"Cinderella"

The Archetypal Theory consists of shared human experience throughout time. Symbols, motifs, images, characters, are “collective unconscious”. So let’s take a look at the some of the most common aspects we hope will happen in a typical fairy tale.

First, would be the ultimate Princess that many of my childhood movies and stories seem to always have. The sweet, young, beautiful, and caring Princess is always present in almost any story you read for children. In this case, Cinderella is the Princess who is constantly turned down and mentally abused by her step-mother and her step-sisters. She asks to attend the ball, but her nasty step-mother just laughs at her. The step-sisters make her feel jealous by talking about what they will wear, “I shall wear my red velvet dress and my English lace” (10). Their clothes were bought from the latest designers and were very expensive. This shows the mistreatment of poor Cinderella.

Second, always present is of course the Prince. He is often times assumed to be young, handsome, rich, and oblivious to everything around him besides beauty. He falls in love with Cinderella from first-sight, but he knows nothing about her personality or background. Could this be true love? He has only one dance with her, but does that mean she is his soul mate? Of course, as in every other fairy tale, the Prince comes to rescue the Princess. He sends his servants out to search for the one whose foot fits into the little “glass slipper”.

Third, is the Evil character that is always after the Princess.  Almost every story I’ve read as a child, always had some evil witch or God-mother that wanted to harm the innocent one. As expected, in “Cinderella” the God-mother is mean, rude, old, and jealous. She takes her jealously out onto Cinderella and mocks the fact that it couldn’t have possibly been “Cinder-bottom” at the ball. To add to it, the step-sisters are also evil characters present in the story. “The very idea! Id have to be crazy to lend my dress to nasty Cinderbottom like you” (13). Ironically, enough as it is, I find it interesting how everyone views Cinderella as the most beautiful girl while she is at the ball, but once she takes all her luxurious clothes off, she is back to basics. What ever happened to people finding the beauty deep in? it isn’t all about looks. From a critical point-of-view I don’t see why they would show these kind of movies to little kids who should be taught otherwise: that beauty goes beyond what is on the outer surface. Clothes do no make Cinderella beautiful, but it is her personality that makes her so pure and innocent. Whereas, her evil companions are the ones who should be dressed in rags instead of those “velvet dresses” because they are the ones who are truly ugly inside and out.