The shoe might not always fit : gender and diversity in fairy-tales and contemporary retellings

Abstract

This dissertation offers a comparative analysis of some of the most known classical fairy-tales with lesser known contemporary retellings. The lack of diversity found in the classical tales and the way contemporary retellings seem to address this issue is a main concern of this work.

The first main body chapter deals with the representation of the female character and body, and compares Charles Perrault’s Cinderella with Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted, Francesca Lia Block’s Glass, and Marissa Meyer’s Cinder. The second main body chapter looks at the absence of different sexualities and cultures in the classical fairy-tales. The retellings presented are Emma Donoghue’s Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins as a queer revisioning of known tales, and Robert San Souci’s Cendrillon: A Caribbean Cinderella and Rachel Isadora’s Rapunzel as retellings in the form of culturally conscious picture books.