Preview

Charles Perrault's Cinderella Literary Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
558 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Charles Perrault's Cinderella Literary Analysis
Charles Perrault's Cinderella comes complete with a classic fairy tale ending. The slipper fits and Cinderella marries the prince. Thus, the reader infers that he lives "happily ever after." When a tale's ending is so basic it is tempting for a reader to consider if Cinderella lived a truly happy life. Lynne McFall contemplates this idea in Pig Happiness. Pig Happiness contemplates whether a life is truly happy in some different circumstances. The scenario that fits Cinderella the best would be the deluded fool. McFall characterizes the deluded fool as having an ideal. The deluded fool is happy if they believe they have achieved their ideal. For example, In Perrault's Cinderella her aspiration is to go to the ball and marry the prince. When Cinderella achieves this her tale is over. It most readers assume that she will live a happy life from that point onward. Some readers may wonder if marrying a person you have known for three …show more content…
The Oxford English Dictionary defines happiness as “The state of being happy.” The dictionary entry for happy reads, “showing pleasure or contentment.” Emotions are complex and intimate. It is impossible for a reader to decide what a character is feeling because the reader is not that character. You simply cannot read a five page story about a week in the life of a teenage girl and determine her innermost feelings and desires. You cannot conclude whether Cinderella's life was a happy life because you are not Cinderella. This holds true for all the scenarios played out in pig happiness. You cannot determine whether the incompetent bottle cap collector lived a happy life because you only know him from a paragraph describing his affinity for collecting bottle caps. In the same regard, you cannot decide whether the deluded fool lived a happy life because you only know her at face value. Her one ideal does not define her entire life nor does it define her
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Great Expectations By Charles Dicken: An Analysis
    • 74 Words
    • 1 Page

    Great Expectations By Charles Dicken: An Analysis

    For centuries, society has shaped these abstract ideas of what happiness means and how one could achieve happiness in their lives. However, in order to even understand what actions could lead to one’s happiness, one must be able to understand the definition of happiness itself. Having read Charles Dicken’s book Great Expectations, happiness persists as a pleasure or sense of a meaningful and rich psychosocial integration in a person’s understanding of himself or herself.…

    • 74 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Pr in Selfish Pursuit
    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Pr in Selfish Pursuit

    I completely agree with Brandt on this issue. We have taken a very narrow and uncompromising stance on the issue of happiness. I argue that happiness is an extremely widespread concept. No two people can define happiness in the same way. Defining happiness through materialistic wealth and success may certainly be suitable for some people and reading “Herodotus” and “Plutarch” may be the definition of happiness for others. Still others may define happiness as spending…

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Examples Of Happiness In Fahrenheit 451
    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Examples Of Happiness In Fahrenheit 451

    Another example is when Guy Montag finds out that Clarisse's family enjoys sitting around with all the lights on, "What's going on? Oh, just my mother and father and uncle sitting around"(9.) Later he asked what they do would sitting around, and she answered "they would talk." The fact that the family is sitting around, talking, is another form on happiness. It still counts as happiness, but not what the society would expect. Then again, it is coming from a "weird" family. The last example of a happiness sighting is when Montag sees his wife sitting around and listening to music, "She had both ears plugged with electronic bees that were humming the hour away....she was a expert at lip reading from ten years apprenticeship at Seashell ear thimbles(18.) Already in the morning Mildred ,Montag's wife, is already doing she likes to do.Which, apparently, is listening to her music. Also in the passage, it says that she has been listening to her music for ten years. Which means she has been experiencing happiness for a long time. Nevertheless, happiness can be in any shape ans sizes. It can be emotionally or physically, but any form of happiness is…

    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Cinderella Vs Disney Research Paper
    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Cinderella Vs Disney Research Paper

    Perrault embraced the truism of the story by allowing the stepsisters to apologize to Cinderella for treating her so badly. True to her character, Cinderella “forgave them with all her heart” (Perrault, 2009). Furthermore, Cinderella arranged for both sisters to be married on the same day. Perrault concluded with a moral statement declaring that: “beauty is a fine thing… but charm is beyond price and worth more… more than a happy ending” (Perrault, 2009). Perrault’s ending reinforced the readers’ understanding of text and provided a good explanation of the purpose behind the tale while reinforcing readers understanding of text. Disney’s version merely ended soon after the shoe fit with a “happily ever after”…

    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Brave New World Happiness Quotes
    • 3753 Words
    • 16 Pages

    Brave New World Happiness Quotes

    What is true happiness? This is an important question that is related to Brave New World, a novel by Aldous Huxley. This book was written right after the first automobile was mass-produced, the Model T Ford. This assembly line production sparked Aldous' mind into thinking if humans were produced in the same way. When Aldous imagined this he thought that the world would be quite different and he decided to write a satire on present day culture. He thought that a world like this would be in a certain state of happiness. The residents of World State A.F. 632 are not truly happy. Instead they live a life of instant gratification, or a fleeting moment of happiness that ends quickly. Also they have no adversities in their life so they are never truly…

    • 3753 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Fahrenheit 451 Happiness Quotes
    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Fahrenheit 451 Happiness Quotes

    “Are you happy?” This quote was deeply focused on in the book Fahrenheit 451. When Guy Montag was asked this by Clarisse, his world changed. Isn’t it ironic how, “Are you happy?”, can make a person so unhappy? Here’s another question to ponder about. What is happiness? Is there a true definition of a happy person? Based on Fahrenheit 451, happiness can be represented by 3 things: materialistic objects, current situations, and happiness over hardship.…

