Cinderella
I am doing this project because I enjoy reading the Brothers Grimm fairy tales and pondering the themes included in them. My project is on the themes of three different versions of Cinderella - The Brothers Grimm version, the Disney version, and the live action movie version. I will write a summary of each of the stories and then compare the different stories’ themes.
The Brothers Grimm story starts when Ella’s mother dies. While she is dying, Ella’s mother tells Ella to be good and pious. A short time after Ella’s mother dies, Ella’s father remarries a woman with two daughters of her own. Her father continued to travel and asked Ella and his stepdaughters what they wanted from his travels. The stepdaughters both wanted expensive cloths and jewels while Ella just asked for the first branch that touched his hat on the road. Ella’s father brought back Ella’s branch which she then planted at the grave of her mother. It grew into a large Hazel tree because she had cried over it so many times. A little while later, the King was hosting a three-day festival, which Ella, who by now has been renamed Cinderella by her stepsisters, wants to go to. Cinderella asks her stepmother if she can go to the festival, and her stepmother tells her she can go if she has picked a pot of lentils out of the ashes in one hour. Cinderella then called to the birds that lived in the tree on her mother's grave to come and pick the lentils out of the ashes. After the birds finished, they flew away and Cinderella presented the pot to her stepmother asking if she can now go to the festival, but her stepmother just laughed at her. After Cinderella began to cry, her stepmother told her if she could pick two pots of lentils out of the ashes in one hour she could go to the festival. Again, Cinderella called for the birds to come down and pick the lentils out of the ashes for her. After the birds were done, Cinderella again took the bowl to her stepmother, but her stepmother told her that because she did not own a ball gown nor could she dance, she could not go with them. After the stepmother and stepsisters left for the festival, Cinderella went to her mother's grave and called “Shake and quiver, little tree, throw gold and silver down on me.” and the tree gave her a beautiful gold and silver dress with silk slippers embroidered with silver. Cinderella went to the festival, and the Prince danced only with her. When it became time to leave, she ran away and hid in a dovecote. The Prince, who had chased after her, asked her father if he knew the maiden who had run into his dovecote. Cinderella's father, thinking it could possibly be Cinderella, chopped down the dovecote, but it was empty because Cinderella had slipped out the other side of the dovecote without the Prince noticing. The second night of the festival came and again after her family had left Cinderella went to her tree and called out again “Shake and quiver, little tree, through gold and silver down on me.” and the tree threw down an even more stunning dress than before down. At the ball the Prince again would only dance with Cinderella and when it came time, Cinderella again ran from the Prince and climbed a pear tree in her garden, and, as before, the Prince told Cinderella's father that the maiden had climbed the pear tree. Once again the father thinking it might be Cinderella chopped down the pear tree, but Cinderella had already climbed down the other side. On the third and final night of the festival, once her family had left, she, as before, went to her mother’s tree and her tree gave her an even more radiant dress with slippers made of pure gold. Once again, the Prince danced only with Cinderella and when, like the other nights, she went to leave, she encountered an obstacle because the Prince foreseeing that she would run spread pitch on the stairs, and Cinderella, not being ready,left a slipper on the steps of the palace. Taking the shoe, the Prince proclaims he would only marry someone whose foot fit into the shoe. The stepsisters were extremely delighted to hear this because they had small perfect feet. When the Prince came to their house, the oldest stepsister took the shoe into her room and tried with all her might to get the shoe to fit, but she could not as her toe made her foot too big. Her mother gave her a knife and told her to cut off her toe because when she was queen she would not need to walk. So, the step sister did and, swallowing the pain, went with the Prince on his horse, but as they passed the hazel tree, the birds sang “... there is blood in the shoe. The shoe is too tight. The bride is not right.” Hearing this, the Prince turned his horse around and gave the slipper to the other step sister to try on. After pushing and shoving trying to get the shoe to fit, the stepmother gave her a knife and told her to cut off a bit of the heel because when you are a queen, you will never need to walk. So the girl did, swallowing her pain, and was helped onto the Prince’s horse. Again, when they passed the tree it sang “... there is blood in the shoe. The shoe is too tight. The bride is not right.” The Prince looked down and saw the blood trickling from the shoe, and once again turned his horse around to return the false bride. The Prince asked if they had any other daughters, and they replied telling him they only had a lowly kitchen wench who was much too dirty to show herself, but the Prince insisted. After Cinderella had washed her face and hands, she came out to try on the slipper and it fit like a glove, After this, the Prince recognized her as the girl he danced with. After the wedding, the stepsisters wanting to gain favor with the blessed couple, but birds came down on them and punished them with blindness for their wickedness.
