The wicked? stepmother
Arts & Ideas
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Cinderella and the Stepmother
How far back can we trace the stepmother then? She clearly predates this story. A very early one is Venus in Cupid and Psyche. There's traces of Snow White there too. How do we read the punishments that are meted out to stepmother at the end of the Cinderella story? Sometimes she seems to get forgiven, sometimes her daughters get their eyes pecked out on the way to the wedding. Whether she reaches a violent end or whether she just sort of peters out, Cinderella is going to escape her either way.
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