Cinderella and Donkeyskin - Do they belong together?
This week, engage Maria Tatar's argument that "Cinderella" stories and "Donkeyskin" stories should be studied together. Draw upon at least one story (off the syllabus) from the Ashliman site for your entry.
For the sake of having something to compare and contrast I do believe they should be studied together. Yet if one were to lump all the tales that contained princes and princesses, Cinderella and Donkeyskin would look about as similar as...well... me and Cinderella, HA! I can understand that in the end the prince and princess must go through the story to be together but the differences in the 2 are very pronounced. First the feeling associated when I read Cinderella is almost one of rooting for the under dog and hoping she can luckily be in a situation for her prince to see her and fall madly in love. With Donkeyskin I can't help but worry and be frightened for her. Incest, really? Thats why Disney made Cinderella and not Donkeyskin! The feeling behind Donkeyskin is one of trickery and cunning by the princess to not be caught by her father. She is also perusing a more active roll in gaining the attention of her prince by manipulating his soup as opposed to Cinderella simply being beautiful at a ball or festival or what have you. There are some similarities, the 3 dresses. Whether or not they are made by nature (birds, trees, mothers grave) or from a powerful king it is still not enough to rule out the differentiating factors such as the use of "skins" to hide from an incestual father and cinder to hide her beauty are too much enough for me to consider them be parallel.
For the sake of having something to compare and contrast I do believe they should be studied together. Yet if one were to lump all the tales that contained princes and princesses, Cinderella and Donkeyskin would look about as similar as...well... me and Cinderella, HA! I can understand that in the end the prince and princess must go through the story to be together but the differences in the 2 are very pronounced. First the feeling associated when I read Cinderella is almost one of rooting for the under dog and hoping she can luckily be in a situation for her prince to see her and fall madly in love. With Donkeyskin I can't help but worry and be frightened for her. Incest, really? Thats why Disney made Cinderella and not Donkeyskin! The feeling behind Donkeyskin is one of trickery and cunning by the princess to not be caught by her father. She is also perusing a more active roll in gaining the attention of her prince by manipulating his soup as opposed to Cinderella simply being beautiful at a ball or festival or what have you. There are some similarities, the 3 dresses. Whether or not they are made by nature (birds, trees, mothers grave) or from a powerful king it is still not enough to rule out the differentiating factors such as the use of "skins" to hide from an incestual father and cinder to hide her beauty are too much enough for me to consider them be parallel.
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