Cinderella’s Father

Cinderella’s stepmother and stepsisters get punished in portrayals for their obvious wickedness. Why does Cinderella’s father get off so easy? Accounts of him are skimpy. He is variously described as a prince or a merchant. But he married a wicked stepmother and basically abandoned Cinderella to her and her cruel daughters.  Before entering that second marriage, Cinderella’s father would have to be comatose not to recognize warning signs. His lack of due diligence makes him a horrible father, complicit in the abuse of his own daughter. Thousands of readers will complain to me that the stepmother obviously disguised her faults and they will regale me with their own horror stories of marriages gone bad. But if we accept that one can be so duped, we must then entertain the very real possibility that Cinderella did not live happily ever after. How do we know her husband was not disguising his own evil if this is so easy to do? How well did they know each other after all? A few dances and suddenly the couple is engaged and quickly marries based on the women’s shoe size. My wife knew me for over four years before we got married and so I am forced to agree with her critics that she owns much responsibility for her own mistake.

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