Cinderella, or The Little Glass Slipper by Charles Perrault

In classic children’s fairytales like those of Perrault and the Brothers Grimm, princesses are seen as dainty and almost clueless. Ryerson University Children’s Literature Archives. Cinderella or The Little Glass Slipper, Faber and Faber Limited, 1972, London. Although he is not the protagonist, he is the one who saves Cinderella from her dreadful family, resulting in both the prince and Cinderella living happily ever after. Cinderella is the victim in this case and her stepmother is the so-called “bad woman.” Both roles are not nearly as favourable as the prince. Both must be nullified” (Kuykendal and Sturm 39). The bad woman must be killed, or punished. Sturm, there is a quote that accurately describes the two roles of a woman in popular tales like Cinderella: “there are two definitions of woman. In the article “We Said Feminist Fairy Tales, Not Fractured Fairy Tales!”, by Leslee Farish Kuykendal and Brian W. In Cinderella or the Little Glass Slipper by Charles Perrault, Cinderella is incapable of saving herself and must rely on the prince to come and rescue her from her evil stepmother.

In popular children’s folktales and fairytales rewritten by Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm, there is often an underlying idea that the female protagonist is weaker or less capable than her male counterpart. The ways in which women and men are presented in most classic fairytales often differ, and the roles that both genders presumably play are very different. Fractured Fairytalesįairytales are often where children first look to learn lessons about the world and society around them. Copyright 2017 Keyola Welch-Rhooms, Ryerson University Feminist Vs.

Cinderella, or The Little Glass Slipper by Charles Perrault