“Into the Woods” entails a song done by Stephen Sondheim and later written as a book by James Lapine. It has won several awards in Tony Awards i.e. Best Book, Best Score, and Best Actress in a Musical. The awards came when the industry was dominated by The Phantom of the Opera. Bernadette Peters' performance as the Witch and Joanna Gleason's portrayal of the Baker's Wife brought acclaim to the production during its original Broadway run. The lyrics are at tribute to the lifestyle of the singer where we get to learn the life of several brothers grim and the consequences of their characters’ desires and pursuit. The lyrics adopt the life of a childless baker and his wife who had a quest of starting a family. A witch had placed a curse on them but their journey involves other characters. Cinderella had a wish to attend the King’s festival. Jack on other side had a wish that his cow would give milk. The baker and his wife intended to get a child. Another actor is Little Red Ridinghood who bought bread for her grandmother. In this discourse, we will concentrate on Cinderella with the lyrics from “On the steps of the Palace”. Cinderella family went to the King’s festival and her thought to visit her mother’s grave for guidance. Her mother’s spirit offered her a gown and golden slippers, Jack on the other hand met a man who discouraged him from selling the milk for a sack of beans, the man vanished after. Little Red Ridinghood met a hungry wolf that confused him to accompany him after eating his grandmother. Cinderella went to the festival with her beautiful gown and golden slippers where she found out that a prince had been following her. The wife helped her to hide and explains the real myth that Cinderella applauded to. According... ... middle of paper ... ...ce but felt very bored. This portrays her like a wanting lady who have a self esteem. Cinderella, assisted by bird friends, became aware that her mother’s grave was disturbed and decided to investigate. Every character got back to the woods with a somber mind as birds stopped singing. Cinderella was met at her mother’s grave and was confused to join other characters for safety. This was after the giant emerged as a woman that everyone in the community had lust for. While awaiting the return of the wife, the Witch dragged Jack who was sacrificed to the giantess. This means that Cinderella was lucky to escape the haunting sacrifice to the giantess. Cinderella reflects characters are emotional and she stayed with the baker’s child and confronted the prince who has no time for her. Finally she exits with a lyrics, “I wish…” this means that she regrets the life before.
In “Ashputtle”, the main ‘Cinderella’ character, Ashputtle, decides immediately she wants to go to a ball which the prince is throwing. She makes every effort to do so. She prepares her stepsisters while pleading with her stepmother for permission to attend. She secretly calls upon magical animals which she controls, namely birds, to perform her assigned work. When all of this fails to get her to the ball, she resorts to the use of magic again, this time to produce a stunning gown. Upon her arrival, the prince is immediately enamored with Ashputtle. Though the prince is perhaps not the brightest man, he a valuable and powerful asset for any poorer woman to be associated with. After placing the prince under the spell of her beauty and charming , Ashputtle fearlessly uses magic to inform the prince he has retrieved the wrong bride.
At the beginning of the production, there were three separate spots on the stage with a house in the background of each, all slightly a different style of house. These houses helped represent that there were three separate families being represented in the musical; Cinderella, Jack and his Mother, and the baker and his wife. The opening scene with the houses helped identify and separate the purposes of each distinctive family. For instance, Cinderella is seen tirelessly cleaning the floor, eluding to her tireless participation later on in the story. The baker and his wife are not only providing little red riding hood with
It all begins with “Once upon a time” and ends with “and they lived happily ever after”. “Cinderella” is a very widely known story that many children around the world look up to and admire through their entire life. The history of this story, how scholars interpret this tale, and how the authors have retold the story are all key points to keeping this story fresh and popular. Most of the time when people hear the story of “Cinderella”, they think about the Disney version and maybe it is time that changes. All in all, the story brings light to everyone’s life even if they only know the original “Cinderella”.
In the article, “Fairy Tales and a Dose of Reality,” Catherine Orenstein attempts to show the contrast between the modern romanticism of marriage and the classic fairy tale’s presentation of them (285). She looks at the aristocratic motivations for marriage and the way these motivations are prominent in Cinderella. She then looks at the 20th century to highlight the innate difference of our mentalities, showing a much more optimistic and glorified relationship. In the article, “Cinderella: Not So Morally Superior,” Elisabeth Panttaja claims that Cinderella’s success can be attributed to her craftiness (288). She shows her and her mother as an equal to the stepfamily, analyzing each family’s goals and values. She attempts to show their similarities,
Over centuries of children have been enjoying the classic fairy tales of the Grimm Brothers and Charles Perrault. The fanciful plots and the vivid details allow children to be entranced by characters and adventures that can only be found in these stories. One of the most beloved fairy tales, which both the Perrault and the Grimms have their own separate versions of, is Cinderella. Cinderella is able to show how both versions are able to feed off the same plots while personifying the century and social economic situation in which they have lived.
She begins by explaining the transitionary period within Cinderella’s life in which she essentially lost her mother and gained a new one. Her new stepmother was wicked, her stepsisters were entitled and her father had been enticed by all of them and utterly ignored his own daughter. The speaker is sure to explain this dichotomy because it marks the period of her socio economic peril. She heightens this through the use of simile. For example, the speaker states that Cinderella had “walked around looking like Al Jolson”(Sexton 31) in order to provide both comic relief and display the way she had fallen so far from the lavish, wealthy lifestyle she had grown accustomed to while her mother was alive to the bleek and menial confines of servitude that she had been relegated to. She also explains that Cinderella had planted a twig that her father gave her and it grew into an astonishing tree which also contained a magically dove. Following this, the speaker then elaborates on Cinderella’s new
Bettelheim, Bruno. ""Cinderella" A Story of Sibling Rivalry and Oedipial Conflicts." Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment. 1976. 279-282.
