Materialism in Cinderella & Donkey Skin

The usage of clothing in Cinderella and Donkey Skin brings to light an implication that clothing is a representation of one’s socioeconomic stature. In both tales, the main characters are intrinsically beautiful even without fancy adornments. However their beauty does not become recognized by their prince charmings until they are wearing their elaborate clothing. Cinderella and Donkey Skin both contain the subtle implication that extravagant clothing creates a woman’s identity and that this materialistic creation of identity is mandatory in attracting a mate.

The morals of both Cinderella and Donkey Skin clearly conflict with the implication that ‘the clothes make the woman’ nonetheless the subtle insinuation that extravagant clothes do create beauty is undeniably apparent in both tales. “Cinderella looked a thousand times more beautiful in her shabby clothes than her stepsisters, no matter how magnificent there clothes were”. (Perrault p. 7) The intrinsic beauty of Cinderella is unquestionable, but it is also interesting to note that Cinderella goes unrecognized by her stepsisters at the ball. The fact that Cinderella’s undergoes such a dramatic transformation that her stepsisters fail to recognize her brings up the inference that a “garment of gold and silver dotted with jewels” (Perault p.8) can change a woman’s outward appearance. This minor detail in the tale serves to be a huge contradiction to Perrault’s moral. Perrault’s moral asserts that “it’s kindness more than dress, which wins a man’s heart with greater success”. However “…when the prince searches for his beloved princess, he is not able to recognize Cinderella until she is magically transformed back into her ball gown. This reveals a materialistic culture where a man defines a woman purely by appearance alone” (Cheng. Textual Significance). Cinderella becomes invisible to her stepsisters and visible to her prince charming when she wears her extravagant clothes, it can thus be implied that the tale’s underlying moral is that extravagant clothes recreate a woman’s beauty to the point where a woman becomes a completely different person.

In Donkey Skin, the princess would escape from the reality of her living situation by privately wearing the beautiful dresses that were given to her by the king. “She loved to see herself young, fresh as a rose, and a thousand times more elegant than she had ever been” (Perrault p. 32). This brings to light the innocence of vanity and how it is interwoven with every woman’s desire to feel young and beautiful. This also establishes a connection between emotional happiness and material happiness. Donkey Skin changes into her finery for her own self indulgence, in the privacy of a locked room, this demonstrates that she does not feel the need to market her beauty but rather use it as means of self empowerment. When the prince spies on Donkey Skin through the keyhole of her private room the prince becomes hypnotized by her beauty. “Her magnificent dress, her beautiful face, her lovely manner, and her young freshness moved him a thousand times over” (Perraut p. 65).

In both tales the princes fall in love with Cinderella and Donkey Skin when they are seen wearing their most beautiful dresses. These tales both imply that in order for a woman to find their ‘prince charming’ it is necessary for them to be seen in only their most ‘glamorous’ state. The class-dominated and materialistic culture in Cinderella and Donkey Skin infers that men define woman purely on appearances and that this appearance is directly correlated to the extravagant beauty of a woman’s dress. In closing, the dress creates the identity, which creates the beauty, which attracts the ‘prince charming’.




Outside Source:
Textual Significance. Ron Cheng. 2007. DataPencil Inc.