CHARLES PERRAULT: CINDERELLA; OR, THE LITTLE GLASS SLIPPER

A Historical-Biographical Critical Analysis

By Zakya Nur Rahmawati

Charles Perrault was a tax collector and a law student on his young age. He had a career in
government service, like his father and brother, as a lawyer before turning himself to a writer.
Having lots of experiences in the field of law and justice affect his point of view in writing story.
As in the story of Cinderella, a kind-hearted girl who treated badly by her step mother and step
sister in the end had her eternal happiness since she met the charming prince. Cinderella was the
good one, step mother and step sisters were the bad one, while the prince took place as a rule of
law. It represented the justice of law that the good one will always win over the bad.

Cinderella was written in France by Charles Perrault in 1967. By that time France was still
in the form of kingdom. France turned into republic country in September 22nd, 1792. That fact
may affect the setting of Cinderella story that took place in a palace when a dance party held at the
ball [13 and 78]. In the story she met charming prince and became a princess not met the son of a
president. It proves that the state of the country by that time affects Charles Perrault in writing
Cinderella story.

French revolution had not happened when Charles Perrault wrote Cinderella story. By that
time, France was under a monarchy kingdom. Economic mismanagement, agricultural failure,
unmanageable national debt, and political mismanagement occurred on the King Louis XVI era.
French people faced rough life by that time, meanwhile the royal family lived comfortably at
Versailles. They seemed indifferent to the escalating crisis. That situation portrayed the story of
Cinderella where the step mother and her biological daughters lived happily above the suffering
of Cinderella in her miserable life.

Marie Guichon, Charles Perrault’s wife, passed away just after giving birth to their third
child. Charles Perrault then turned his talent in writing to educate his children at home. Most of
his literary work contain moral lesson behind the interesting story. Cinderella who always got bad
treatment from her two step sisters still did good towards them. She showed her civilities and gave
her two step sisters part of oranges and citrons which the prince had presented to her, although the
step sisters did not recognize Cinderella at all [65]. In Cinderella story, reader got a meaningful
moral lesson to always behave nicely toward everyone even though they had treated you in very
horrible ways.

Experiences are the best teacher that can mature a person. Charles Perrault wrote Cinderella
when his age turned 70. At that age he must had experienced various condition that influenced his
way of thinking. He was a wise-mature man who know how to deal with good and bad people
without anger and grudge. Therefore, the ending of story was Cinderella gave her two step sister
lodgings at her palace and matched them with two great lords of the court [103]. It showed that
Cinderella have no vindictive toward people who had mean to her. If Charles Perrault was not
mature and wise enough, the ending of story maybe different. The step mother and two step sister
may got conviction for treating Cinderella in very bad way before.