Society's Characters In The Grimms Brothers Version Of Cinderella

According to the Grimms Brothers version of Cinderella, one can conclude that people have to earn their place in society. Throughout many of the classic fairy tales, the main characters have to endure hardship and suffering before they are fully happy and are not in a state of worrying. Specifically for Cinderella, she has to cater to her step-mother and step-sisters. “Every day she got up before daybreak to carry water, start the fire, cook, and wash” (117). Cinderella had to do everything while, on top of that, had to deal with the two step-sisters trying to find every possible way to make Cinderella’s life even more challenging. This symbolizes people in the work force everywhere. There are always going to be people higher than you that …show more content…
The part in the story where Hansel and Gretel find their way back home and their parents try leading them even further into the forest, can show how there will be people or situations in life that will constantly keep bringing you down, but as Hansel and Gretel show, one should never give up and keep trying. The second time the parents took the children out into the woods, Hansel did not have the pebbles he did before because the mother locked the door, so he had to compromise for something less effective. “On the way into the woods, Hansel crushed the bread into his pocket and would often stop to scatter crumbs on the ground” (186). When things do not go right in life, one has to take different routes to get to where they want to go, or even change their whole goal altogether. Hansel and Gretel suffer a great deal before they “move up in society”. They starved with their family for quite some time, they were abandoned in the woods, almost died because of the starvation, and they were almost baked alive by the evil witch. Gretel finally had enough and killed the witch herself. Sometimes in life, one has to stand up for themselves to get where they want to be. Once one has worked and suffered a long time, they are bound to snap eventually just because they cannot physically or emotionally handle the pressure …show more content…
Beauty was raised high in society and so was the rest of her family, until one day her father lost all of his fortune. They had to then adjust to a new kind of life. “It was hard at first, because she was not used to working like a servant” (33). Beauty had never have to worry about things like cleaning the house and cooking meals for the family. She had to alter her ways of living to fit into this particular position in society. Beauty becomes excepting to her new role and is completely content unlike her sisters. Strong people will learn how to make the best of what they have. The weak ones, like her sisters, will sit around and complain about every unfamiliar and difficult detail of their lives. One has to be very flexible and versatile to be able to fully succeed in society. Beauty, however, does also endure hard work before she is rewarded and move back up in society. She cleans and cooks for her family until she goes and lives with the beast, where she does the same thing, cooks and cleans for him. She is forced to live with someone she at first does not particularly like. Eventually they fall in love though. After all the hardships that she had to undertake, she is blessed with the marriage to a prince. She suffered and by accepting her place in society and being as selfless as she was, she then finds herself with and extraordinary reward. “You were the only person in the world kind