The tale of Cinderella has been recognized around the world and the themes from the tale appear in the folklore of many cultures. Thus, many versions emerge based on the archetypal character of Cinderella where most of the versions always center around a benevolent, but persecuted heroine who happens to be the victim of her step-family after the death of her mother. Her father is either absent or neglectful, depending on the version. The heroine also has a magical guardian (fairy godmother) who helps her to defeat her persecutors and receive her fondest wish by the end of the tale. The same sort of clothing, usually a shoe or a glass slipper also shapes the story where at the end the heroine is recognized for her truth worth. What is an archetype? According to Bert.O States (1980: 334) archetype is best described as:
…a sort of quark in the structure of time whose existence we can only posit as being necessary to explain the phenomenon of unintentional recurrence. In fact, unlike the quark (which, as I write, we have just caught streaking boldly through matter), the archetype is not discrete at all but the ghost of a former form, endlessly migratory, infinitely tolerant of new content, ever fresh, ever archaic.
In this regard, this paper will look at the two versions of Cinderella’s tale which is ‘Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper’ by Perrault and ‘Cinderella’ by Dahl. Even though these two versions can be recognized or categorized as fairy tales which have been adapted from the archetypal tale of Cinderella, nevertheless, both are written in different ways and styles; both have their significant meaning and implication that contribute to the development of each tale. In other words, the two versions have some sort of similarities and differences.
I begin here by discussing the similarities of the two versions. The first similarity found is the name of the heroine, ‘Cinderella’. As what has been mentioned earlier, since the archetypal character of Cinderella has been recognized around the world, it becomes less attractive if the name had been changed. By retaining the name, it allows us as readers to make connection or find out the differences between the two versions.
The second similarity is both versions depicts the way of life of western people. The portrayal of a ball, a large formal occasion where people dance, is more or less reflected the way western people celebrating certain enjoyable event or occasion. The only difference that can be seen is that the ‘ball’ in Dahl’s version reflects the modern western people as it is described as ‘disco’ while the ball in the other version is more to the traditional way of life of western people. The evidence of it can be found in both tales:
‘It happened that the king's son gave a ball, and invited all persons of fashion to it.’
(CTLGS:1)
…‘Get me to the Ball!
'There is a Disco at the Palace!
(C:6)
On the other hand, it is important to note that, once a reader has gone through the lines of Dahl’s version, he might surprisingly find that it is completely different compared to Perrault’s version. The differences can be seen in terms of the character of the heroine, Cinderella, the language used, the storyline of both tales and so on. Because of the differences, no wonder that Dahl has successfully attracted readers’ attention to read his tale.
The first difference found is the character of Cinderella in both tales has been presented and developed in different way and style which I think is the best part to describe as it involves the formation of identity (selfhood). According to Cohen (1994:2), selfhood can be defined as composite of elements that vary depending on whether it is in public or private institution. The self in private mode adopts or discards elements which are not pertinent to the intimate or isolated contexts. The general anthropological view of selfhood is that the self is derived from a bigger social unit. Cohen’s view of selfhood is that:
…the self is not passive as a subject of society and culture; it has agency, is active, proactive and creative. Constituted by society and made competent by culture, individuals make their worlds through their acts of perception and interpretation. The external world is filtered and, in the process, remade, by the self. It is in this sense that the self is the centre and the premise of the individual’s world.
In other words, the formation of identity is based on the individual’s gathering of relevant external elements and the shedding of what is interpreted as irrelevant to the individual’s sense of self as he/she initiates himself/herself into society.
In relation to the above excerpt, for sure, the differences can be discerned. Cinderella’s character in Perrault’s version can be described as a kind woman who, though she has been persecuted by her step-family, still shows her politeness as a humble person; she accepts herself (identity) whoever she is and bears all the burden patiently. This has been highlighted by Perrault in the following lines:
‘The poor girl bore it patiently, and dared not to tell her father, who would have scolded her; for his wife governed him entirely…’
(CTLGS:1)
Frankly speaking, today in Malaysia, it is hard to see women with these qualities. For sure, many would argue, but, this is the fact that we have to bear in mind. Unlike Cinderella, though she is treated unfairly in her own house, she still obeys the rules provided by her stepmother and willing to sacrifice for others. This is related to Margeret Hall (1990) where she states that “obedience and sacrifice for others are significant values in women’s socialization”.
