Octavio Martin

Professor Jackie Way

Writing 39B

30 October 2015

Concealed Secrets of Cinderella

It is evident that authors are confined to specific time eras that are influenced by sociopolitical environments and in order to speak about those environments, they embed specific ideas in their works. This is the case with Grimm brothers which emphasize the beliefs and values that are tightly held together by a male supremacy society. As explained by Donald Haase, “The tales were thought to contain the scattered fragments of ancient Germanic myth, which –when collected—would provide the German people with a magic mirror in which they could discern and thus reassert their national identity” (Tatar 355). Specific ideas such as sexism and gender roles manages to seep in through the pages of Cinderella and describe the roles of females in the early 19^th century. As a normal instinct, the brothers Grimm attempted to shape Cinderella in a way in which they could fulfill their audience’s cultural and political views. So in order to address their audience, the brothers Grimm incorporated the ideologies of femininity to reflect the woman’s role in society and her particular role in the household. Cinderella reflects such ideology through her passive and submissive nature which speaks to us today in ways that motivate us to change such perception of women and develop a voice to speak against inequality.

            When the brother Grimm began to cultivate their fairy tale collection, they wanted their collection to adhere to German values and traditions envisioning a wider range of audiences, not only children. Maria Tatar explains in her article “Sex and Violence” that “the Brothers proclaimed [that] their efforts as collectors were guided by scholarly principles, and therefore implied that they were writing largely for academic colleagues.” By inverting the audience from academic scholars to children, the brother Grimm are exposing children to archaic portrayal of women as fragile and weak—views that are not as welcoming today in our society. The idea of sexism is a recurring theme that is strongly highlighted in Cinderella. 19^th century views of female roles were confined to authority of a male figure while keeping women oblivious of the real world unfolding outside the home. The Grimm brothers were conservative and raised in a catholic household and their views were strictly aligned with those of the major populace of the 19^th century. Just as Haase explains that authors tend to incorporate cultural ideas relevant to their epoch into their works, the Grimms include the imbalance between genders and the discourse of domination.

            One way in which the Brothers Grimm project 19^th century sexist ideals is through Cinderella’s passive and subservient nature. This nature then turns to stereotypes that only fabricate the female roles as docile and that highlight sexist aspects that sealed the inequality between the sexes. Throughout the tale, the Brothers Grimm emphasize Cinderella’s inability to speak out against injustice by rendering her passive. From the instant that she was turned into the domestic servant, she never spoke against her stepmother nor stepsisters. She was forced to wake up early every morning and work unceasingly day and night without questioning nor refusal to comply with the mandates she was given. She was even forced to pick up lentils from hot ashes in order to be obedient and fulfill her stepmother’s requests. Her efforts to live passively in her “enslavement” leads to believe that women must comply with their domestic duties without question or refusing, regardless of the extremity of the task. To emphasize even more the idea of sexism translated in Cinderella, we can analyze the idea that her passivity brings her joy and bliss at the end of the tale. After Cinderella meets the Prince, she still take no initiative to find him and tale him of her familial situation. When the Prince finds her however, they ride away in his horse to live their love. By rewarding Cinderella for lack of initiative, need of courage, and her passivity, the brothers Grimm are telling us that in order to be happy you must be submissive and accept your feminine role in society as the caretakers of the home. In the entirety of the tale, being submissive reflect good female values because at the end of the day their submissiveness is rewarded with a happy ending.

            To further the significance of Cinderella’s passivity, readers can detect conditions of domestic servitude, which promotes 19^th century ideals of the feminine role in society. After her mother’s death, Cinderella’s father brings home a new wife along with her two daughters and immediately “take her beautiful clothes, dressed her in an old grey smock, and gave her some wooden shoes.” By taking away Cinderella’s clothes, the brothers Grimm took away her identity as a princess and imputed her to the role the 19^th century woman. In all regards, she was rendered a princess equal to her servants. These prevails to emphasize that woman roles are not limited to lower class females, instead it globalizes the idea that all females are fit to play the role of the domestic caretaker and adhere to the palliative veneer of 19^th century ideals— The idea of Cinderella’s transformation from a from a princess to a “regular” woman is exemplified by her daily routine where “every day, she got up before daybreak to carry water, start the fire, cook, and wash” (Tatar, 117). At this moment in the tale, the Grimm Brothers have exiled Cinderella from her human aspects and shackled her to the expectation of society. And once again, her disposition of submissiveness reaffirms the audience that this behavior is acceptable and will be rewarded at the end.

