Cinderella

Cinderella

Introduction

Cinderella, as we are all familiar with, is a fairy-tale of a young, beautiful girl who lived a life similar to a hermit. She lived a life of strictness and the luxuriousness of her life was restricted by her step-mother and two step-sisters. Delicious food, beautiful dresses, soft beds, and all sorts of comfort were miles away from her, while suffering and tolerance were the only two things in her life. She lived a life in servitude until one fine day a fairy appeared in front of her. The fairy knew very well about Cinderella's ambitions to go the ball which was to be held in the Palace. The fairy granted her wish and dressed up Cinderella's accordingly, almost dolling her up like a princess, while the remaining part of the story is very well known across the world. It is essential to keep in mind that the story that was just narrated is the most recent Disney version of Cinderella. The tale, however, has more than 3000 versions because just about every culture has one account of the typical tale.

Discussion

“Cinderella” connects the reader and viewer in those emotions and subconscious ideas which are directly connected with feelings of sibling rivalry. It it important to consider a strange reality in which a girl recalls her repressed wishes to get rid of her Mother and to have her Father all to herself, and feeling guilty about such “dirty” desires, a girl may well “understand” why a mother would send her daughter out of sight to live among the cinders, and prefer her other children. Where is the child who has not wished to be able to banish a parent at some time, and who does not feel that in retaliation he prefers the same fate? And where is the child who has not wanted to reel to his heart's desire in dirt or mud; and, being made to feel dirty by parental criticism in consequence (Spisak, 2005), become convinced that he deserves nothing better than to be relegated to a dirty corner?

Connection to social and cultural elements

The reason for elaborating on “Cinderella's” oedipal background was to show that the story offers the reader a deeper understanding of that which is behind his own feelings of sibling rivalry. If the reader permits his unconscious understanding to “swing” along with what his conscious mind is being told, he gains a much deeper understanding of what accounts for the complex emotions which his siblings arouse. Sibling rivalry, both in its overt expression and in its denial, is very much part of our lives well into maturity, as is its counterpart, a positive attachments to our siblings. But because the latter rarely lead to emotional difficulties, and the former does, greater understanding of what is psychologically involved in sibling rivalry could help us deal with this important and difficult problem in our lives (Spisak, 2005).

Cinderella's mistreatment as a consequence of sibling rivalry, makes the most immediate impact on the reader and arouses his ...