Grimm's Cinderella Story

The Grimm’s stories have strict criteria for good and evil. Good women are not the hero, they do not plan, nor do they get themselves out of bad situations; they are obtuse and wait until a Prince saves them. These qualities doom the female protagonists (and readers) to pursue the only destiny women have, and that is to be a wife and mother (Rowe, 1978). Cinderella is the heroine and the ideal good girl. She is unambiguously beautiful, kind, and compassionate. She does not complain or get angry. This is foreseen early in the Grimm’s Cinderella story:

“ “Is the stupid goose to sit in the parlour with us?" said they. "He who wants to eat bread must earn it; out with the kitchen-wench…. and led her into the kitchen. There she had to do hard work from morning till night, get up before daybreak, carry water, light fires, cook and wash. Besides this, the sisters did her every imaginable injury -- they mocked her and emptied her peas and lentils into the ashes, so that she was forced to sit and pick them out again. “(Grimms 21).

Instead, she takes her burdens as they come. Clare R. Ferrer noted in her article, “heroines are not allowed any defects, nor are they required to develop, since they are already perfect.” At the beginning of the story, Cinderella is described as “remaining pious and good” in-spite of the loss she endured. Cinderella is such a good person, that she takes the abuse from her step-sisters with grace and never asks for anything, nor does she reveal to her father or the Prince the type of life she has succumbed to living. Beauty goes hand-in-hand with being a good woman. According to Parsons, “a high premium is placed on feminine beauty…Women are positioned as the object of men’s gaze, and beauty determines a woman’s ...

... middle of paper ...

...” 2006 : n. pag. Print.

Mendelson, M. "Forever Acting Alone: The Absence of Female Collaboration in Grimms' Fairy Tales." Children's Literature in English28.3 (1997): pp. 111-125(15). Ebscohost. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

O’Niell, Thomas. “Guardians of the Fairy Tale: The Brothers Grimm.” Web. 10 Nov 2013. .

Parsons, Linda T.. "Ella Evolving: Cinderella Stories And The Construction Of Gender- Appropriate Behavior."Children's Literature in Education 35.2 (2004): 135-154. Print.

Rowe, Karen. Feminism and fairy tales.. Cambridge, Mass.: Radcliffe College, 1978. Print.

Stone, Kay F.. Some day your witch will come. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2008. Print.

Zipes, Jack. Fairy tales and the art of subversion the classical genre for children and the process of civilization. New York [u.a.: Routledge, 2011. Print.