The Disney movie version of Cinderella starts after Ella’s mother had died when Ella's father remarried because he thought Ella needed a mother. So, he remarried ,but his wife turned out to be a selfish person only caring about herself and her daughters. Because she was jealous of Ella's beauty and grace, she demoted Ella to a scullery maid. Even though Ella was worked hard, she kept her spirits up by making friends with the mice and birds who she helped out with little things and who in turn helped her. As the Prince was of age to be married and have heirs, the King decided that he would throw a ball to find his son a wife. Cinderella, hearing the King was holding a ball, went to her stepmother and asked if she could go to the ball. Her stepmother told her she could go if she got all of her chores done and found herself a presentable dress. But her stepmother had absolutely no intention of letting Cinderella go to the ball, so when Cinderella, after finishing her chores, came down looking radiant in a dress made by the mice from beads and fabric from the trash, her stepmother was livid and with her daughters tore the dress apart. After the stepfamily left, Cinderella sat down crying until her Fairy Godmother appeared, and gave Cinderella a chance to go to the ball. She turned Cinderella’s dress into an even more beautiful ball gown, turned the mice into four white horses, Cinderella’s horse into a coachman, her dog into a footman, and a pumpkin into a beautiful carriage. She also gave Cinderella pure glass slippers. The Fairy Godmother warned Cinderella that the spell would break at midnight. When Cinderella got to the ball, the Prince would only dance with her. When it reached midnight, she ran away from him. So great was her haste, that she left one of her glass slippers on the steps of the palace. At the last chime of midnight, everything reverted into what its original form except for the glass slippers. In an effort to find the girl his son had fallen in love with, the King sent the Duke to scour the land for the maiden whose foot fit into the shoe. He also issued a royal proclamation that whosoever’s foot fit the shoe would be the Prince’s bride. When Cinderella's family heard of the royal proclamation, they were ecstatic for the chance to marry royalty. When Cinderella heard of proclamation, she started humming the song from the ball remembering the Prince and the dancing. Unfortunately, Cinderella’s stepmother heard her humming and locked her in a room. Her friends, the mice, tried to help her get out but were hindered by the cat. After the cat got shut in another room by the mice and the other animals, the mice then let Cinderella out. Meanwhile, the stepsisters were trying to force their abnormally large feet into the slipper. When the stepmother saw Cinderella coming down the stairs, she deliberately tripped the footman to break the slipper but her plot was foiled by Cinderella who presented the other slipper. Cinderella tried on the slipper, and it fit like a glove. The Prince and Cinderella then got married.
