Sibling Rivalry: Cinderella by Charles Perrault

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Recommended: Merits and demerits of fairy tales

Any child growing up will be enamored by the lustrous glorified ending of a fairytale; most notably Walt Disney’s. As this child progresses into maturity a realization of how the world actually revolves occurs demeaning their once happy thought. Charles Perrault wrote his version of Cinderella to appeal towards the naïve, yet inquire those with sophisticated intellect. A mask is created by the mysticism of magic and buoyant endings. Beneath that masquerade lies wretchedness within family and how at times freedom is only possible with the help of something non-existent.
Innocence itself has varying meanings and can branch out in a variety of ways. One commonality is to be free of guilt either emotionally or physically. For a person to be truly innocent they must be purely guilt free in both realms. The whole plot of Cinderella revolves around her pure nature. The happy ending would not be as gratifying and deserved, causing much less resonation with the audience. Cinderella’s innocence clashes with her new family as they are selfish and devious. Unbeknownst to Cinderella, she is the envy of her two step sisters as they always want more and better. If they were not envious of their step-sister, they would not prohibit her from going to the ball. The patience of the kind hearted girl pays off as she endured pain from losing her mother to death and father to stepmother. Humiliation of becoming the mistreated servant is her reward all the while she does it with a smile happy to oblige towards all their requests. Hence, innocence is also selflessness. As Cinderella progresses in the story her good nature does justify itself as she is the one that has a magical godmother that helps her woo the prince allowing her not jus...

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... He related to them with them by showing that even the most pure person imaginable does not get along with her sister. Cinderella did get over the past and embraced new beginnings with her sisters by her side. Perrault implemented the idea that sibling rivalry exists and if somebody as innocent as Cinderella can forgive everything her sisters did to her, so can everybody else. In reality it is hard to embrace forgiveness, but family should always be there for a person. Something as simple as a feud from childhood should not affect such an important part of life. Cinderella illuminates that (Perrault, n.d.).

References
Leder, J. (1993, January 1). Adult Sibling Rivalry. In Psychology Today. Retrieved November 7, 2013
Perrault, Charles (n.d.). Cinderella. Baker College Composition: A Custom Approach (rev. ed.), 404-408. Boston, MA: Pearson Learning Solutions.

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