Looking into the Female Characters in Cinderella Fairy Tales Then and Now

• Main Authors: HUI-CHI CHAN, 詹惠芝
• Other Authors: Dr. Mieke Desmet
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2019
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/c86593

碩士 === 東海大學 === 外國語文學系 === 107 === The earlier versions of the Cinderella fairy tale have been rewritten and retold through numerous modern narratives such as Just Ella (1999) by the American writer Margaret Peterson Haddix, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister (1999) by the American novelist Gregory Maguire, Bound (2004) by the American writer and linguist Donna Jo Napoli, and All the Ever Afters (2018) by the Canadian writer Danielle Teller, among others. An adaptation of a fairy tale gives its earlier version a twist by making changes in the characters or by adding a current concept to make the story more appealing, relatable, or acceptable to modern readers. When comparing earlier and modern versions of the Cinderella fairy tale, what the reader could easily observe is that there are aspects of patriarchal ideology in the earlier versions and more women-centered narratives in the modern ones. Looking into the modern versions of Cinderella fairy tales, the main female character in these rewritten versions has gotten rid of her frail image and has been interpreted from different angles to be aligned with the modern concept of a woman who has the power to master her own life. Furthermore, the other female characters such as the stepmother and stepsisters also have their voices heard. Many women-centered perspectives are rather obvious in these rewritten stories and will be explored in this thesis. In addition, considering the intertwined and complex relationships among the female characters that shape different angles of the story, this thesis will also explore the roles of, and relationships among these female characters in earlier versions and compare and contrast them to the modern versions of “Cinderella.”