From Rags to Riches....

The motif of “rags to riches through magic and marriage” is one that we see in the fairy tale Cinderella. Because of this motif, Cinderella is considered to be a “rise tale.” In this fairy tale, Cinderella goes from being a very poor servant girl under the control of her stepmother to marrying a prince. Although we see this type of motif a lot in fairy tales, for it to happen in real life is very unrealistic. It is not often that you see someone as poor as Cinderella was marrying someone as wealthy as the prince was. The only modern day example I can think of that could be considered a “rags to riches” tale would be the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton. In England, Kate was considered to be a peasant. Although she may not have been very wealthy, she ended up marrying a prince and having her own Fairy Tale wedding. Even though things like this happen sometimes, we don’t hear about it very often. In my opinion, the “rags to riches” motif gives girls false hopes. We read these tails and we think about how someday we will find our Prince Charming, marry him, and become wealthy. But because this rarely ever happens in our society, most of the times girls get their hopes up for nothing. The only way we will be able to have a life like the one that Cinderella married into is by luck or magic. Magic does not exist, and luck is usually not on your side; unless you are Kate Middleton of course!