In “Cinderella,” all of her problems in life are solved when she is found by Prince Charming and marries him. Cinderella’s life mainly consisting doing chores and making sure that she handled everything for her family so that they were content.
Her one request from her mother that is told in “Cinderella” as told by the Brothers Grimm (translated by Jack Zipes) was “[to] be good and pious.” (Grimm and Grimm, Zipes, pg 79). The narrative arc “rags to riches through magic and marriage” is very common in fairy tales. This same arc is shown in “Brier Rose” when the curse takes place. In order to lift the spell, the prince kisses her and she regains consciousness as if nothing happened. Magic. But the story cannot end without marriage. The final sentence in the Brothers Grimm’s version is about their wedding. “The wedding of the prince with Brier Rose was celebrated in great splendor, and they lived happily to the end of their days” (Grimm and Grimm, Zipes, pg 174). According to the narrative arc, the damsel in distress’ problem isn’t completely solved until she marries the male character, usually a prince, who saves her.
This expectation of all issues going away if you have fortune or marriage is completely unrealistic. Money can do a lot of things, but it can’t grant permanent happiness. It’s likely temporary. Marrying someone doesn’t solve all of your problems either or else marriage could have prevented wars. This narrative arc only functions in fairy tales because this is normalized in these stories. The use of magic is not questioned, neither is the theory that riches and marriage will solve any issues that you have.
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