Grimm Brother's Version Of Cinderella

The patriarchal status quo is very apparent in today’s society. Females are usually awaiting their happily ever after and men primarily hold all the power. Even in well-known fairytales readers can see how the patriarchal rule is preserved. In most fairytales the female protagonist is waiting to be swept off her feet by her savior the prince. There are many different versions of popular fairytales, but despite certain changes the female protagonist still ends up being dependent and in need of protection. Readers can see this happen in the fairytale Cinderella. In the fairytale, Cinderella expects to be rescued.
The Grimm Brother’s version of Cinderella is the story of a young girl mistreated by her step mother and step sisters who is rescued by a handsome prince and lives happily ever after. Cinderella, like most female heroines in fairytales plays the role of the damsel in distress, waiting to be rescued. She endures horrible treatment daily, but never stops anticipating the day she will get to experience true romance. Even though in the fairytales the prince saves the heroine what readers fail to realize is that the female’s beauty, generosity, and appeal to men is what really rescues her from her dammed life. If she does not possess
these admirable qualities she would not fit the criteria of the fair maiden who wins the prince at the end.
Cinderella, along with countless other females in fairytales is the object of desire.
What makes them desirable is their will to exert to female passivity. Despite all that Cinderella’s step mother and step sisters do to her she still continues to fulfil all the womanly duties around the house. In Karen Rowe’s article “Feminism and Fairy Tales” she states “she is unable to act independently or self-assertively; she relies on external agents for rescue” (Rowe, 2).This quote is relevant for readers to understand how the female heroine subconsciously conforms to gender roles hence forth perpetuating the patriarchal status quo. Total reliance on the male such as the father or prince only continues to oppress and silence the
heroine.
On the other side of things, males play an immense role in fairytales as well. They are the focal point of most fairytales, not just the heroine. In Cinderella, the prince is what she is hoping and waiting for, he is her fantasy that she wishes to make a reality. “The prince, however, took Cinderella onto his horse and rode away with her” (Tatar 122). From this quote, Tatar is allowing readers to see that Cinderella gets what she has been longing for, her sweet escape. Without the prince coming into the picture, Cinderella would continue living her troubled life with no source of freedom.
The king or prince is a symbolic figure for what is noble, pure and highly favored.