Feminism in Fairy Tales
Both past and modern writers include the phenomena of phenomena of feminism in their respective tales. According to Walker (22), feminism refers to a writer’s attempt to focus on matters that affect females in their respective societies. The entire notion of feminism in writing includes defending the female gender against extreme levels of patriarchy. The genre of the fairy tales equally attempts to abolish certain elements of patriarchy in their respective narrations. Maria Tatar is a feminist writer who highlights fundamental elements of feminism in the anthology that she titles “The Classic Fairy Tales”. Most fairy tales tend to include the phenomena of feminism as a significant component in their respective themes. Cinderella is among the fairy tales that allow writers to explore feminism in their writing. Several writers re-tell this traditional narration of Cinderella that creates the perfect female protagonist in its narration. Some of these writers include the following celebrated writers. The first one is Marissa Mayer in her book “Cinder” and the second one is Charles Perrault from Tatar’s anthology. A comparison of all the writers that re-model the Cinderella narration proves that the entire narration favors the female characters. The narration is feministic in its entirety and enables writers to present positive factors about females.
The idea of feminism is multi-faceted as depicted by the above writers in their respective adoption of Cinderella. The narration allows the readership to witness both the negative and positive aspects of females. He protagonist appears to be vulnerable to her stepmother and stepsisters. This is one side of the depiction of feminism in Cinderella. Her vulnerability allows such writers as Perrault to highlight the forgiving nature of females. In the narration that Perrault presents, the protagonist is forgiving to all her stepsisters regardless of the evils that they execute. Obviously, several other narrations suggest the punishment of the stepsisters by pigeons/doves eating their eyes. The most fundamental element is that Perrault suggests that females are forgiving. Throughout the narration by Perrault, one would not imagine that Cinderella would ever forgive the wicked stepsisters. This is attributable to the extremely harsh treatment that they expose the protagonist. The sisters deny Cinderella an opportunity to be a part of an interesting culture, yet all of them were youthful (Piumini & Ligi 33).
Another significant element in the Cinderella version that Perrault reveals to the readership is the relevance of female beauty. Feminism has significant reactions to beauty to appeal to respective men that they encounter. Perrault suggests that Cinderella was insufficient in her natural beauty to appeal to the prince in narration. This is an unfair depiction of women by Perrault. There are suggestions that women need extreme help to appear presentable. Cinderella gets magical help from her godmothers’ ghost. It is fundamental to note that the help is beyond the comprehension of her sisters. It appears to be efficient but the readership knows that is superficial. All these indicate that women must get help because they do not seem to be able to empower themselves (Walker 29).
Perrault’s narration equally reveals that women appear better than other women do when they have adequate material possessions. The focus of the entire Cinderella narration regardless of its adaption is the slippers/shoes. It is correct to highlight that there would be no Cinderella if they were no slippers or shoes. This is a negative depiction of females in the adaptations the narration. When Perrault suggests that Cinderella was weak, there is reference to all the females in the narration. All of them had significant weakness that had great impacts on each decision that they made throughout the narration. Perrault implies that females must always have imperfections, and they cannot be perfect whatever (Tatar 48).
Charles Perrault is obviously a male write a factor that probably explains why he appears to be negative in the female depictions in his adaption. The readership notices that he struggles to create the perfect female for his protagonist. He fails in celebrating females in the narration that he presents to his readership. Charles Perrault suggests that Cinderella was kind and generally had a pleasant character. These desirable traits do not seem to be beneficial to her until there is intervention by the godmother. This implies that Perrault suggests the females might posses such desirable characters as Cinderella but would still be victims of unfair treatments. The stepsisters never show slight appreciation to the kindles that Cinderella shows to them. Whenever they have an opportunity to appreciate Cinderella, they abuse the respective opportunities. Later when the narration is over, the write never implies that the stepsisters were remorseful in any ways. This is another negative depiction of females in the Cinderella narration. The females appear to be ungrateful for any mistakes that they make. In this narration, is intense because the stepsisters and their mother were deliberate in their respective evil acts. They had intentions to torture Cinderella and probably kill her. This is evident from the allocation of house chore to Cinderella. All the sisters would be helpful and even divide the chores if they were sincere in their relations to Cinderella. Instead, in the narration, they live all the chores to Cinderella who still manages to execute all the tasks regardless of the torture (Piumini & Ligi 39).