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    comparing and contrast cinderella
    • 1118 Words
    • 5 Pages

    comparing and contrast cinderella

    Everyone knows the story of Cinderella, the girl who finds her prince with the help of a magical fairy god-mother, transforming her previously horrible life to a fabulous depiction of every little girls dream. Generations of children around the world have heard the story Cinderella countless times, however most people are unaware of the multiple versions of this legend. The European version of Cinderella ,“Aschenputtel” written by the Grimm Brothers consists of the female protagonist being treated as a servant, yet somehow manages to leave her cruel family behind for her Prince whom she lives happily ever after with. Another version of Cinderella is the Native American tale “The Algonquin Cinderella”, where the female protagonist is also mistreated by her family, however she is fortunate enough to “find” her own prince in her village. Although both stories present similar morals, both vary in details such as characters, settings,and use of magic.…

    • 1118 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Mla Cinderella by Sexton
    • 1023 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Mla Cinderella by Sexton

    In the real world, problems and complications come up and happily ever after’s don’t exist. Sexton takes the classic story of “Cinderella”, reworks it, and makes it into her own twisted version of a fairytale. She starts the audience off with a few little “rags-to-riches” accounts comparing modern culture’s unrealistic dreams to what life really is like. Then she goes into telling the readers the famously known fairytale in a sardonic tone. The audience gets a sense of frustration from her way of expressing herself in each little story she talks about. She shows the world that its not always rainbows and butterflies, the real world is more complicated than that. Sexton’s “Cinderella” highlights despair and the delusions women have about love.…

    • 1023 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Perrault Cinderella
    • 1294 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Perrault Cinderella

    Perrault’s “Cinderella” is essentially a story about women. The women are given identifiers that allow the readers to foresee their actions, while the men in the story are flat and nearly unidentifiable, showing an absence of importance amongst the male characters. “Cinderella” begins by characterizing the women in the story, describing Cinderella’s new stepfamily as the “haughtiest and proudest” (449) and renders Cinderella and her late mother as “gentle, “good,” and the “best in the world” (450). What stands out the most amongst these descriptions is the lack of characterization of Cinderella’s father, who is only described as being “totally under the control of his wife” (450). It is presumed that without Cinderella’s father being so feeble under the rule of his new wife, he would better protect Cinderella from being mistreated by her new stepfamily. In society, men are often portrayed…

    • 1294 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Analysis Of Cinderella By Anne Sexton
    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Analysis Of Cinderella By Anne Sexton

    The one poem I found interesting was "Cinderella" by Anne Sexton. I expected the poem to just be a fancy version of the princess tale Cinderella which everyone knows that story. I expected it to be boring and everything I already knew about the fairytale. But this version was a more grim tale of the orginal. The beginning really hooks you with all the little stories about the plumber winning the sweekskates, the nursemaid marring the prince, and the milkman buying into real estate. All these people started out with nothing and unexpectly got wealthy, just like Cinderella. Throughout the story, Anne Sexton uses means of exxagartions. For example, she says " Whenever she wished for anything the dove would drop it like an egg upon the ground."…

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Happiness In Brave New World Essay
    • 1490 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Happiness In Brave New World Essay

    What is happiness? That is not a question that may be easily answered. Due to the fact that every human-being possesses their own views on life, it is possible that there are innumerable interpretations of what is ultimately this idea seen as happiness. For the purpose of interpreting the idea of happiness as opposed to “being happy” I believe that it is necessary that there be a more continual and perpetual meaning is attached to happiness. I do not believe that actual happiness is a fleeting experience, but instead, a lasting state in which someone finds themselves. When looking to a dictionary or other source of reference to determine an official and concrete meaning behind happiness, the Miriam-Webster…

    • 1490 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Paradox Of Happiness
    • 1091 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Paradox Of Happiness

    According the Oxford Dictionary, the definition of Happiness is being pleased, being satisfied, and being lucky (Oxford Dictionary). However, the definition of being happy is different for everyone. There are many elements to one person’s happiness, whether that be fame or fortune, or something that most take advantage of such as a roof over their head, or dinner on the table every night. Happiness is an emotion that can be uncontrolled, and is forever changing. Expectations are a major reason why a person’s happiness is manipulated every second of everyday. According to a health website “Positive Med,” there are six major emotions which include anger, fear, surprise, disgust, happiness, and sadness. According to this, happiness only occurs…

    • 1091 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Anne Sexton Cinderella
    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Anne Sexton Cinderella

    Growing up, children become fascinated with the ideas they encounter all around them. Stories they have read in books, fairy tales they have seen on television; its inevitable for children to create this so called idea of “happily ever after” in their minds, because that is all they have been accustomed too. “Cinderella,” being a perfect example, has created this facet of stumbling upon prince charming and living happily ever after. In Anne Sexton’s “Cinderella,” the speaker uses a nonchalant tone, graphic imagery, and repetitive similes to critique the cultural misconception of what happiness truly means.…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Happiness Definition
    • 1061 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Happiness Definition

    What is happiness? Marketing and media have brainwashed people’s brain into believing that happiness means to own possessions such as cars, big houses, or brand new devices among others. Unfortunately, this overstated fable is far from real. In fact, most people misunderstand that happiness is a choice that lies inside them. Weather to be happy or not, is up to any individual to choose as they please. Namely, true happiness is no more than a positive attitude, a good healthy habit, and life meaning.…

    • 1061 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Cinderella Summary
    • 168 Words
    • 1 Page

    Cinderella Summary

    Cinderella is a traditional fairy tale based on the central character, Cinderella. Cinderella is living happily with her mother and father until her mother dies. Cinderella's father remarries a cold, cruel woman who has two daughters, Drizella and Anastasia, who make Cinderella do all their work.…

    • 168 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More

Related Topics