28 pages • 56 minutes read
Charles PerraultThe Little Glass Slipper
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1697A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Importance of Virtuosity
The story promotes virtues such as kindness, patience, and obedience, all considered important qualities for women during the 17th century. It portrays Cinderilla as a virtuous and deserving character, “of unparalleled goodness and sweetness of temper” who ultimately triumphs over her cruel stepfamily, reinforcing the idea of just rewards for maintained moral principles (Paragraph 1). The story also emphasizes the virtue of forgiveness. Though Cinderilla is abused and mistreated, she sets up residence for her stepsisters in the palace and matchmakes them with nobility.
Despite Cinderilla's difficult circumstances, she perseveres and maintains hope. She serves the role expected of her and endures the hardships imposed upon her, diligently performing her domestic chores without complaint. Her humbleness and gentleness is rewarded when she receives the aid of her fairy godmother, emphasizing that duty and grace in the face of adversity can lead to a positive outcome.
In contrast, her stepfamily, who display guile, vanity, and jealousy, are never deemed worthy of divine intervention or granted an audience with royalty. The stepsisters dress in excess, with no regard for Cinderilla. Their finery is a result of Cinderilla’s efforts—“for it was she who ironed her sisters' linen, and plaited their ruffles; they talked all day long of nothing but how they should be dressed” (Paragraph 4). However, the Prince only has eyes for Cinderilla, who is likewise magnificently adorned in finery. Through Cinderilla and her stepsisters, the story rewards modesty and punishes duplicity.
In case a reader misses the story’s message, Perrault concludes with two morals. He emphasizes the importance of “grace” over outward beauty and “high birth.” He also underscores the importance of obedience. One may possess “good sense” and “birth,” but disobedience will render these qualities useless. Perrault’s emphasis on obedience is in line with 17th century ideals of women.
Transformation
Transformation is a central theme in Perrault's Cinderilla, as the story revolves around the protagonist's remarkable journey from a life of hardship and obscurity to one of recognition and happiness. Cinderilla's transformation is twofold: physical and hierarchical. At the onset of the tale, Cinderilla is presumably born to a family of means. When her father remarries, her status is stripped from a daughter of the house to a role of servitude to the household. Through the intervention of her fairy godmother, she undergoes a stunning physical transformation, transcending her impoverished appearance and assuming the allure and beauty of a princess. Her transformation reflects her inner beauty and attracts the prince, who not only restores her rank but elevates her to royalty.
Significantly, even lowly wild creatures such as rats and lizards are transformed into humans, albeit in a role of servitude, their metamorphosis achieved through magical intervention. Cinderella’s “godmother turned [six lizards] into six footmen, who skipped up immediately behind the coach, with their liveries all bedaubed with gold and silver” (Paragraph 25). This suggests the possibility of hierarchical movement for even the lowliest of social stations.
Perrault's “Cinderilla” invites readers to consider the inequities and prejudices within society. It reflects on the arbitrary nature of hierarchies and encourages a focus on personal virtues rather than external status markers. At the same time, Cinderilla’s transformation is not as revolutionary as it may seem. Cinderilla is not a servant by birth. Instead, she was a respectable woman of means prior to her father’s death. Her physical transformation by the fairy godmother reflects her original status, the one she enjoyed before the arrival of her stepfamily. Arguably, the prince restores the rightful order by marrying her. Had Cinderilla been born a servant, the social implications of the story—that servants can become princesses—would be significantly more radical.
The Triumph of Good Over Evil
The triumph of good over evil is a central theme underpinning the narrative. Cinderilla represents goodness, while her stepmother and stepsisters embody cruelty and envy. Despite their attempts to oppress her, forcing her to clean for them and barring her from the prince’s ball, Cinderilla is triumphant.
Perrault emphasizes how goodness will ultimately overcome evil against all odds. Cinderilla is not trapped in her situation; rather, a fairy godmother rescues her. Even though Cinderilla has nothing to wear to the ball, let alone transportation, the fairy godmother arranges for such through lizards and pumpkins. Perrault’s version of Cinderella is in line with a key facet of American ideology, which may explain its popularity in the US: Even in the face of the impossible, one can achieve their dreams with the right attitude. Additionally, the fairy godmother’s intervention is in line with the idea of religious reward: If one is virtuous, God will reward you. In the case of “Cinderilla,” reward happens in this life rather than the next.
Perrault highlights the importance of moral character and virtue. Cinderilla’s struggle is not in vain, nor does she seek revenge. Rather, she “[gives] her two sisters lodgings in the palace, and that very same day matched them with two great lords of the court” (Paragraph 49). In contrast to the version by the Brothers Grimm, the sisters are not blinded or punished.
Good’s triumph ties to the idea of justice, even in the absence of penalization. Perrault ends his moral tale with a didactic poem—“[giving] to her such graceful mien, / That she, thereby, became a queen” (Paragraph 50). He extolls Cinderilla’s feminine virtues—justice will prevail, and kindness will ultimately be rewarded.
Perrault highlights good and evil by painting them in the extreme. Cinderilla is not just kind—she is saintlike in her forgiveness. The stepsisters, likewise, show no nuance and are consistently portrayed as cruel, without redeeming traits. Through this juxtaposition, Perrault creates an allegory. His story is not so much about characters who could exist in the real world, but qualities and archetypes.
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