On the other hand, since Dahl’s has written his tale in the 20th century, more or less it reflects the life of women in the modern age. Cinderella’s character in Dahl’s version, is portrayed as having aggressive side which is rude, selfish and materialistic. This aggressive side which is also best described as negative attitude shape her identity throughout the poem. The way she talked and the choices of words she used during the presence of the Magic Fairy are considered as rude and harsh:
…'My dear, are you all right?'
'All right?' cried Cindy .'Can't you see
'I feel as rotten as can be!'
(C:6)
Obviously, Cinderella does not care about hierarchical position that she should hold. The harsh utterances which have been mentioned above are not supposed to use when we talk to someone who is older than us or someone who is considered as respected person. In this sense, it shows that Cinderella does not know how to respect the Magic Fairy who is willing to help her and solve her problems. On the other side, if this is compared to the Cinderella’s character by Perrault, there is no utterance that can be considered as harsh, but, there is a great deal of respect shown by Cinderella to the fairy godmother instead:
"I wish I could. I wish I could." She was not able to speak the rest, being interrupted by her tears and sobbing. This godmother of hers, who was a fairy, said to her,
"You wish that you could go to the ball; is it not so?"
"Yes," cried Cinderella, with a great sigh.
(CTLGS:1)
From the excerpt above, no doubt that the choice of words used by Cinderella to form the utterances shows that she has a very good manner. Even Cinderella herself after being asked by the fairy godmother still does not know how to express her feeling and intention to go to the ball. Only then, after the fairy godmother questioning her as if she does not understand Cinderella’s feeling, the poor Cinderella is able to express her intention to go to the ball.
To make things worse, there is also an evidence showing that Cinderella’s character in Dahl’s version is selfish and materialistic compared to the other Cinderella in Perrault’s version:
'I want a dress! I want a coach!
'And earrings and a diamond brooch!...
'Done up like that I'll guarantee
'The handsome Prince will fall for me!'
(C:6)
Here, Cinderella is rather demanding than accepting. She wants herself to look perfect for the reason of approaching the prince – hoping that the prince will fall for her. This is closely related to Meare (1974:18), where she states that woman in the modern age ‘strives to mould her own life in the way that she wish it’.
The second difference that can be highlighted here is in term of language, Perrault has used standard English in his writing. He has narrated the tale by depicting a vivid description of a series of event where the storyline can be predicted; the storyline more or less is the same as many versions. Thus, the tone of sad emerges at the beginning of the tale through his protagonist, Cinderella who is at first portrayed as weak and poor - suffering from her abusive step-family, but she faces it all patiently. The sad tone changes to happy ending at the end as she receives victory for her truth worth. The other version by Dahl on the other hand is not similar to Perrault’s. In his tale, even though Dahl has also used standard English, the storyline of it is not exactly the same as other versions because it has been adapted. Thus, in term of mood readers become more curious to know the sequence of the tale as it cannot be predicted. His style of writing also is rather different from the other versions; rhyming style is applied in his writing where as far as we concern it depends on sound rather than on the written word:
I guess you think you know this story.
You don't. The real one's much more gory.
(C:5)
This rhyming style, undoubtedly, gives a big impact to the tone of the poem. The first 4 stanzas begin with serious and humorous tones. This is highlighted by Dahl in lines:
'I want a dress! I want a coach!
'And earrings and a diamond brooch!...
'Done up like that I'll guarantee
'The handsome Prince will fall for me!'
(C:6)
The above excerpt as what has been discussed through the character of Cinderella shows that Cinderella is more demanding, selfish and rude which is considered as serious tone. The humorous tone then emerges when the prince grabs Cinderella’s dress as she runs away from the ball to save time which causes her to be half naked:
The Prince cried, 'No! Alas! Alack!'
He grabbed her dress to hold her back.
As Cindy shouted, 'Let me go!'
The dress was ripped from head to toe.
