The annotations for the Cinderella fairy tale are below. Sources have been cited in parenthetical references, but I have not linked them directly to their full citations which appear on the Cinderella Bibliography page. I have provided links back to the Annotated Cinderella to facilitate referencing between the notes and the tale.
1. Gentleman: Cinderella's status as a gentleman's daughter makes her more acceptable as a future king's consort. It also places her above the status of peasant. Cinderella is not usually a rags-to-riches tale, but a riches-to-rags-to-riches tale.
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2. Mother: With over 1,000 versions of Cinderella, many variations of the story exist. Although this Perrault version does not mention Cinderella's mother beyond this reference, many versions have the dead mother providing assistance to her daughter in either animal form or through magical objects which appear from a tree on the mother's grave (the Grimms' version uses the tree).
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3. Stepmother: The stepmother is a common villain in fairy tales. The stepmother has been a villain since some of the earliest known versions of the Cinderella tale, such as Basile's The Cat Cinderella. The competition between the two women for the husband/father's affection provides a logical reason for the stepmother's cruelty. However, the stepmother has often replaced mothers in other tales, such as Snow White, when the image of a cruel mother was considered to be too harsh and terrifying for young audiences.
The image of the evil stepmother occurs frequently in fairy tales. She is associated with jealousy and cruelty (Olderr 1986). "In masculine psychology, the stepmother is a symbol of the unconscious in a destructive role" (von Franz 1970). The stepmother figure is actually two sided, in that while she has destructive intentions, her actions often lead the protagonist into situations that identify and strengthen his or her best qualities.
Perhaps one of the enduring elements of the Cinderella story comes from the politics of a family, usually a blended family. While many fairy tales have outside antagonists, Cinderella's trials are in her home and immediate family.
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4. Meanest work of the house: The meanest work would be the filthiest, harshest and most demeaning work in the household, such as scrubbing floors and emptying chamber pots.
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5. Garret: A garret is a room directly under the roof, or in other words, an attic (Webster's 1990).
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6. Straw bed: Until this century, straw beds were a common type of bedding for all but the supremely rich who could afford goose beds or other more expensive mattresses. Straw was used as the stuffing for the mattress.
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7. Floors all inlaid: Inlaid floors are parquet floors and were common in more elegant homes in previous centuries.
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8. Looking-glasses: In other words, mirrors. Mirrors are also a sign of luxury and wealth. In fairy tales, mirrors can be representative of a character's true nature which they reflect. Mirrors are especially important in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Here the mirrors represent the stepsisters' vanity and the family's wealth. The fact that the family owns mirrors large enough to give a full reflection of a person from head to toe shows that they have been extremely wealthy and thus powerful at least in the past if not Cinderella's present (Chevalier 1982).
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9. Father: Cinderella's father is absent but not dead in most of the older versions of the tale. Since the conflict between Cinderella and her stepfamily is domestic, it can be assumed her father does not interfere in what was considered a woman's domain. Many modern interpretations, such as the recent film Ever After (1998) starring Drew Barrymore, have the father dead to explain why he does not prevent the mistreatment of his daughter.
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10. Cinders and ashes: Ashes are a symbol of mourning. Cinderella, perhaps unwittingly, mourns for her mother and her own predicament in an unfriendly household by being covered in ashes.
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11. Cinderwench: According to Webster's Dictionary, a wench is a "young woman."
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12. Cinderella: Some versions of the tale explain that Cinderella's true name is Ella to account for the nickname. Gail Carson Levine uses Ella in her novel, Ella Enchanted (1997) and Drew Barrymore is Danielle in Ever After (1998).
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13. Handsomer than her sisters: Her beauty shows that Cinderella is more virtuous and good than her sisters. In the past, and often still today, physical beauty was considered to reflect the true nature of a person.
In some versions of the tale, the stepsisters are beautiful like Cinderella, showing that external beauty is not equivalent to internal beauty.
In some Native American versions of the tale, the Cinderella character is portrayed as ugly and scarred, often caused by her jealous sisters, until she is transformed before the eyes of the community for her goodness. Read a version here at: Indian Cinderella.