Maria Tartar seems to depict females as ones who are wicked and in turn always face severe punishments. In her anthology, she suggests that the stepsisters deserve the punishments that they get for their wickedness towards Cinderella. There is some level of justification for the pecking of their eyes. This implies that fairy tales depict women as dangerous regardless of their age. In Cinderella, women of diverse ages display undesirable jealous towards another innocent woman. The narration implies that the stepsisters had such behavior regardless of their youthful ages. It did not matter that the sisters had another sister. All they had interest in was to marry the prince in the narration. Analysis of the entire Cinderella fairy tale reveals the extent of efforts that the sisters undertake to marry. They cut their toes and heels to fit in Cinderella’s slippers.
The Cinderella narration goes beyond the theme of forgiveness in its narration. It also highlights the nature of certain women in both current and old generations. These women wish to own everything in their possession. They do not care what their actions will accuse other women in their surroundings. The Cinderella fairy tale suggests that women can be negative towards other women (Tatar 39).
Marissa Mayer is a modern writer who presents an interesting version of Cinderella to her readership. Her depiction of feminism in her version of Cinderella is extremely captivating. Marissa Mayer changes the name of her protagonist to Cinder, a youthful girl who experiences extreme romance. Apart from romance, Marissa Mayer introduces a powerful depiction of her female characters. She makes her protagonist to work unlike the previous versions of Cinderella that create idle women in their respective societies. Cinder works as a Mechanic in New Beijing. This is extremely empowering for a female character. Marissa Mayer depicts certain women such as Cinder to have similar abilities to men. Throughout the narration by Marissa Mayer Cinder appears to be successful in the male dominated trade. This is an altogether different depiction of feminism in fairy tales (Meyer 28).
The modernity in Marissa Mayer version presents unique women characters that seem to be extremely liberal. The first meeting between Cinder and the prince is symbol of sorts. The prince asks Cinder to fix his android suggesting the prince himself was naive about technology. This take seems to suggest that females can be knowledgeable even in difficult technological application. The females have abilities to sustain their respective lifestyles by working instead of depending on the men folk. Marissa Mayer introduces an equally interesting factor about feminism. She ensures that all her male characters have significant limitations that make them rely on females. This is an indication that females can provide extremely beneficial supports to the respective men who interact with them Meyer 43).
Cinder represents women who are adventurous and always strive to engage in creative activities. When Cinder and her relations discover an old car, she decides on what to do with the ar. She chooses to take it home and later repair it. All her decisions in the narration reveal that she represents a unique category of women. The women that Cinder represents in Marissa Mayer’s narration are powerful and always fight for themselves when people disrespect their rights. Another significant element about the depiction of females in this tale is that the females have high intensities of courage. Cinder does not seem to be submissive to royalty. She treats royal people s she would normal ones. Even when Adri uses force to take Cinder to the palace, she does not seem to worry about consequences. She represents fearless women but who are also vulnerable to love just like other females in previous versions of Cinderella (Meyer 43).
The protagonist in Cinder is cyborg, factor that should male her desirable. This is untrue in the narration evident when instead of people shunning away from Cinder they adore her. This depicts that females could be outstanding regardless of natural flaw that they have. They can also fall in lice regardless of their respective backgrounds. This version of Cinderella seems to suggest that females have unique powers that enable them to face diverse challenges in their lives. The powers could even be supernatural to explain how such females as Cinder relate to royalty yet they have undesirable flaws Meyer 29).
All the adaptations of the above fairy tale seem to have similar themes in their respective narrations. They do not register their support for the females in their respective narrations. The authors who seem to be in favor of the female character over-exaggerate the facts in their narrations. This makes their readership to disregard the females that they create. The other categories of writers who appear to be against the females in their narration misrepresent the females. Cinderella is a fascinating narration that should change the perception of its readership towards women.
Work Cited
Haase, Donald. Fairy Tales and Feminism: New Approaches. Detroit, Mich: Wayne State Univ. Press, 2004. Print.
Meyer, Marissa. Cinder. New York: Feiwel & Friends, 2012. Print.
Piumini, Roberto & Raffaella Ligi. Cinderella. Mankato, Minn: Picture Window Books, 2010. Print.
Tatar, Maria . The Classic Fairy Tales. New York: W. W. Norton, 1999. Print.
Tatar, Maria. The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales. New York: Norton, 2002. Print.
Walker, Barbara G. Feminist Fairy Tales. San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisc
