Cinderella

Characteristics of heroes

The main heroine of this fairy-tale is simple provincial girl Cinderella, who has a cruel stepmother and two proud sisters. Cinderella is modest, nice, hard-working and submissive. She plays a role of passive heroine. While a prince is active and a girl is afraid of him, because she is poor, she doesn’t believe, that rich prince can notice her. Stepsisters Dora and Hanicka and Cinderella’s stepmother are cruel and proud women, who are interested only in their visage. They want a prince not for love, but only for wealth and power. They are interested only in their profit. Cinderella’s father has a good heart, but he can’t oppose Cinderella cruel stepmother.

Symbols

Cinderella is symbol of poor girl, who found happiness. She is nice and delicate, she is classical ideal of woman. Her small foot is a symbol of feminity. Ugly assistant - frog is a symbol of mysterious power. People usually shrank from frogs, but they believe in their magic skill. they put pieses of dried frogs into different monstrums. The witches in imagination of our ancestors ate frog’s gall or they could change into toad. But the witches were not only detrimental, but they often helped acgood things. Snake is a symbol of fair-minded retribution. It also a cruel punishment, because we shrink from slimy snake.

Symbols of numbers

In Europan fairy-tales is often symbol of number three. The same is also in Cinderella. In fairy-tale are three sisters, Cinderella gets three nuts, prince for the third time finds a right princess, a dog tries three times to prompt a prince.

Good and Evil - barriers on the way to happiness, assistants

Evil and pride we can find in stepmother and her two doughters. The girl finds assistants in the world of animals. At first, it’s magic frog, then it is spoken dog. The best friend of Cinderella in the people’s world is her father.

A way

A story is a way of human to happiness and love. Cinderella mustn’t leave house, only out of curiosity she leaves house to know different world. She finds happiness and she forever leaves to it. It’s important to go.

Proverbs and sayings

Cinderella was most likely inspiration for proverb : "Sit girl in a corner, if you are nice, they are going to find you." Some jokers say today : "If you are nice, you will stay to sit there." Nobody wants to be cinderella now. It is used saying "he hasn’t been already any cinderella for example in connection with development of some branch. For example : "Medicine hasn’t been any cinderella now" or "medial communication hasn’t been any cinderella now, but serious science. "A girl who is dirty is named "She is as Cinderella." To this fairy-tale belongs a proverb : "Clothes make a person" (Fine feathers make fine birds)). Only a few beautiful dresses and there is a beauty.

Film, theatre, games, variations of fairy-tale, inspiration

This fairy-tale was published in a few editions. Bozena Nemcova wrote two versions, Czech and Slovak. Only a few years ago we were one state with Slovaks. There are a few versions of this fairy-tale in our country and abroad. Very well-known and popular is a variation of Walt Disney’s cartoon. In this fairy-tale a nut changes into a coach and mice into white horses. In our country is popular version, where stepmothers gives a superhuman task - to divide seeds of dust and poppy, peas and lentils. There are small pigeons who help Cinderella. The newest film version came into existence in Barrandov studio in seventies of the twentieth century. Its name is Three nuts for Cinderella, famous Czech actors play there and a very nice melody is there. Very popular song "Where is your nest, little bird" was sang by Karel Gott and we can say everybody knows it. Every year during Christmas hundreds thousands spectators watch it. Austrian composer Johaness Strauss younger composed this famous story as a ballet, well-known ballet is also by Russian composer Sergej Prokopjev. In the USA was shot famous Pretty Woman with Julia Roberts. How a poor girl found hapiness is an attractive theme today, too. Many people used a name Cinderella for the name of their firm (for example production of wedding veil, florist’s, hotels...). Also one regional revue of theatres had the name "Cinderella. A firm Mattel makes barbie Cinderella."

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