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14. King's son: A prince is the suitor and a common character in romantic fairy tales such as this one. In several modern interpretations of the tale, the prince is a reluctant suitor, forced into the search for a wife, until he happily falls in love with Cinderella. The film The Slipper and the Rose especially builds up the prince's disapproval of the ball and wife hunt.
Also note that the prince is not called Prince Charming in the original tale. Walt Disney popularized the name with its usage in his film version of Cinderella.
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15. Ball: A ball is a large party in which the participants dress up in their finest clothes and dance. Balls were exclusively for the privileged and wealthy.
Many other variants of the tale have the Cinderella character meeting the prince at church, one of the few places where people of different classes might regularly see each other while gathered to worship in times past.
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16. Gowns, petticoats, and head-clothes: Perrault's experience and interest in fancy dress is emphasized in his version of Cinderella. He provides more detail and description of the ball clothes than most other versions of the tale. The detailed descriptions also show the literary, instead of oral, nature of his story. Perrault's language is intended for the printed page.
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17. Plaited their ruffles: Ironing and plaiting ruffles would be tedious work work with old fashioned irons.
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18. Red: Red is a color of passion and brilliance. It demands attention, which the sisters are hoping for in their pursuit of the prince for marriage.
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19. Manteau: A manteau is a cloak but occasionally refers to a woman's gown.
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20. Diamond stomacher: A stomacher is worn over the breast or chest. At one time it was fashionable for both women and men to wear stomachers. Women's stomachers were often highly ornamented.
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21. Red brushes and patches from Mademoiselle de la Poche: Red brushes and patches were types of make-up worn by society women. Red brushes were usually used like blush and the patches were usually fake beauty marks worn on the face.
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22. She had excellent notions: Cinderella is an intelligent and artistic woman. She knows how to make clothing appear at its best which was an important skill in her time. She only has rags to wear herself, but she has the taste to work with the finest materials. This was a sign of femininity.
Cinderella's willingness to share her dressing skills with her sisters also shows her good and generous heart.
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23. Two days without eating: There are a few possibilities for this affliction. Nervousness and excitement can lead to loss of appetite. One cannot help but wonder if the sisters were also considering their tight clothing and corsets. Quick diets before great events were not uncommon in past centuries just as they are today.
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24. Broke above a dozen laces: In the time of corsets and stays, laces were used to tie up clothes and make the body appear as slim as possible. The image of the stepsisters breaking many laces shows that they are not ideally thin and are trying to conceal their figures by contorting them into slimmer clothing.
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25. She fell a-crying: In many versions of the tale, Cinderella cries to show her frustration. It is not considered to be weakness but a testament of the terrible burden she bears.
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26. Godmother: The godmother did not become a common and well-known character in the Cinderella tale until Perrault incorporated her into his version of the story. Other versions of Cinderella in different cultures often have the heroine receive assistance from the deceased mother or a nurse, such as a nanny. The fairy godmother versions are the best known in Western culture thanks to Perrault and later versions from Disney and other sources.
The Grimms' version does not use the fairy godmother; a tree planted over the mother's grave provides the materials needed for Cinderella to attend the ball instead. Read their version here: Aschenputtel. The Scottish version, Rashin-Coatie, has a benevolent red calf that provides assistance.
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27. Fairy: Up until this point, the tale is not magical. The introduction of the fairy godmother provides the elements needed to make this a fairy tale, not necessarily because it has a fairy but because it has magic.
In general, fairy godmothers are supernatural benefactors to their human charges. The fairy godmother figure is derived from the three Fates who were thought to visit a newborn baby and bestow good or ill fortune upon it, such as in the Sleeping Beauty tale. The fairy godmother is a wholly benevolent character, however, while the Fates were capable of causing good or evil to occur. Gail Carson Levine explores the possibility of a harmful gift from a fairy godmother in her Cinderella novel, Ella Enchanted.
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28. Good girl: It is important that Cinderella be a "good girl" whose patience and perseverance has earned her the gifts she is about to receive from her godmother.
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29. Pumpkin: Besides being a suitable shape for a carriage, a pumpkin has several symbolic meanings beyond Halloween imagery. A pumpkin symbolizes feminine containment, the moon, witches, and a charm against evil spirits (Olderr 1986).
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30. Wand: A wand is "a slender stick or rod, especially one carried by a fairy, magician, conjurer, etc." (Websters 1990). A wand often represents the special powers of a magical character. Sometimes it represents the harnessing of those magical powers.