She ran out in her underwear,
(C:8)
However, the tone of serious and humorous turn into the dark tone in stanza 6 when the prince chops off Cinderella’s step-sisters’ heads :
'Off with her head!'The Prince roared back…
…This pleased the Prince. He smiled and said,
'She's prettier without her head.'
(C:11)
From there, it is clear that the character of the prince is not the same as the prince in the Perrault’s version; The prince reveals the true colour of himself and becomes very cruel.
The last difference to be discussed here is in term of storyline of each tale. Even though the two versions end with happy ending, both writers have created different elements to give effect to their tale. Like the many versions of Cinderella, as usual, Perrault also links his heroine with the same happy ending where Cinderella gets married with a benign prince, becomes more charming and forgives her two sisters with all her heart. This has been portrayed by Perrault in:
…she forgave them with all her heart… gave her two sisters lodgings in the palace, and that very same day matched them with two great lords of the court.
(CTLGS:4)
Interestingly, towards the end of Dahl’s version, the sense of self-realization can be found through Cinderella’s character when she discovers that the prince is very irresponsible and cruel. As a result of that she makes her last wish from the magic fairy to get married to a decent man, a simple jem maker. The evidence of it is stressed by Dahl in the following lines:
I'm wishing for a decent man.
'They're hard to find. D'you think you can?'
Within a minute, Cinderella
Was married to a lovely feller,
A simple jam maker by trade,
(C:12)
Cinderella finally find her own identity and live happily ever after just because of the influence of the people around her where she is able to differentiate between good and bad things. This is closely related to Johnson’s (1985:29) theory where he observes the self as “a social construction which is symbolically and signally created between and among social beings” – which carries the meaning that identity is shaped by the community where one involves or engages in.
There are two implications that can be observed from those differences that have been highlighted throughout this paper. The first implication is by not focusing his work on the same style of writing like Perrault’s version, Dahl has managed to portray his Cinderella’s character in a more effective way to attract the readers. By using rhyming style, he plays with the language to manipulate the variation of the tones. At the beginning of the first few stanzas, readers experience a rather serious mood because serious tone is created. This is applied by Dahl to give a vivid picture of his Cinderella character; showing that Cinderella is rude. Readers then experience some sort of jokes as they are entertained with humorous tone where at the same time Dahl’s tale is considered out of the storyline of many versions. This can be seen in lines:
The dress was ripped from head to toe.
She ran out in her underwear,…
(C:8)
However, the mood changes drastically when the tone of humorous becomes dark (when the prince chops off heads). Thus, readers experience the dark side of the tale where they might find that the character of the prince is very irresponsible and cruel.
The second implication which I think is quite important is in term of the development of Cinderella’s character. Throughout the tale, readers would find that Cinderella’s character is obviously different from the archetypal character where Dahl’s character seems unrounded. Here, readers are exposed to Dahl’s skill at characterization. At the beginning of the tale, Dahl has successfully manipulated the language in portraying his character as being rude, demanding and selfish, but later, in the middle and at the end of the tale, after she found that the prince is too cruel and irresponsible for his action, she is portrayed as having the sense of self-realization. Instead of marrying the prince which is typically appears in most versions, Dahl’s character is married to a simple jem maker. Because of that, for sure, this would affect the readers as they would find that Dahl’s tale is unpredictable. In other words, Cinderella’ character more or less is different from the archetypal character of Cinderella which has been appeared in Perrault’s and many other versions.
In the nutshell, the two writers have written their version differently in terms of the development of Cinderella’s character, the language used, the storyline of both tales and so on. However, there are also similarities in terms of the name of the heroine and the depiction of western life which have been shared by both writers. In other words, Roald Dahl and Perrault have successfully presented their work to the readers through the similarities and differences found in both versions.
Cohen, A.P.1994. Self Consciousness.An Alternative Anthropology of Identity. London: Routledge.
Hall, M. 1974. Woman and Identity: Value Choices in a Changing World, United States of America: Hemisphere Publishing Corporation.
Johnson, F. 1985. The Western Concept of Life. In Culture and Self : Asian and Western perspectives,ed. J.M. Anthony et al. New York: Tavistok Publication.
