Cinderella’s Inevitable Character
There is an abundance of fairytales and their retellings, so one may think that along the way things would be switched up and wouldn’t share lots of similarities. Sure enough we do see differences in the fairy tales, but gender stereotypes is just one of those things which refuses to budge. To be more specific it is a reoccurring thing to see the female lead character presented as passive and pretty. “Cinderella” is one of these fairy tales in which these gender stereotypes are evident. Cinderella is always seen as a pretty, obedient and kind person. Even with the many versions of the fairy tale, having Cinderella as a passive heroine is embedded into the story.
From the beginning of the story it is made apparent to the reader of the characteristics that Cinderella possesses. In Charles Perrault’s version of “Cinderella,” she is described as “amazingly sweet-natured and kind” (182), which is what differentiates her from her wicked stepsisters. In “Female Heroes in Myths and Fairy Tales,” Björn Sundmark mentions that “… the feminine heroism filtered down to present day readers and viewers of fairy tale anthologies is passive and suffering” (3). Cinderella is so kind, that she does all the household chores for her stepsisters and stepmother. On the day of the ball, Cinderella gives advice to her stepsisters on how to dress in order to impress the prince. Cinderella even goes as far as to marry off her stepsisters to two great lords in the end of the story, almost as if she had forgotten their treatment towards her. After all the horrible treatment she has received, it wouldn’t be expected of Cinderella to go to such lengths in helping her stepsisters, yet she does which is what makes her stand out more as a kind character. Never in the story do we see Cinderella deciding to stand up for herself or decide on telling her father of the unfair treatment. Even if she is suffering, Cinderella still doesn’t protest and remains as the sweet person she is meant to be.
Along with Cinderella not defending herself, she also is unable to act until she receives assistance so that she can go the ball as she wanted to. In “Gender Stereotypes in Cinderella and The Princess on the Glass Mountain” by Kärri Toomeos-Orglaan, it says, “Feminist studies point out that women in fairy tales appear as overly passive, fairly helpless beings unable to control their own lives” (51). With Cinderella constantly doing the chores she is told to do and not being allowed to go the ball, it is clear that she has no control over her life. Sure, she does end up going to the ball as she wanted to, but that was not until she gets help. In the Perrault version, it is Cinderella’s godmother who makes it possible for her to attend the ball, while in the Grimm’s it was the birds and the magical tree. Cinderella had still lost hope in both and resorted to crying. She didn’t think of figuring out a way on her own in order to make her wish of going to the ball come true. It wasn’t until the helpers ask Cinderella if she wanted to go to the ball that any of this is made possible. Had it not been for the help of the godmother or bird and the magical tree, then Cinderella would’ve remained helpless and without meeting the prince at the ball.
Pretty and passive are two characteristics that are meant for Cinderella’s character. In “Things Walt Disney Never Told Us” by Kay Stone, it states, “A woman who failed to be any of these could not become a heroine. Even Cinderella has to do no more than put on dirty rags to conceal herself completely. She is a heroine only when properly cleaned and dressed” (45). If she isn’t presented as a pretty heroine, then she simply can’t be Cinderella. She can’t just have one characteristic but must have both. Even with her kindness and passivity, she still isn’t anything without her beauty. This is important to keep in mind because in the Grimm’s version, Cinderella’s stepsisters are described as having “beautiful features but proud, nasty, and wicked hearts” (61). The stepsisters may have beauty, but they still aren’t the ones with the happy ending of marrying the prince, because they don’t have the kindness and passivity that Cinderella has.
So why exactly are these gender stereotypes so enforced onto Cinderella’s character? As mentioned, the stepsisters are also described as beautiful, but they don’t have the rest of the qualities that Cinderella has. Cinderella serves as an example of what would’ve been expected of women. “Obedience, humility, friendliness, helpfulness and, for practical reasons, the ability to manage with housework, are characteristics expected from a good woman” (Toomeos-Orglaan 51). Cinderella has all these characteristics which makes her the “ideal woman.” Her character was intended to be as is, which is why even in all the retellings, there is just no use in trying to break her free from the character she is. It would seem to difficult to change Cinderella into an active character, considering her passivity and beauty is what makes her Cinderella.
Even if Cinderella is presented as a passive character some would say that isn’t entirely the case because she can be seen as active in some ways. Cinderella has to sneak around in order to get to the ball. When her stepsisters arrive home, she pretends as if she had been sleeping the whole time, when in reality she had been dancing with the prince. Cinderella is also the one in the Perrault version who took initiative in trying the glass slipper in order to rightfully claim she was the one who the prince had fallen for. Although it may seem as if she was taking a step towards being active, Cinderella’s passive characteristics still overpower these. Cinderella has to act as if she was never at the ball for her own safety to prevent from being caught. In the Grimm version, Cinderella doesn’t even try on the glass slipper until it is insisted on by the prince. In “Feminine and Masculine Characteristics in Young Adult Fairy Tale Retellings: The Differences in Female Protagonists from the Original Fairy Tales and Young Adult Retellings,” Stephanie Carreira says, “Cinderella portrayed many feminine characteristics and only one masculine characteristic, “decisiveness” … Though she is quick to act when leaving the ball, she still does not take action in the rest of her life” (27). The moments in which Cinderella decides to take action are only so brief. The rest of time she still does as her family tells her to do and remains kind throughout it all. These feminine characteristics outweigh the male ones by a lot, showing how Cinderella’s character remains passive.
She is beautiful, she is sweet, she is kind, she is Cinderella. The young lady who lived as servant to her stepsisters and stepmother. She was only freed from such a life until she met the prince at a ball she wasn’t even supposed to be at. That is how we’ve come to know the female lead of one of the most famous fairy tales. Cinderella’s character was made based of gender stereotypes on what was expected of the “perfect” woman. These passive characteristics are rooted deep into her character, that without them she wouldn’t be Cinderella. The passive heroine of Cinderella is just something that can’t be avoided in the fairy tale.
Works Cited
Carreira, Stephanie. “Feminine and Masculine Characteristics in Young Adult Fairy Tale Retellings: The Differences in Female Protagonists from the Original Fairy Tales and Young Adult Retellings.” North Carolina Libraries, vol. 76, no. 1, 2018.
Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm. “Cinderella.” The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm : The Complete First Edition, translated by Jack Zipes, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014, pp. 61–65.
Perrault, Charles. “Cinderella, or The Little Slipper Made of Glass.” Complete Fairy Tales, translated by Christopher Betts, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 182–191.
Stone, Kay. “Things Walt Disney Never Told Us.” Journal of American Folklore, vol. 88, no. 347, 1975, p. 42., doi:10.2307/539184.
Sundmark, Björn. “Female Heroes in Myths and Fairy Tales.” (2007). Web.
Toomeos-Orglaan, Kärri. “Gender Stereotypes in Cinderella (ATU 510A) and The Princess on the Glass Mountain (ATU 530).” Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics, vol. 7, no. 2, 2013, pp. 49–64.
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