U2A1- Marxism

Within the foolproof world of fairy tales, the elements of Marxism are purposely incorporated to display the existing class rivalries present in real-life societies. Fairy tales usually exhibit the controversies that arise between the monarchical society and the lower class, who include peasants, soldiers, animals and various supernatural creatures, due to the abundance of middle-class members during that era. The ruling power in the fairy tales is designated to either families, kingdoms or father figures, and the hero usually breaks away from its poor state by following the rules and to be rewarded at the end. The focus is to gain power and identity for the lower-class characters which in turn creates a matter of contention between the upper and lower class within the class system. In other words, the most common theme in fairy tales is the 'survival of the fittest'.

"Society does not consist of individuals but expresses the sum of interrelations, the relations within which these individuals stand"

-Karl Marx

A Marxist Reading Of Cinderella

The theory of Marxism is evidently represented in the story of Cinderella. In the story, Cinderella is posed as a naive girl who is ill-treated by her stepmother and stepsisters. She is oppressed by her wealthy family members who show their superiority and dominance over her as they deprive her of good clothes and constantly demand her to do chores. Therefore, her ultimate goal is to marry the prince in order to climb up the social class system as she is helpless and has no wealth. The entire plot of Cinderella is based on the class structures and this is clearly apparent to the readers as they are able to spot the difference between the potentials of the upper class and lower class. Cinderella's character represents the working class or the proletariat as she is constantly being exploited by her family members who take away her rightful inheritance as a result of which she suddenly becomes inferior after the death of her father. On the other hand, her step mother and sisters represent the upper class or the bourgeoisie/Hegemony who rule over the lower class and dominate Cinderella whereas, the prince and his kingdom symbolize the highest class or the monarchy who are in control of the whole society and have full control over their choices. In addition, the animals face oppression as well, for example, the mice are transformed into horses without their consent as they are in false consciousness for being used by Cinderella, thus showing who is considered superior to animals. The abuses that Cinderella faces show the struggles that the lower social classes go through.

The different levels of social class issues shown in the fairy tale 'Cinderella' are written in Karl Marx's famous political manuscript, "The Communist Manifesto". Ultimately, at the end, Cinderella ends up marrying the prince and astonishingly moves up the social ladder from being the lowest class to the highest class. As this is a fairy tale, it ends with Cinderella receiving a reward in the form of freedom and happiness for her perseverance and for being a loyal servant. Regardless, the issues related to the social class systems remain the same as the struggle for equality amongst classes seems to worsen up. This shift appears to be unrealistic and unapproachable as this cycle continues to repeat over generations.