Meares, A. 1974. The New Woman: Woman at The Crossroads of Social and Psychological Evolution. London: Fontana Books
States, B.O. 1980. The Persistence of the Archetype. Critical Inquiry 7(2): 333-334 (atas talian) http://www.jstor.org/stable/1343131 [19 August 2008]
…a sort of quark in the structure of time whose existence we can only posit as being necessary to explain the phenomenon of unintentional recurrence. In fact, unlike the quark (which, as I write, we have just caught streaking boldly through matter), the archetype is not discrete at all but the ghost of a former form, endlessly migratory, infinitely tolerant of new content, ever fresh, ever archaic.
In this regard, this paper will look at the two versions of Cinderella’s tale which is ‘Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper’ by Perrault and ‘Cinderella’ by Dahl. Even though these two versions can be recognized or categorized as fairy tales which have been adapted from the archetypal tale of Cinderella, nevertheless, both are written in different ways and styles; both have their significant meaning and implication that contribute to the development of each tale. In other words, the two versions have some sort of similarities and differences.
I begin here by discussing the similarities of the two versions. The first similarity found is the name of the heroine, ‘Cinderella’. As what has been mentioned earlier, since the archetypal character of Cinderella has been recognized around the world, it becomes less attractive if the name had been changed. By retaining the name, it allows us as readers to make connection or find out the differences between the two versions.
The second similarity is both versions depicts the way of life of western people. The portrayal of a ball, a large formal occasion where people dance, is more or less reflected the way western people celebrating certain enjoyable event or occasion. The only difference that can be seen is that the ‘ball’ in Dahl’s version reflects the modern western people as it is described as ‘disco’ while the ball in the other version is more to the traditional way of life of western people. The evidence of it can be found in both tales:
‘It happened that the king's son gave a ball, and invited all persons of fashion to it.’
(CTLGS:1)
…‘Get me to the Ball!
'There is a Disco at the Palace!
(C:6)
On the other hand, it is important to note that, once a reader has gone through the lines of Dahl’s version, he might surprisingly find that it is completely different compared to Perrault’s version. The differences can be seen in terms of the character of the heroine, Cinderella, the language used, the storyline of both tales and so on. Because of the differences, no wonder that Dahl has successfully attracted readers’ attention to read his tale.
The first difference found is the character of Cinderella in both tales has been presented and developed in different way and style which I think is the best part to describe as it involves the formation of identity (selfhood). According to Cohen (1994:2), selfhood can be defined as composite of elements that vary depending on whether it is in public or private institution. The self in private mode adopts or discards elements which are not pertinent to the intimate or isolated contexts. The general anthropological view of selfhood is that the self is derived from a bigger social unit. Cohen’s view of selfhood is that:
…the self is not passive as a subject of society and culture; it has agency, is active, proactive and creative. Constituted by society and made competent by culture, individuals make their worlds through their acts of perception and interpretation. The external world is filtered and, in the process, remade, by the self. It is in this sense that the self is the centre and the premise of the individual’s world.
In other words, the formation of identity is based on the individual’s gathering of relevant external elements and the shedding of what is interpreted as irrelevant to the individual’s sense of self as he/she initiates himself/herself into society.
In relation to the above excerpt, for sure, the differences can be discerned. Cinderella’s character in Perrault’s version can be described as a kind woman who, though she has been persecuted by her step-family, still shows her politeness as a humble person; she accepts herself (identity) whoever she is and bears all the burden patiently. This has been highlighted by Perrault in the following lines:
‘The poor girl bore it patiently, and dared not to tell her father, who would have scolded her; for his wife governed him entirely…’
(CTLGS:1)
Frankly speaking, today in Malaysia, it is hard to see women with these qualities. For sure, many would argue, but, this is the fact that we have to bear in mind. Unlike Cinderella, though she is treated unfairly in her own house, she still obeys the rules provided by her stepmother and willing to sacrifice for others. This is related to Margeret Hall (1990) where she states that “obedience and sacrifice for others are significant values in women’s socialization”.