In the live action version of Cinderella, which also happens to be produced by Disney, the story begins with a happy family. This happy family comprised of Ella, her mother, and her father. When Ella was young, her mother taught her to believe in magic and to believe that animals could hear you and understand you. But this family’s happiness did not last forever, for Ella's mother fell incurably ill and, before she died, told her daughter one last piece of wisdom, “Have courage and be kind.” Ella and her father lived in relative happiness and harmony for many years until one day Ella's father asked Ella if he might get one more shot at happiness, and Ella told him that everyone was entitled to happiness. So, Ella's father married Lady Tremaine, the widow of his coworker Lord Tremaine, who had two daughters of her own. During one of Ella's father’s many trips for business, Ella's stepmother moves her into the attic, a cold and drafty place far from the rest of the house. That trip turns out to be her father’s last trip as he died on the road. After her second husband's death, Lady Tremaine dismissed the entire household on grounds of not having enough money to pay them all and forced Ella to do increasingly more of the work. Because of all the work Ella had to do, some nights she was unable to get to bed until late and because of that, some days Ella did not make the long trudge to her frigid attic room and slept instead by the warm ashes of the fire. After one such night, Ella set the breakfast table unaware she had ashes on her cheek until one of her step sister’s noticed and called her Cinderella. When Cinderella was done setting the table, her stepmother noticed that Ella had set a place for herself and asked who the place was for. After Ella responded that the place was for herself, Lady Tremaine told Ella she could eat after all the chores were done then dismissed her. Ella was crushed because this was the first time that Ella's stepfamily had openly showed their dislike. So, she hopped on her horse and went for a ride to handle her feelings. While riding through a forest, Ella came upon a stunning stag. While admiring the beauty of the stag, Ella heard the sound of a hunting horn and urged the stag to run and save his life. Because of the horns and the hunting party’s shouting, Ella's horse spooked and raced down a path parallel to the path the hunting party is taking. Kit noticing Ella racing down the trail, raced after her, calmed her horse, and asked if she is all right. Ella replied that she was alright, but the hunters scared the stag. Thinking Kit is an apprentice, Ella pleaded with him to spare the life of the stag and Kit, stunned with Ella's beauty, agreed. Before Kit left, he asked Ella her name, but she would not tell him thinking only of the stag’s wellbeing. Later that week, Kit's father, the King, was told by his doctor that he did not have long to live and thinking of the greater good of the kingdom told Kit he needed to find a wife that can help make the Kingdom stronger by forging alliances. As a way for Kit to meet his bride, the King proposed a ball. Kit, with the semblance of making the common folk happy, stated that the ball should be for all people, but he just wanted to meet Ella again because he had become smitten with her. When the town criers announced that the Prince was holding a ball, Ella ran home to tell her stepmother about the ball. When Lady Tremaine heard about the ball, she ordered Ella to go to the dressmakers and order three dresses as fast as she could,. Hearing this, Ella thanked Lady Tremaine, thinking that the third dress was for herself, but Lady Tremaine just laughed at her. Because Lady Tremaine refused to buy Ella a dress, Ella refurbished one of her mother's old dresses. The day of the ball arrived and when Ella’s stepfamily was ready to leave, Ella came down the stairs from her attic room in a beautiful dress. Lady Tremaine, feeling jealous of Ella’s beauty, ridicules her and then, to make her feel even worse, tears her dress. After her step family left, Ella ran outside to the garden where she proceeded to cry. When she was done crying, Ella saw a beggar woman, who asked for some milk. After drinking the milk, the beggar woman turns into Ella's fairy godmother and transforms a pumpkin into a beautiful golden carriage, a goose into a coachman, two lizards int0 footman, and four mice into four white horses, and Ella's dress into a magnificent ball gown. Before Ella left, her fairy godmother gave her two things, slippers made of glass and a warning. The warning was that the spell would break at midnight. When Ella reached court and walked into the ball, the Prince would only dance with her. They danced as if they had been partners their whole lives. This made the power hungry Grand Duke angry, so he promised Kit to Princess Chelina of Zaragoza, which Lady Tremaine overheard. While all of that was happening, Ella and Kit had stolen away from all the hustle and bustle of the ball and had gone to Kit's secret garden where they lost track of time because they were so engrossed in talking. But, it could not last forever. As soon it reached midnight and Ella, startled, ran off, with Kit racing afterwards. In her haste to leave before the spell broke, Ella left one of her slippers on the steps of the palace. Racing home at a breakneck pace, Ella made it to the front gate before the spell was completely broken. She then raced up to her attic room to hide the slipper beneath the floorboards, before rushing back downstairs to greet her stepfamily. During the time she was downstairs, her stepmother was describing the mystery Princess. Sadly, Lady Tremaine hears Ella humming the waltz that she danced with the Prince and gets suspicious, so she tells her daughters and Ella that the Prince is