The Brothers Grimm version of Cinderella is more vicious than any other versions of the tale.
There are
many more differences between Lee and Perrault's Cinderella and this version by the Grimm Brothers.
At the beginning of the tale, Cinderella's mother is still alive. The stepsisters are beautiful but have a
terrible attitude, and the stepmother is wicked. The young girl's stepsisters gave her the pet name
"Cinderella". And Cinderella is being described as sweet and gentle. The helper of the Ball preparation
are the birds sent by God. The sandals are made of gold. Her stepsisters will become blind after having
their eyes pecked out by birds. The story's lesson is that wickedness and deception will be punished
severely.
The author arranges the structure of the story well orderly same as the elements of the story which
eventually create an overall meaning. The plot of the story starts with a girl whose mother is ill and
whose father is wealthy. The mother passes away and the young girl constantly goes to her grave. On
Cinderella's request, the father returns from a fair with a hazel twig, which she puts at her mother's
grave. The hazel tree grows and bring birds that fulfill Cinderella's wishes. The girl endures bad
treatment from the father's new wife, who has two daughters. The girl is named by the stepsisters to as
Cinderella since she is made to clean, cook, and even sleep next to the fireplace and in the cinders. The
king's son, the prince, must choose a bride from among all of the young girls in the realm, so the
monarch hosts a three-day party in the meantime. The two stepdaughters get ready for the festival
while making fun of Cinderella's idea of going because she is so filthy from housework. In order for
Cinderella to be able to attend the festival, her stepmother offers her the time-consuming and difficult
task of extracting lentils. Cinderella asks the birds for help, and they happily agree. Cinderella managed
to do the task despite the Stepmother's repeated orders, but they still go to the festival without her.
Birds grant Cinderella's wish at the hazel tree, and for the next three nights, they bring her lovely
dresses. She stays at the festival for three nights, and the Prince just dances with her to enjoy her
company. Cinderella escapes the Prince at the end of every night, though. However, Cinderella leaves
once more on the third day. Cinderella's sandal gets trapped on the steps when the Prince coats them in
tar. The Prince looks for the woman whose foot fits his one remaining shoe. The stepsisters attempt to
trick the prince by chopping off their heels and toes in order to fit the sandal, but the bird alerted the
prince, who returned them after realizing that the shoe didn't actually fit. When Cinderella tries the
shoe, it fits and they decide to get married. In the end, the Prince and Cinderella get married and the
two step-daughters have their eyes plucked out by birds.
Christian symbolism and imagery are used frequently in the tale (Williams, 2012). The white bird
appears to be a resemblance to a dove, a common Christian iconography for the symbol of the Holy
Ghost as well as representing peace and purity, when examining its symbolism, despite the fact that it is
not named as such. As a result, in a Christian perspective of the story, the white bird stands in for God,
who, as Cinderella's late mother asserts, will defend her if she is "as good as gold." Cinderella
demonstrates what a good Christian she is by adhering to Christian beliefs. Cinderella is obedient and
respectful of her parents because she honors her mother's wish on her deathbed and follows with all of
her stepmother's orders. She also pays tribute to her mother's memories by visiting her grave three
times each day and sharing her worries with the white birds. Because of these deeds, the white bird, a
representation of God, fulfills her wishes or more accurately, prayers. The moral of the story is that even
though Cinderella is a nice and devout Christian, prayer is still necessary if you sincerely want to win
God's favor another fundamental Christian principle. The sisters' blindness also symbolized as the
Christian view of sin and its consequences. While Cinderella is praised for being a good person, her two
sisters are punished for being spoiled and harsh to their stepsister by being permanently blinded by the
white birds.
The major characters are Cinderella, which is the protagonist, and stepmother and stepsisters, which
are the antagonists. The minor characters are the Prince, the king, and Cinderella’s father. Cinderella's
father appears to be a bit of a pushover, allowing his new wife and her daughters to treat Cinderella the
way that they do. The stepmother and stepsisters are cruel and self-centered, thinking only about
themselves and putting a lot of time into maintaining their appearance. Cinderella is a kind and
understanding person. She is polite with her stepfamily, always willing to help, and never complains
about her chores. The setting is being mentioned at the beginning of the story which is “Once upon a
time”, in the cemetery, hazel nut tree, Palace and many more.
The stepmother asked Cinderella twice to remove the lentils from the ashes is one of the recurring
patterns in the story. This reveals that, despite the stepmother’s conditions to Cinderella, the
stepmother doesn't truly want Cinderella to attend the festival with them. The fact that the stepmother
purposedly dumped the bowl of lentils into the ashes and assigned such a difficult and time-consuming
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