On the other hand, since Dahl’s has written his tale in the 20th century, more or less it reflects the life of women in the modern age. Cinderella’s character in Dahl’s version, is portrayed as having aggressive side which is rude, selfish and materialistic. This aggressive side which is also best described as negative attitude shape her identity throughout the poem. The way she talked and the choices of words she used during the presence of the Magic Fairy are considered as rude and harsh:
…'My dear, are you all right?'
'All right?' cried Cindy .'Can't you see
'I feel as rotten as can be!'
(C:6)
Obviously, Cinderella does not care about hierarchical position that she should hold. The harsh utterances which have been mentioned above are not supposed to use when we talk to someone who is older than us or someone who is considered as respected person. In this sense, it shows that Cinderella does not know how to respect the Magic Fairy who is willing to help her and solve her problems. On the other side, if this is compared to the Cinderella’s character by Perrault, there is no utterance that can be considered as harsh, but, there is a great deal of respect shown by Cinderella to the fairy godmother instead:
"I wish I could. I wish I could." She was not able to speak the rest, being interrupted by her tears and sobbing. This godmother of hers, who was a fairy, said to her,
"You wish that you could go to the ball; is it not so?"
"Yes," cried Cinderella, with a great sigh.
(CTLGS:1)
From the excerpt above, no doubt that the choice of words used by Cinderella to form the utterances shows that she has a very good manner. Even Cinderella herself after being asked by the fairy godmother still does not know how to express her feeling and intention to go to the ball. Only then, after the fairy godmother questioning her as if she does not understand Cinderella’s feeling, the poor Cinderella is able to express her intention to go to the ball.
To make things worse, there is also an evidence showing that Cinderella’s character in Dahl’s version is selfish and materialistic compared to the other Cinderella in Perrault’s version:
'I want a dress! I want a coach!
'And earrings and a diamond brooch!...
'Done up like that I'll guarantee
'The handsome Prince will fall for me!'
(C:6)
Here, Cinderella is rather demanding than accepting. She wants herself to look perfect for the reason of approaching the prince – hoping that the prince will fall for her. This is closely related to Meare (1974:18), where she states that woman in the modern age ‘strives to mould her own life in the way that she wish it’.
The second difference that can be highlighted here is in term of language, Perrault has used standard English in his writing. He has narrated the tale by depicting a vivid description of a series of event where the storyline can be predicted; the storyline more or less is the same as many versions. Thus, the tone of sad emerges at the beginning of the tale through his protagonist, Cinderella who is at first portrayed as weak and poor - suffering from her abusive step-family, but she faces it all patiently. The sad tone changes to happy ending at the end as she receives victory for her truth worth. The other version by Dahl on the other hand is not similar to Perrault’s. In his tale, even though Dahl has also used standard English, the storyline of it is not exactly the same as other versions because it has been adapted. Thus, in term of mood readers become more curious to know the sequence of the tale as it cannot be predicted. His style of writing also is rather different from the other versions; rhyming style is applied in his writing where as far as we concern it depends on sound rather than on the written word:
I guess you think you know this story.
You don't. The real one's much more gory.
(C:5)
This rhyming style, undoubtedly, gives a big impact to the tone of the poem. The first 4 stanzas begin with serious and humorous tones. This is highlighted by Dahl in lines:
'I want a dress! I want a coach!
'And earrings and a diamond brooch!...
'Done up like that I'll guarantee
'The handsome Prince will fall for me!'
(C:6)
The above excerpt as what has been discussed through the character of Cinderella shows that Cinderella is more demanding, selfish and rude which is considered as serious tone. The humorous tone then emerges when the prince grabs Cinderella’s dress as she runs away from the ball to save time which causes her to be half naked:
The Prince cried, 'No! Alas! Alack!'
He grabbed her dress to hold her back.
As Cindy shouted, 'Let me go!'
The dress was ripped from head to toe.
She ran out in her underwear,
(C:8)
However, the tone of serious and humorous turn into the dark tone in stanza 6 when the prince chops off Cinderella’s step-sisters’ heads :
'Off with her head!'The Prince roared back…
…This pleased the Prince. He smiled and said,
'She's prettier without her head.'