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31. Coach: The pumpkin coach is a popular image from the Cinderella tale, second only to the glass slipper. The coach itself is a sign of wealth and afforded only by the upper class.
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32. Gold: Gold, as always, is a precious metal and reserved for the wealthy in past centuries. An entire coach made of gold would be a symbol of great wealth and most likely reserved for royalty.
A famous golden coach in history belonged to Catherine the Great of Russia.
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33. Mice: Walt Disney gave the mice personalities and made them important characters in his well-known film of the story. In the older versions, the mice only exist for their necessary transformation into part of Cinderella's grand transportation to the ball.
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34. Rat: The rat's role in the tale has been explored by some authors in modern times. Two of the most notable are Phillip Pullman's I Was a Rat! (Amazon.com Link) and Susan Meddaugh's Cinderella's Rat (Amazon.com Link). The film version by Disney uses a horse instead of a rat.
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35. Coachman: A coachman is the driver of a coach.
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36. Lizards: The lizards are often portrayed as frogs in illustrations and films of the tale. The Disney version avoids lizards altogether and uses a dog instead.
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37. Six: Six horses and footmen would be a grand number for a small coach, implying wealth and importance.
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38. Liveries: Liveries are the uniforms of servants in elegant and wealthy homes.
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39. Equipage: Equipage is the combined coach, horses, and servants used to transport Cinderella to the palace.
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40. Glass slippers: One of the most famous elements of the story, the glass slippers are important in many aspects. First, they would be expensive and thus proper footwear for a princess. Second, they represent Cinderella's delicate nature. She would have to be physically light and dainty to be able to wear the shoes without shattering them. Finally, I have always imagined the shoes might also be uncomfortable. Cinderella's ability to dance and wear them with grace shows she has mettle.
While the events in his tale are not unique, Perrault most likely invented the glass slipper—there is no trace of it before his version—perhaps as an ironic device since it is a fragile thing and perhaps as simply genius creative license for it has become the iconic symbol of the fairy tale, even surpassing Perrault’s transformed pumpkin carriage as shorthand for the story. The glass slipper has been the cause of much speculation and debate over the years, including a prevalent, albeit erroneous theory, that the glass was a mistake, a confusion between the French verre (glass) and vair (squirrel fur), since fur slippers are not as fantastical, but altogether realistic. In 1841, Honoré de Balzac popularized, perhaps even created the theory, and it has remained popular ever since despite many inherent issues within it, such as its dismissal of Perrault’s own adept literacy. The theory also negates Perrault’s interest in the fantastic and magical, discounting his brilliant creativity. Although the translation error theory has been dismissed by scholars since the 19th century, it continues to appear in popular media all too often today.
Many of the Cinderella variants include exotic footwear. For example, the earliest Cinderella, Yeh-shen (or Yeh-hsien), wears gold shoes.
To read more about the shoes in Cinderella variants around the world, especially see Marian Roalfe Cox's Note 48 (about halfway through the note) in her Cinderella book. She addresses the vair vs. verre issue and tells of other materials comprising the shoes in other versions. (Keep in mind that Cox wrote the note in 1893.)
Footwear is important in many popular fairy tales, such as the boots in Puss in Boots, the worn-out shoes in The Twelve Dancing Princesses, and the red hot dancing shoes found in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
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41. Till after midnight: Midnight is the most common time given as a deadline in the Cinderella tale. Since midnight marks the beginning of a new day and the end of power in the old day, such a deadline is also reasonable. Midnight also marks the beginning of the witching hour.
Many balls would start in the late evening and last until the early morning hours. Cinderella's need to leave at midnight would be an early departure from most balls.
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42. Promised: Cinderella promises to leave the ball before midnight but ultimately breaks this promise with her late departure. The breaking of the promise gives Cinderella a slight hint of imperfection and humanity. It also shows how much she is enamored with the prince.
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43. Great princess: Not surprisingly, Cinderella is mistaken for a princess thanks to her clothes and carriage. Her grand appearance makes entry into the ball possible despite her anonymity.
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44. A profound silence: While a dramatic element in the story--one can imagine a storyteller pausing for effect at this point in the story--the silence also shows that everyone at the ball is aware of Cinderella's entrance and suitably impressed by her physical presence.
