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Author
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Comment
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LostBoyTootles
(9/1/04 1:21 pm)
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Why did Cinderella's father remarry?
Okay, my curiosity has found me...
I've searched through the Cinderella fairy tales that are given on the SurLaLune "Similar Tales Across Cultures" page and I can't find the answer. Is there any reason that Cinderella's father remarried to the stepmother? Or is it one of those "...because the story demands it" things?
Tootles~~If I can't be anything important, would you like to see me do a trick?
Edited by: LostBoyTootles at: 9/1/04 1:21 pm
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Wild Rose
Unregistered User
(9/1/04 5:39 pm)
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Here's one idea
In one adaptation I read he married her for her wealth because his business failed. But that was just a modern adaptation. I don't know if Perrault or anyone else ever had that idea.
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Richard Parks
Registered User
(9/2/04 6:54 am)
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Re: Here's one idea
Explicit reasons were never given so far as I know, but then I always assumed he would have remarried for the same reasons anyone might marry in the first place: for companionship, for love, for security, etc. As a widower he might also be attempting to provide a female role model and a stable environment for his daughter (or, to look at it in terms of the culture of that time, to provide a mistress of the house to oversee domestic matters). The fact that he showed some very bad judgment in his choice wouldn't change any of that. Nor is it that unusual.
http://dm.net/~richard-parks |
Terri Windling
Registered User
(9/2/04 7:12 am)
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Re: Here's one idea
Remarriage was rather common in centuries past, when many women died in childbirth. Thus stepmothers were common too. Marina Warner discusses this aspect of fairy tale history in her excellent book From the Beast to the Blonde.
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Shelly Rae Clift
Registered User
(9/2/04 12:54 pm)
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and another idea
I've also seen versions where the step-mother seduces and tricks Cinderella's father into marrying her as a way of getting his money for herself and her daughters. This is a rather more cynical version than most.
Anon.
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janeyolen
Registered User
(9/3/04 1:28 am)
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Re: and another idea
In my story "Cinderelephant" I posit that he wants to talk to someone who is interested in the same things and knows that the Mashed Potato is a dance and not a food group. But of course that's a modern version of the story. Sort of.
Jane
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Rosemary Lake
Registered User
(9/6/04 11:36 am)
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very old versions
I seem to recall some old version/s where the future step-mother (probably wanting to marry for money) began by cultivating the daughter, promised her she would be the favorite. The daughter persuaded the father to remarry, and then the step-mother broke those promises.
R.
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Heidi Anne Heiner
ezOP
(9/7/04 7:42 am)
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Re: very old versions
Great memory, Rosemary.
One of those versions is the Italian Cenerentola. A version is available on SurLaLune:
www.surlalunefairytales.c...neren.html
Heidi
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LostBoyTootles
Registered User
(9/8/04 2:23 pm)
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Re: very old versions
Yeah, Cat Cinderella is probably my favorite. But I don't understand why the stepmother (Carmosina) wanted to marry him in the first place... she tricked Zezolla into thinking she would be a good mother, then wasn't, but she earned nothing out of it. The marriage in Cinderella just never makes sense to me.
Tootles~~If I can't be anything important, would you like to see me do a trick? |
redtriskell
Registered User
(9/11/04 1:01 am)
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stepparents
Why do we assume that the story always had a stepmother? It seems reasonable to me that changing times demanded a stepmother. After all, everyone knows mothers are always wonderful and perfect. And if society doesn't like the idea of a story which has an evil mother... well, it's easy enough to change her into a stepmother to make the story more palatable. I've always suspected Jacob and Willhelm of rearranging things to suit their sensibilities. I imagine if we could travel in time and eavesdrop around the kitchen, we'd hear that Cinderella (and many others) just had vile mothers and fathers. I also think modern tellings where authors have made the parents vile make a lot of people uncomfortable, even if they can't quite figure out why.
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Rosemary Lake
Registered User
(9/11/04 2:52 pm)
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Re: stepparents
I seem to remember someone looking into that question, and finding a few stories where a vile real parent was turned into a stepparent in a later version. Perhaps it was a book comparing verisons of Grimm.
However it's also been pointed out that when mortality rates were higher, there were more stepparents (at least until divorce became common).
R.
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LostBoyTootles
Registered User
(9/11/04 7:45 pm)
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Re: stepparents
I know that Snow White's stepmother was originally her mother, but I'm not so sure about Cinderella...
Tootles~~If I can't be anything important, would you like to see me do a trick? |
Black Sheep
Registered User
(9/20/04 7:07 am)
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Re: very old versions
Thank you, Rosemary for posting an alt Cinders. I never liked her and I always suspected that there was a good reason why her step-sisters were jealous of her.
My suspiscions were confirmed by Joanne Harris in her short story "The Ugly Sister" which is in Harris' short story collection "Jigs And Reels".
Another excellent modern retelling, this time of Sleeping Beauty, which spins the parent problem is Ursula Le Guin's "The Poacher" in her short story collection "Unlocking The Air" and which she discusses in her collection of essays "The Wave In The Mind" (the same essay is also in "Mirror Mirror").
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janeyolen
Registered User
(9/21/04 1:06 am)
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Re: very old versions
Le Guin's "Poacher", a truly brilliant short story, was first published in XANADU, an anthology I edited for Tor.
<Just doing my darndest to keep the records straight here. Now where did I leave that dust mop?>
Jane
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Black Sheep
Registered User
(10/1/04 9:09 am)
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Re: very old versions
Quote:
Just doing my darndest to keep the records straight here. Now where did I leave that dust mop?
You're not fooling anyone with the sweet lil ole housewifey routine Yolen...
A bored Little Black Riding Sheep drifts into daydream mode...
Mouton Rouge says: "O my! What a big memory you have Grandma Yolen!"
A suspiciously hirsute Grandma Yolen replies: "All the better to edit you with, my dear!"
Mouton Rouge bleats and scarpers...
:D
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jane
Unregistered User
(10/2/04 1:33 am)
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HAHAHA
Made me laugh out loud, Black Sheep.
Jane
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