Characteristics of Cinderella in Three Versions
... ashes by the hearth¡±. Basile¡¯s ¡°Cat Cinderella¡± portrayed two successive stepmothers and the girl finally ¡°fell from the salon to the kitchen, from the canopy to the grate¡¡± Under such similar environment, the little girl showed different characteristics in the three versions. ¡°Cinderella¡± story was very ideal and its heroine was innocent and tolerant. When her sisters needed help, she made ¡°useful suggestions and even offered to do their hair for them¡± despite of her sufferings; although she was the most honorable lady in the party, she treated her stepmother and sisters ¡°with great courtesy, offering them oranges and lemons¡±; when she became the wife of the prince, she even forgave them ¡°with all her heart¡± and married her sisters to two great noblemen of the Court¡±. Cinderella was endowed with all the virtues and could be recognized as a goddess. The girl in ¡°Ashputtle¡± story was meek and docile too. She bored her dead mother¡¯s words in mind and tried to be good. She did everything she was ordered. However, the girl¡¯s purity was in doubt because of the story¡¯s bloody ending. When one of her sister ¡°cut her toe off¡± and the other ¡°cut off a chunk of her heel¡± in order to become the queen, Ashputtle didn¡¯t try to save them by admitting her identity; when her protectors¡ªdoves pecked out her sisters¡¯ eyes, she spared no effort to stop them. Perhaps at the bottom of her heart she agreed with the doves¡¯ doing. Here, some ugly facets of Ashputtle¡¯s character were implicitly stated, such as narrow-mind and selfishness. A guilt...