Two classic stories of antiquity are Cinderella and Hamlet. Throughout the ages the stories have gone by different names; Katie Woodencloak, The Lion King, Pepelyouga, or Amleth. Cinderella and Hamlet are essentially the same story. One parent dies, the surviving parent remarries a sinister partner, there is a set of characters that are associates of the sinister partner, the protagonist gets revenge aided by allegorical means, and the protagonist obtains their basic wishes at the end. This classic story arc of human condition closely follows Axel Olrik’s Epic Laws of Folk Narrative.
Staying true to “The Law of Opening and Closing”, most stories introduce the deceased parent as already passed. Cinderella often opens with “Once upon …show more content…
When the mother dies; a rather hideous stepmother, who favors her own daughters far more greatly than Cinderella, then replaces the mother figure. Cinderella is infinitely good and pure, while her stepmother is a spiteful hag. In the Charles Perrault version of Cinderella, he even states outright the purity of our hero, “unparalleled goodness and sweetness of temper”. Her stepmother contrives her to do all of the unsavory tasks. She is subjected to ridicule and physical abuse at the hands of her stepmother and stepsisters. All of this seems to make her more humble ad pitiful in the eyes of the reader. Hamlet is a morose young prince, mourning his father’s death. His uncle, and assassin of the king, then replaces his father. Shakespeare has Claudius disgrace Hamlet by saying, “tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet, to give these mourning duties to your father,” but that he “must know your father lost a father, that father lost his,” and finishes his indignity with, “tis unmanly grief.” This blatant insult fortifies the unsavory character of the …show more content…
This is Olrik’s final law, “The Concentration on a Leading Character”. For Cinderella, it is to be removed from bondage and have an easy life married to the prince. In most versions Cinderella states her wishes outright or takes deliberate action to make it so, The Grimm version has Cinderella going to a magical tree shaking it and begging, “Shake yourself, shake yourself, little tree. Throw some nice clothing down to me!” It is demonstrated by repeatedly going to the ball, or walking through cursed woods, etc. She is in every scene, and everything else that happens is stated as past tense while the action fills in around her. In the end, Cinderella is a princess; she often puts her stepsisters to work. In one particularly depressing version, the Cinderella character is a servant for the prince; he beats her and scolds her, and when she is transformed he loves her, and she still marries him. For Hamlet, he wants to avenge his father and to die; he is just indecisive of his actions. Hamlet states his desire to die more than once however, act 3 scene 1 gave us, quite possibly, the most famous speech of all time, in a nunnery Hamlet delivers the, “To be, or not to be?” soliloquy. The end of Hamlet is an amalgamation of sword fighting and poison. In one fell swoop, Hamlet kills his uncle and achieves his death. Fortinbras gives him a hero’s death, “Let four captains bear
Staying true to “The Law of Opening and Closing”, most stories introduce the deceased parent as already passed. Cinderella often opens with “Once upon …show more content…
When the mother dies; a rather hideous stepmother, who favors her own daughters far more greatly than Cinderella, then replaces the mother figure. Cinderella is infinitely good and pure, while her stepmother is a spiteful hag. In the Charles Perrault version of Cinderella, he even states outright the purity of our hero, “unparalleled goodness and sweetness of temper”. Her stepmother contrives her to do all of the unsavory tasks. She is subjected to ridicule and physical abuse at the hands of her stepmother and stepsisters. All of this seems to make her more humble ad pitiful in the eyes of the reader. Hamlet is a morose young prince, mourning his father’s death. His uncle, and assassin of the king, then replaces his father. Shakespeare has Claudius disgrace Hamlet by saying, “tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet, to give these mourning duties to your father,” but that he “must know your father lost a father, that father lost his,” and finishes his indignity with, “tis unmanly grief.” This blatant insult fortifies the unsavory character of the …show more content…
This is Olrik’s final law, “The Concentration on a Leading Character”. For Cinderella, it is to be removed from bondage and have an easy life married to the prince. In most versions Cinderella states her wishes outright or takes deliberate action to make it so, The Grimm version has Cinderella going to a magical tree shaking it and begging, “Shake yourself, shake yourself, little tree. Throw some nice clothing down to me!” It is demonstrated by repeatedly going to the ball, or walking through cursed woods, etc. She is in every scene, and everything else that happens is stated as past tense while the action fills in around her. In the end, Cinderella is a princess; she often puts her stepsisters to work. In one particularly depressing version, the Cinderella character is a servant for the prince; he beats her and scolds her, and when she is transformed he loves her, and she still marries him. For Hamlet, he wants to avenge his father and to die; he is just indecisive of his actions. Hamlet states his desire to die more than once however, act 3 scene 1 gave us, quite possibly, the most famous speech of all time, in a nunnery Hamlet delivers the, “To be, or not to be?” soliloquy. The end of Hamlet is an amalgamation of sword fighting and poison. In one fell swoop, Hamlet kills his uncle and achieves his death. Fortinbras gives him a hero’s death, “Let four captains bear