marrying Princess Chelina of Zaragoza to gauge Ella’s reaction. Not long after the ball, the King died but not before telling Kit that he should marry for love, not for advantage. When Kit became King, he wrote a proclamation saying that whoever brings the other slipper to the castle will become his wife. But when Ella went to get the slipper to take it to the palace, she found a very different sight than the one she was expecting. Instead of a slipper and an empty room, she found no slipper and an occupied room, for Lady Tremaine had found the slipper before Ella could retrieve it. Lady Tremaine tried to blackmail Ella using the slipper telling Ella if she would make Lady Tremaine head of the royal household and have advantageous marriages for her daughters she would give her the slipper, but Ella refused to give her control of the kingdom. When Ella refused, Lady Tremaine broke the slipper and locked Ella in the attic. After Lady Tremaine locked Ella in the attic, she went to the Grand Duke and presented the slipper shards to him and told him her version of the story then, said she would go to the public with the information if she did not get his word that she would be made a Countess and her daughters would have good marriages when Kit married Princess Chelina of Zaragoza. After Lady Tremaine left, the Grand Duke took the shards of the slipper to Kit and told him that the shards were found on the side of the road and he should give up the search and think of his kingdom, but Kit refused to give up the search. The Grand Duke was able to convince Kit that if he did not find the mystery princess, he should marry Princess Chelina of Zaragoza. Suspecting the Grand Duke of having ulterior motives, Kit appointed the Captain of the Guard to go with the Grand Duke when he presented the other slipper for all eligible maidens to try on. After spending a long time, the convoy finally reached Lady Tremaine’s house, which Lady Tremaine's daughters were ecstatic about. But sadly for them, when they tried on the slipper, they were not able to fit their feet in it even after a large amount of pushing. The convoy was getting ready to leave when they heard Ella singing throw an open window. The Grand Duke tried to convince the Captain that the noise was just the wind, but the Captain was having none of it. Giving up, the Grand Duke orders the convoy to leave but Kit, who hid himself in a guard's uniform, orders the Captain to investigate the singing. When the Captain found Ella, he asked her to go with him, but Lady Tremaine orders her not to by her authority as her mother. Ella told her “You have never been and never will be my mother.” When she gets downstairs, Kit recognizes her even before she tries on the slipper. When she tries on the slipper, it fits like a glove, and Ella and Kit promise to take each other as they are. Right before Kit and Ella leave, Ella forgives Lady Tremaine even after all she has done to hurt her. Sadly, after Ella and Kit were married, there was no reunion with Lady Tremaine for she, her daughters, and the Grand Duke left the Kingdom. And almost everyone lived relatively happily after.
Common plot points across the three Cinderella stories are: Cinderella growing up without a mother; Cinderella’s father not being present for some reason whether it be because he is dead or because he is blind to her struggling; Cinderella’s stepmother being obsessed with her own daughters; Cinderella being rescued by a Prince; Cinderella getting demoted to a serving maid of sorts in her own home; Cinderella being friends with the animals; an outside force helping Cinderella to get to the palace so she can dance with the Prince; a dance of sorts happens where Cinderella dances with the Prince; the guy she marries is a Prince; she somehow only ends up with one shoe;: the magic shoe will only allow Cinderella to wear it; the Prince uses the shoe to find Cinderella; and the stepsisters fail to fit into the slipper. Plot points that differ are: in the Brothers Grimm Cinderella, the ball is a festival and lasts three days; Cinderella’s father is not dead; it is not a fairy godmother who helps Cinderella but the ghost of her dead mother; the stepmother cuts one of the step sister’s toes and the other one’s heel to try and fit them into the shoe; the stepsisters get their eyes pecked out by birds because of their wickedness; she does not lose her shoe on the third night of the festival but instead the Prince covered the stairs with tar to get her to stick there. Differences in the live action version Cinderella are: she meets the Prince before the ball; the Prince actually has a name; the stepmother has a name; the stepmother tries to blackmail Cinderella; the stepmother successfully blackmails the Grand Duke; the Prince gets betrothed to someone else; the King is dying. Common themes are: staying kind in the face of trials; a connection to nature; if you are good, enough good things will come to you; and if you are rude and unkind, you will be punished.
In the Brothers Grimm version the story is harsher and less child friendly but has more realities of life than the other two have. In the Disney version, you see a more child friendly, calm, happy version without some of the harshness that appears in the Brothers Grimm version, but it also focuses more on the themes and the morals of the story than the Brothers Grimm does. In the live action version, they focus more on creating a world than the Brothers Grimm version and the Disney version do. They do this by telling Ella’s backstory and giving the Prince a name and a personality. They also add humanity to the stepmother and her daughters, as well as motivation for acting how they act. They tone down the harshness to a more child-friendly level while still getting the point of the harshness across.