(C:11)
From there, it is clear that the character of the prince is not the same as the prince in the Perrault’s version; The prince reveals the true colour of himself and becomes very cruel.
The last difference to be discussed here is in term of storyline of each tale. Even though the two versions end with happy ending, both writers have created different elements to give effect to their tale. Like the many versions of Cinderella, as usual, Perrault also links his heroine with the same happy ending where Cinderella gets married with a benign prince, becomes more charming and forgives her two sisters with all her heart. This has been portrayed by Perrault in:
…she forgave them with all her heart… gave her two sisters lodgings in the palace, and that very same day matched them with two great lords of the court.
(CTLGS:4)
Interestingly, towards the end of Dahl’s version, the sense of self-realization can be found through Cinderella’s character when she discovers that the prince is very irresponsible and cruel. As a result of that she makes her last wish from the magic fairy to get married to a decent man, a simple jem maker. The evidence of it is stressed by Dahl in the following lines:
I'm wishing for a decent man.
'They're hard to find. D'you think you can?'
Within a minute, Cinderella
Was married to a lovely feller,
A simple jam maker by trade,
(C:12)
Cinderella finally find her own identity and live happily ever after just because of the influence of the people around her where she is able to differentiate between good and bad things. This is closely related to Johnson’s (1985:29) theory where he observes the self as “a social construction which is symbolically and signally created between and among social beings” – which carries the meaning that identity is shaped by the community where one involves or engages in.
There are two implications that can be observed from those differences that have been highlighted throughout this paper. The first implication is by not focusing his work on the same style of writing like Perrault’s version, Dahl has managed to portray his Cinderella’s character in a more effective way to attract the readers. By using rhyming style, he plays with the language to manipulate the variation of the tones. At the beginning of the first few stanzas, readers experience a rather serious mood because serious tone is created. This is applied by Dahl to give a vivid picture of his Cinderella character; showing that Cinderella is rude. Readers then experience some sort of jokes as they are entertained with humorous tone where at the same time Dahl’s tale is considered out of the storyline of many versions. This can be seen in lines:
The dress was ripped from head to toe.
She ran out in her underwear,…
(C:8)
However, the mood changes drastically when the tone of humorous becomes dark (when the prince chops off heads). Thus, readers experience the dark side of the tale where they might find that the character of the prince is very irresponsible and cruel.
The second implication which I think is quite important is in term of the development of Cinderella’s character. Throughout the tale, readers would find that Cinderella’s character is obviously different from the archetypal character where Dahl’s character seems unrounded. Here, readers are exposed to Dahl’s skill at characterization. At the beginning of the tale, Dahl has successfully manipulated the language in portraying his character as being rude, demanding and selfish, but later, in the middle and at the end of the tale, after she found that the prince is too cruel and irresponsible for his action, she is portrayed as having the sense of self-realization. Instead of marrying the prince which is typically appears in most versions, Dahl’s character is married to a simple jem maker. Because of that, for sure, this would affect the readers as they would find that Dahl’s tale is unpredictable. In other words, Cinderella’ character more or less is different from the archetypal character of Cinderella which has been appeared in Perrault’s and many other versions.
In the nutshell, the two writers have written their version differently in terms of the development of Cinderella’s character, the language used, the storyline of both tales and so on. However, there are also similarities in terms of the name of the heroine and the depiction of western life which have been shared by both writers. In other words, Roald Dahl and Perrault have successfully presented their work to the readers through the similarities and differences found in both versions.
Cohen, A.P.1994. Self Consciousness.An Alternative Anthropology of Identity. London: Routledge.
Hall, M. 1974. Woman and Identity: Value Choices in a Changing World, United States of America: Hemisphere Publishing Corporation.
Johnson, F. 1985. The Western Concept of Life. In Culture and Self : Asian and Western perspectives,ed. J.M. Anthony et al. New York: Tavistok Publication.
Meares, A. 1974. The New Woman: Woman at The Crossroads of Social and Psychological Evolution. London: Fontana Books
States, B.O. 1980. The Persistence of the Archetype. Critical Inquiry 7(2): 333-334 (atas talian) http://www.jstor.org/stable/1343131 [19 August 2008]
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