Furthermore, Cinderella’s metaphysical transformation from a princess to a house servant intensifies the idea that women must comply with their domestic duties without questioning authority. When the two stepsisters heard that the king had announced a festival to find a wife for his son, “they called Cinderella and said: ‘comb our hair, brush our shoes, and fasten our buckles…’” (Tatar, 118). Cinderella’s lack of courage to say no turns her into a personal assistant who never questions if she’s being treated fairly and this come around to demonstrate how women are meant to only do and not question. Once again, her submissiveness is the reason that she’s left out from society while paradoxically, trying to fit in it. This lack of courage to speak against authority is strengthen when the stepmothers tells the two stepsister to chop off their toes and heels. Knowing that their mother is the authoritive figure, they do as she tells them without questioning or thinking it through for themselves. These only adds to the ideology of femininity in which women must remain oblivious from the world in which they live and this obliviousness emanates from their silence in order to conserve the male hierarchy.

            Portrayals of sexist ideas weren’t only confined to Cinderella, these ideas were also projected by the characterization of the evil stepmother and stepsisters. By presenting the stepsisters and stepmother as the wrong doers and as active outside of the domestic environment, we can account for the role of women who are detached from the “expectations” as being the outsider of the 19^th century society—they are not fulfilling the expectations of the feminine role, thus they are not worthy as members of society. The stepsisters and the stepmother relied on Cinderella to clean their home, cook for them, and help them look good while they just sat around. Their utter dependence on Cinderella distanced them away from the role of the female and in order to stress the unacceptance of such behavior they get punished at the end. The stepsisters reflect the side of the coin that wasn’t accepted in society and in order to label their domestic unproductiveness, they were cruelly castigated by getting their eyes pecked by doves. In contrast with Cinderella who is subordinate behavior is awarded, the stepsisters deviation from the norms of society are not tolerated and thus punished. In order to make a social and cultural context, the brothers Grimm depict what is accepted in society and what is not by awarding passivity and punishing behaviors that didn’t fit with corresponding times. In essence, Cinderella evinces levels of sexism by highlighting female domesticity as an appropriate behavior and the only way to be integrated into society.

To depict the despotism that sexism played in 19^th century Germany, the brothers Grimm incorporate the role of males and their need for women in their lives. For instance, after the king’s wife’s demise, months later “when the sun had taken off again in the spring, the rich man remarried.” The cat that the king remarries is a key point to stress the importance of females in their lives, not only for a companion, but also to take care of the home and raise the children.  Also male dependence on females explains the power relations in society. In order for male to fulfill their role as the provider and the head of the home, he first needs a wife to provide for. Similarly, this eager to fulfil their righteous duty to society is explained when the Prince father decides to throw a three-day festival to find a wife for his son. The language in which it is written also culminates a sense of male supremacy by saying that all the “beautiful young ladies of the land were invited from whom his son might choose wife” (Tatar, 118). The Grimms stress the importance of female beauty which is a must in order to qualify as a worthy candidate. In other words, the construction masculine supremacy in this society forces women to meet standards in order to satisfy men, instead of themselves. 

            Although our society today doesn’t reflect the same ideas of sexism, Cinderella can still serve as a great templet and example of the perception of the female role over time for young audiences, especially girls. While we don’t adhere to ideas such as keeping women confined to the walls of the home, children can still learn from Cinderella sociopolitical explanations of the world for fictitious clichés that make up the female identity. For instance women today “learn what is socially approved and often behave in ways which are expected” Jean Anyon states in her article “Intersections of gender and class” (Anyon, 25). This idea correlates with how in the 19^th century, society had expectations for women to behave passively and obedient to their counter parts. This is valuable for children because they can learn to discern the differences and similarities of past and present ideologies. Although our society has become more equalitarian, women today still expected to behave in ways deemed appropriate by society, however one difference is that nowadays women are “presented not only with ideologies regarding what is appropriate behavior for themselves as females, but also with ideologies of hat are appropriate means in society of achieving self-esteem” (Anyon, 26). Cinderella presents ideas that women were meant to serve in their homes while remaining unaware of the real world, but today women are aware of gender division and they are still expected to “adhere closely to the “feminine behavior, with clear cut distinctions between male and female” ( Anyon, 26). Basically, the Grimm brothers’ version of Cinderella is still relevant today because women are still expected to germane with a society that keeps sweeping their potential under the rug.

            Cinderella can also serve useful teachings to modern audiences on the importance to speak against intolerance and injustice. Cinderella’s enslavement depicts the consequences of comforting to passive and submissive ways in order to fulfil societal expectation. The brothers Grimm do a great job by highlighting the brutally and violence that Cinderella and the stepsisters undergo, because this serves as a great example standing up for what’s right should be, undoubtedly, our major concern, even if disturbs the authoritive nature of things. By advocating for youth to speak against injustice, we are paving the path to a better future because we are teaching them to discern good from bad: moral from amoral. If current children can take anything away from Cinderella, it should be that by not being passive or active bystanders (just like Cinderella), they can learn to create their own voice and develop their own thoughts, beliefs, and moral courage to challenge authority.