Cinderella, one of mankind's most popular fairy tales, will soon be given a new film version by Disney. With its premiere scheduled for 2015, the interest in this tale is gaining more and more strength and appeal among adults and children alike. The most famous version of Cinderella, or Cinderella, is that of the French writer Charles Perrault, from 1697, based on a popular Italian tale called "Lagattacenerentola" ("The Cinderella"), with the famous fairy godmother. However, the oldest version originated in China, around 860 B.C. The Brothers Grimm's version is also well known, but it does not feature the fairy godmother. And it is on this version that I base my analysis, since it is richer in symbolism.

Cinderella is a princess that is very successful among girls, because it deals with themes that are very common in adolescence, and also because of the overcoming of suffering experienced by the heroine, which moves an immense emotional appeal to thousands of women around the world. The central theme of the tale is jealousy and rivalry between brothers, which is a well-known theme in Mythology. We can cite as an example theThe Egyptian myth of Osiris, who was murdered and had his throne usurped by his brother Seth. Many children go through these feelings, which are not necessarily experienced among blood brothers. They can manifest among cousins or even friends.

In addition, in a certain way, we can say that some children, to a greater or lesser degree, at a certain moment, feel neglected by their parents. In these cases, the little one starts to feel that his mother is a stepmother, because there is that moment when the child stops being a baby and starts having some obligations. He no longer has the mother's lap when he cries and the mother doesn't seem to have patience with him anymore. AndIt is precisely this childish side that throws tantrums and still wants to be held, but that still lives in us, that needs to be overcome in order for the personality to mature.

Difficulties help Cinderella strengthen her individuality

Without them, the protagonist would still be living the natural longing to be recognized as special, but without being transported to a new higher and transcendent reality, as occurs at the end of the tale.

Without them, the protagonist would still be living the natural longing to be recognized as special, but without being transported to a new higher and transcendent reality, as occurs at the end of the story.

The story begins with the death of the girl's mother, who is replaced by her stepmother. Cinderella's father only appears at the beginning of the tale and is neither good nor bad, just a rich and ordinary man. The plot then develops around female characters, showing that the heroine must work on her identity as a woman before she can unite with the prince.

In fairy tales, the death of the mother symbolizes that critical moment in the lives of children, called the loss of paradise. Cinderella's good mother dies and over her grave grows a tree on which a white dove perches to advise the girl. This means that something supernatural survives the death of the positive mother figure and replaces her. Being a kind of fetish, which embodies the spirit of themother.

The identification with the good mother is a serious risk to the woman's individuation. After all, she needs to have an authentic feminine behavior and not a typical feminine model. In this way she can show her individuality and her difference in the world. Thus, the death of the mother means, symbolically, that the girl becomes aware that she can no longer identify with her, even though the relationshipThe death of the mother is what we call the beginning of Cinderella's individuation process.

It is much more difficult for women to live this process of not following a typical feminine standard model. From an early age, girls tend, much more than boys, to follow each other in terms of clothes, hairstyles, music and behavior, which leads them to become a herd of sheep. For this reason, women's magazines "dictate" fashion and behavior. Those who do not followHowever, those who suffer the bullying and are pushed aside have a much better chance of entering individuation.

The more unaware of her own personality a woman is, the more she tends to speak ill of others or play mean tricks, because only in this way can she make a difference in the world. In the tale, Cinderella's stepmother and sisters symbolize the women that they themselves have failed to be as individuals.staff.

Cinderella then does the washing, ironing and cooking for her stepmother and sisters, and ends up sleeping among the ashes. The protagonist shows that she is becoming a unique personality and this bothers the family, who see her as an enemy. They are like a herd that has realized that one of its members wants to go his own way. When someone undertakes an analysis, it is common that the whole familyAnd this is what Cinderella is talking about, when someone decides to get to know and follow themselves, they stop following the herd and the family neuroses, causing envy and anger from the people closest to them, because it shows what they should be doing and are not.

The story is full of symbology

One of Cinderella's jobs is to sort through a large quantity of grain, symbolizing the immense effort that consciousness must make to separate itself from the desire to follow its ancestors. The ashes in which the heroine sleeps represent humiliation and contrition, which are the deepest and most effective forms of remorse, for they heal all sins. Here the ego comes into contact with itsHe is reduced to dust and realizes that he must yield to powers and forces of the unconscious that are much greater than he is. This moment brings a lot of humility.

Cinderella also gets help from animals and the tree where her mother is buried in order to go to the ball. This means that she starts to rely on aspects of her unconscious linked to her instincts and the legacy left by her good mother in her psyche. But the fact that she relates to nature figures means that she is not yet able to relate and bond, which is something thatis part of the nature of the feminine.

Cinderella's lost shoe symbolizes female freedom and vanity

Cinderella goes three times to the ball, with a beautiful carriage, a symbol of royalty and of something that carries her towards her true life, showing that she will soon become a queen. However, the last time the prince tells them to spread tar on the staircase, and when the girl passes by, the shoe on her left foot gets stuck. The prince takes the little shoe, which is tiny, graceful and all of gold.Shoes in Cinderella's tale symbolize freedom, for it is this accessory that makes our feet comfortable and warm so that we can move wherever we want. In addition, they represent feminine vanity, since many women are in love with shoes.

The shoe in Cinderella's tale symbolizes freedom, since it is this accessory that makes our feet comfortable and warm so that we can move wherever we want. In addition, it represents female vanity, since many women are passionate about shoes.

Gold, on the other hand, symbolizes what Carl Jung called the "self," which represents the center of our personality, both conscious and unconscious, and which orders everything. It is the image of the individual's fullest potential, our inner authority, and the central position of destiny for each of us.

Therefore, the shoe takes Cinderella to the encounter with the other, the union with the masculine side, which was absent before, but is now available to help her and take her out of the conflicting reality in which she lives. It shows the feminine seduction and beauty that enchant the man.

It is for this reason that the act of falling in love with someone else is felt as destiny in the story, because it comes from this inner center, the self. The sisters are unable to put on their shoes, to the point where they mutilate their feet in order to fit into the shoes. This means that no one can live another's life without mutilating a part of themselves. The self always sends us what we must live, the portion that fits us andthat is ours alone.

It is common for women to "mutilate" their bodies in order to fit into standards set by society, especially when this standard has achieved some visible success. But we see that these standards mutilate our self-esteem and our deepest personality.

In the end, Cinderella achieves her redemption and marries the prince. The wicked sisters are punished by having their eyes pierced by pigeons and become blind - to themselves and to who they really are. They will spend their lives trying to be someone else and to fit into patterns.

Cinderella becomes someone of royalty, showing that she is no longer an ordinary person. She has found transcendence and her reality has been transformed, transmuted. The protagonist can now follow her deeper personality without caring about the limiting standards of society and her family.

To continue reflecting on the theme

Current fairy tales change women's image

Maleficent: the tale of transformation