderella
#46 The Golden Sandal: A Middle Eastern Cinderella Story (1998), 1 Jan.
1970, http://www.365cinderellas.com/2011/02/cinderella-46-golden-sandal-middle.html.
d'Aulnoy, Marie-Catherine.
"Finette Cendron." Fairy Tales, translated by J. R.
Planché, London: G. Routledge and Co., 1855, pp. 227-245.
Philip, Neil. The
Cinderella Story: The Origins and Variations of the Story Known as
"Cinderella". Penguin Books, 1989.
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