Anne Sexton Cinderella Analysis

Dear Lucy,

Anne Sexton’s “Cinderella” is not like the classic fairytale we all know and love. In this version, Cinderella is portrayed as a beautiful young girl; however, she is impoverished. Ever since she was little, her father, stepmother, and stepsisters treated her with brutality. Later on, with the help of her magical dove, Cinderella gets her wish of going to the ball, where her and Prince Charming meet. In contrast to the original fairytale, Prince Charming has an absence of intelligence and comes off a bit aggressive. Sexton’s version mocks the original fairytale by putting a focus on behavior of the characters. Both the father and Prince Charming in Sexton’s story are portrayed as inept men. Sexton chooses to illustrate them as such because she is …show more content…
Unlike the original version, he is alive. In the original “Cinderella,” her father’s absence played a big role in the story. With him being gone, no one was there to defend Cinderella from her evil stepmother and stepsisters. However, Sexton’s warped version makes Cinderella’s father an enemy by putting him in the same category as her cruel stepmother and stepsisters. Cinderella’s father “brought presents home from town, jewels and gowns for the other women but the twig of a tree for Cinderella” (Sexton). Here, Cinderella’s father overlooks his daughter but cherishes his wife and stepdaughters. Prince Charming is another disappointing male figure in Cinderella’s life. When the ball was over, “The prince walked her home and she disappeared into the pigeon house and although the prince took an axe and broke it open she was gone” (Sexton). Being chased by “Prince Charming” is expected to be romantic, but Sexton twists the story, making Prince Charming seem vicious. Sexton’s description of both Prince Charming and Cinderella’s father discloses her feelings about the high-ranking status they are awarded with in almost all