I'm assuming that Cinderella is in her early 20's, a young person, but also a grown woman. I would have left if my stepmother and stepsisters were abusing me and treating me like a servant in my own damn house.
shareI think Cinderella was more like 17 or 18 and she couldn't just leave her house since it belonged to her father and besides where would she go?
shareAnywhere but in that house with her horrible stepsisters and wretched stepmother. Even Snow White ran into the woods and Snow White was years younger than Cinderella was (Though she was tipped off by the hitman that the Evil Queen hired someone to kill her).
shareSnow White ran away because the Queen hired a hitman.
shareThe "hitman" that the Queen hired to kill Snow White was a Huntsman, not a hitman.
shareA distinction without a difference. He was sent to kill her. Whether he normally made his living killing people, and I assume he didn't, he became a hitman the moment he took the job.
shareHowever, the Huntsman who was sent by the wicked queen/stepmother to kill Snow White didn't have the heart and/or the conscience to kill her, so he killed a small deer or whatever instead, and brought the heart of the animal he'd killed instead of killing Snow White to the Queen to cook. The Queen ate the heart of the deer that the huntsman had killed, thinking it was Snow White's, and then became all the more enraged and envious when she learned that Snow White was still alive.
shareAll that is true, but doesn't change the fact that he is a hitman because he takes the contract. That he didn't have the heart to carry it out is not relevant. The queen asks him to kill Snow White. He agrees to kill Snow White. At that moment he is a hitman. He fails to accomplish the task because he can't make himself do it. He is still a hitman, just a failed hitman.
shareThe huntsman didn't end up being a hit-man, precisely because he refused to do the job that the queen asked him to do; Kill Snow White.
shareI was unaware that someone has to be successful at an occupation to belong to it. I don't define hitman as someone who kills someone for pay or by order. I define it as someone who agrees to kill someone. If they screw up doesn't matter. A tv repairman who screws up is still a tv repairman, just not a good one.
shareYou've made a point here. Thanks.
shareConsider the time period. It's not like she would have any proof of her status from a wealthy family if she left. In those days, you either lived at home or sold yourself for sex. Would you rather her be a prostitute? Then the poor girl would get more (undeserved) criticism and hate from people who don't understand her situation, like several people on this board/site.
Cinderella is smart enough, wise enough, strong enough, and humble enough (meaning she appreciates what little she has, something most people can and should learn from) to stay home, where she has a roof over her head.
Great response.
Yeah, this is the 19th Century, and she really didn't have a whole lot of options to her. Best she could do is make friends where she could, keep her chin up and have a good attitude.
She had no where to go. No way to make a living.
She lived in a time period where it wasn't common for women to work, and instead take care of the household. Therefore she had no husband or job so she had no choice.
It is mind-boogling how many people miss that a girl with her background (prestigious family in the 19th century) didn't have so many options. Cindy was bound to her step-family and her father's house, up until she got married. Sure, Cinderella did know how to work hard and could have gotten a job as a maid somewhere else. But maids were often raped by their masters, so there was no guarantee that she would have gotten a better life even then.
There has been a lot of similar criticism against Irene Heron from "The Forsyte Saga". People will blame her for not taking a job instead of marrying a man, whom she could never love. Yet again, they don't get what life could be like for orphaned girls from prestigious families in the 19th century. And to make the similarities to Cindy even bigger: Irene too had a wicked stepmother, whom she could only escape by finding a man to marry.
So... Instead of complaining about how Cinderella just wished for stuff to happen and did nothing to change things, think about her lack of options. And see it as a bit of historical realism in what otherwise is a fairy-tale. And please don't forget that she at least stood up to her stepmother and demanded the right to go to the ball. That was brave enough considering her circumstances.
Intelligence and purity.
Hear, hear!
Please don't feed the trolls.
We should also take into account that I believe that Cinderella was (more or less) brainwashed from an early age into being a servant er slave
shareWell, that I don't believe is true. She had (as far as we can tell) had a loving mother and a loving father. It is only after her father died and Lady Tremaine got the power over the household, that Cinderella was forced to become almost a slave. And I don't believe that she was brainwashed either; she was only determined to do her best to get through this tough period of her life.
Intelligence and purity.
it's ioutright stated that Lady Tremaine abused her. I mean why else in the scene when Cinderella's dressed in the gown the mice&Birds made and Lady Treamine is walking near hear that her eyes are wide and she's apparently is leaning back in horror?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huLSdm6IH0g&t=1s
And I never denied that Lady Tremaine was abusive.
But I don't think that she could abuse Cinderella before her father died, which I don't think was that long ago.
She would have had to resort to prostitution to make a living.
shareYes, that is very likely.
Or she would have become a maid somewhere and maybe be raped by her new master.
Actually, it was very difficult for a grown girl of Cinderella's age to get a new job, without a letter of recommendation (known as "a character") from her previous employer. And her stepmother would be damned if she'd write such a letter, when she got so much free hard labor out of Cinderella! So if Cinderella ran away, she'd be damned lucky to get a servant's job where she might indeed be raped by her new employer or his sons, and if she couldn't get one without "a character" than it was a choice between prostitution or starvation.
But leaving would mean giving up any claim on her father's house and any hope of regaining her status as a gentlewoman, and IMHO human beings will do just about anything to hold on to status. We're social animals at our core, and we have an instinctive desire for status within our peer group or society.
With pumpkins turning into coaches, mice into horses and dogs into people you question why a person doesn't give up having a roof over her head? Interesting choice.
share