Throughout the play Cinderella, Jack, The Baker, The Baker's wife, Little Red Riding Hood, and all of the other characters mixed into the plot and had weird circumstances erupt in the woods. ...
Sarcasm, mockery and satire are common themes used throughout “Cinderella”. The reader asks: Why does the author use this style of writing? How do these literary elements enhance the author’s overall theme and tone? Sexton’s use of multiple literary devices demonstrates her beliefs about fairy tales and enables the reader to clearly see the absurdity of such tales. She does not try to make the reader decipher what she wants them to take from the story, she lays it out directly. By the author using her own hyperboles and satire, the reader is able to see the impracticalities of the original story in a different way. The comical remarks made by Sexton such as: “That is the way with amputations. / They don’t just heal up like a wish”, add humor and light-heartedness to the
“Cinderella” the tale of a suffering young girl who finds her prince charming, and lives happily ever after in a big beautiful castle. Truly, the dream of many young female readers. This story is well known all around the world and has many different versions. This paper will specifically focus on the versions by Charles Perrault and Giambattista Basile. One cannot argue that while writing their individual version of Cinderella both Charles Perrault and Giambattista Basile were strongly influenced by the many other tales of Cinderella, and this can be seen by the repetitive plot line, character and morals in both their stories. Giambattista Basile story was called “The Cat Cinderella” and Charles Perrault named his “Cinderella” or “Little Glass
As the world has transformed and progressed throughout history, so have its stories and legends, namely the infamous tale of Cinderella. With countless versions and adaptations, numerous authors from around the world have written this beauty’s tale with their own twists and additions to it. And while many may have a unique or interesting way of telling her story, Anne Sexton and The Brother’s Grimm’s Cinderellas show the effects cultures from different time periods can have on a timeless tale, effects such as changing the story’s moral. While Sexton chooses to keep some elements of her version, such as the story, the same as the Brothers Grimm version, she changes the format and context, and adds her own commentary to transform the story’s
She already has two daughters of her own. They hate the man's daughter, Cinderella, by his first marriage, but she is gentle and beautiful. They treat her horribly. After her father dies, Cinderella is forced into doing all the housework and sleeps in the attic. She is constantly tormented by her evil stepmother and two stepsisters. Despite this, she maintains hope that her dreams will come true one day and remains a kind, gentle and sweet person. She has faith that someday her dreams of happiness will come true and her kindness will be repaid. Evil in the Cinderella tale comes about when Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters treat her so terribly and their jealousy towards Cinderella during the story. When a prince gives a ball and all the ladies in the town are invited, Cinderella's stepsisters go to the ball, but Cinderella remains at home crying. Suddenly her fairy godmother appears and transforms a pumpkin into a golden coach to take Cinderella to the ball. The fairy turns mice, lizards, and a rat into horses and coachmen with a wave of her wand. She gives Cinderella a beautiful gold and silver gown and slippers made of glass. She orders Cinderella to return home by midnight because the charm ends at that time. Cinderella goes to the ball and catches the attention of everyone. The prince is mesmerized by her beauty yet her stepsisters do not recognize her. She loses track of time then hurries away just at midnight, but loses one of her glass slippers. The slipper gets left behind for the prince to find. As she arrives home, Cinderella's gown turns back to rags, but the other glass slipper remains as it is. The prince orders the slipper to be tried on all the ladies in the land. He will marry only the girl whose foot will fit the slipper. The stepsisters try it on but it does not fit. Eventually Cinderella tries it on and it fits. She pulls the other slipper from her pocket
It is this element of hope in a true fairytale that creates the support for a protagonist to overcome the opposing force that has been thrust onto them. A genuine fairytale is said to have the element of, “A innocent character [placed against] the evil character who normally loses somehow,” (Gokturk) which is seen as Cinderella is chosen by the prince over the evil step-sisters at the ball. As human beings with a developed moral system, it has been seen that the more deserving, mistreated character is favored to succeed in the story. Cinderella is seen as this “underdog” character in her quest to find love with the prince and overcome her step-sisters’ mistreatment. As Cinderella is mistreated by her new family, sympathy is built for the emerging protagonist and hope of her to conquer her situation follows. The underdog of this story grows in favorability to be picked by the prince due to the societal belief that the more deserving candidate should overcome their opposition. If there was no sense of hope thought the story of Cinderella, this story could not be categorized as a true embodiment of a
In today 's society, it is normal for young children to believe in fairytales. These fairytales are normally seen throughout books and movies but also through parents reading them as bedtime stories. These tales in our society have unrecognized hidden guidelines for ethics and behaviors that we provide for children. One such children 's story is Disney’s Cinderella, this film seems to be a simple tale of a young woman whose wishes work out as to be expected. This tale reflects the expectations of women 's actions and beliefs of a proper women.
It’s a classic, the story of rags to riches. A story all find familiarity, inspiration, and hope in. A story with a common theme, anyone can follow. This same idea exists with the story of Cinderella. Another classic, this tale is told around the world in more than five hundred versions according to Mary Northrup, a reference librarian working with the American Library Association. Due to the multitude of versions, it is easy to say most everyone is familiar with the story of Cinderella. However, each version offers a different outlook or purpose, as Anne Sexton’s poem does. In order to see where Sexton stands her story must be understood, then other versions of Cinderella will be considered as well the effect of “that story” and what this