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45. King: It is important that the king approves of his son's choice in a wife since he has the ability to censure his son and even take away his inheritance and birthright.
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46. Danced so gracefully: The ability to dance gracefully would be an important feminine trait in this time period.
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47. Collation: A collation is a meal.
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48. Ate not a morsel: The prince's inability to eat shows that he is in the throes of first love.
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49. A thousand civilities: Cinderella's ability to graciously interact with her stepsisters highlights her charm and goodness while emphasizing the stepsisters' vanity. They are unable to recognize the very woman who helped them dress for the ball a short time earlier.
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50. Oranges and citrons: Citrons are lemons. Both oranges and lemons were delicacies in many parts of Europe before the 20th century. Now food is shipped easily with economy before spoiling making these fruits available to a larger population.
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51. Eleven and three-quarters: The time is 11:45 and Cinderella has a fifteen minute warning that midnight is approaching. However, she fails to heed the warning.
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52. Thanked her: To emphasize her goodness once again, Perrault makes sure to have Cinderella thank her fairy godmother for help. This also allows Cinderella the opportunity to wish for help in attending the next ball.
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53. Miss Charlotte: The stepsisters are rarely named in any Cinderella tale. Perrault's use of a name comes from his literary embellishment of the tale and was a personal choice. The name he uses in the original French is Javotte.
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54. You wear every day: Cinderella asks only for her sister's everyday dress, not one of her fancy dresses for the ball. Still, her sister refuses to share even her most common dress with Cinderella.
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55. Forgot: Cinderella breaks her promise to leave the ball before midnight since she is busy with the prince. While forgetfulness is understandable, she does break her promise and is given a small element of humanity. The forgotten time also provides drama, causing Cinderella to run away and leave behind her shoe, providing the means for her identification later. The imagery of Cinderella's elegant clothes transforming back to rags as she runs home is a favorite scene for illustrators and filmmakers.
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56. Deer: Perrault does not resist portraying Cinderella as a beautiful and graceful deer even as she runs away in panic and rags from the palace
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57. Who did all they possibly could: Perrault's story is gentle in imagery, not describing the sisters' efforts in details. In some variants, such as the Grimm's Aschenputtel, the sisters cut off pieces of their feet to try to fit them into the slipper. The blood oozing from the slipper gives them away as impostors.
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58. Wax: Wax was a common molding material and conforms to any shape in liquid form. Perrault uses the image to emphasize how well the shoe fits Cinderella's foot.
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59. The other slipper: While the fitting of the lost shoe is romantic and gives Cinderella credibility, she often produces the second shoe in the pair to confirm her identity.
In many versions of the tale, Cinderella is transformed back into her ball gown once both shoes are on her feet. The Prince and/or his servants are not required to recognize Cinderella in her rags. The implication is that she is in her natural and rightful state when dressed in the better clothing.
In some variants of the tale, the prince acquires Cinderella's lost shoe by putting pitch or tar in the entrance to try to catch her when she runs away. He only succeeds in catching her shoe in the tar and then begins his search for its owner.
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60. Beg pardon: The sisters do not always beg for forgiveness in the tale. Sometimes their jealousy grows with Cinderella's good fortune and they are ultimately punished for their lack of charity. In the Grimm's Aschenputtel, they are filled with rage and scheme to capitalize on Cinderella's good fortune.
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61. Forgave them: Although Cinderella rarely metes out punishment upon her sisters in most versions of the tale, other forces often punish her stepfamily for her. In the Grimm's Aschenputtel, birds come and peck out their eyes when they attend Cinderella's church wedding.
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62. No less good than beautiful: Perrault's desire to emphasize Cinderella's virtuous goodness shows that she is forgiving and compassionate despite the ill-treatment she received from her stepsisters. Most versions of the story have Cinderella ambivalent of what happens to the sisters; she is busy marrying the prince instead.
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63. Matched them with two great lords: The stepsisters suffer various fates, including death or being turned to stone, in various versions of the tale. However, this version has a forgiving Cinderella who provides wealthy husbands for her stepsisters. In this way, everyone lives happily ever after whether they deserve it or not. Cinderella still receives the greatest reward, however.
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