1- Absentation: Cinderella’s mother dies leaving her alone.
2- Prohibition: On one hand, Cinderella’s mother doesn’t allow her to attend to the royal festival. On the other hand, this beautiful girl is warmed to come back before midnight by her fairy godmother since the magic spell could disappear.
3- Transgression: Cinderella spends a magical evening at the ball, she dances with the prince all night long and she forgets about the fairy godmother’s warming. So when she realizes what time it is she hurries and loses her golden shoe on the stairs of the royal palace.
4-Reconnaissance: After Cinderella’s mother dies, her father marries another woman with her own daughter. This is the first time Cinderella meets them. Her wicked stepmother has a strong power over the heroine’s father, so that she can control him easily.
5- Trickery: In the Brothers Grimm’s version the stepmother promises Cinderella to go to the party if she is able to pick up a dish of lentils she had emptied into the ashes for her, in two hours. Cinderella manages to do so with the help of the birds, but when she asks her to go the stepsisters tells she can’t since she doesn’t have anything to wear and everybody would laugh at her. Again the evil woman promises her to attend after doing another difficult task. The heroine trusts her, but one more time it is just a trick and she doesn’t allow her to go because she can’t even dance.
6- Complicity: Cinderella acts in a way that the evil stepmother and the wicked and ugly stepsisters take advantage of her shyness and force her to work hard, do difficult tasks and also lie to the prince when he gets their house to find the owner of the golden slipper.
7- Villain and lack: The stepmother dominate Cinderella’s father and he never protects her or defends her against his wife. She also causes harm over Cinderella because she suffers a lot.
8- Mediation: Cinderella realizes how things really are. She is conscious of her wicked stepsisters and stepmother’s performance.
9- Counter action: Although Cinderella’s stepsisters try to make the prince think they are the only two young women in the house and the golden shoe belongs to them, the heroine appears, puts on the shoe and the slipper fits her perfectly well, then she shows the prince the other slipper.
10- Departure: The heroine leaves the festival before midnight because she is afraid the magic spell can disappear.
11- Test: The fairy godmother (donor) prepares Cinderella to receive her help, not only does she provides her a beautiful dress and glass shoes, but also she gives her a carriage to go to the festival by turning a pumpkin into a coach, a rat into a coachman, lizards into footmen and mice into horses. Besides, she warms her to come back before midnight.
12- Reaction of the hero: Cinderella promises to come back at the right time though she fails and forgets about it so she has to rush.
13- Gift: Cinderella is given a pair of glass shoes which will help her to be recognized by the prince.
14- Trip: There is not a real trip in the story, but Cinderella is sent away when the prince goes to her house to look for his future wife. Her stepmother and stepsisters don’t want him to meet the heroine.
15- Struggle: In this story there is not such a struggle for Cinderella is not strong enough to face her stepmother and she has a strong power over her.
16- Brand: The heroine suffers a lot because of her evil stepmother an d stepsisters who make her sleep in the ashes, work hard all day long and stay at home during the royal festival.
17- Victory: Finally, Cinderella defeats her stepmother and stepsisters since she gets married to the prince and goes away with him. In Basile’s version, both stepsisters die of envy. Cinderella forgives them in the version written by Perrault and the stepsisters marry two lords. On the contrary, in the Brothers Grimm’s story the pigeons peck out the stepsister’s eyes and they become blind.
18- Amendment: But for the fairy godmother’s/the wishing hazelnut tree’s help, misfortune is solved and Cinderella manages to attend to the royal festival, meets the prince and marries him.
19- Return: The heroine comes back home after the ball and nobody suspects about her performance. All the same, she comes back to the ball for it lasts two days in Perrault’s version and three in the Brothers Grimm’s story.
20- Persecution: Nobody tries to kill Cinderella, but her stepmother and stepsisters know how to make her feel really bad. They mistreat her and she suffers a lot, she feels everybody hates her and that she extremely alone in this word.
21- Help: Cinderella is given a beautiful dress and glass shoes to go to the royal festival. Moreover, in the Brothers Grimm’s version the pigeons and the doves (which represent her dead mother) also help the prince to realize that the stepsisters cheat him with the glass slipper.
22- Unrecognized: When Cinderella arrives at the festival nobody is able to recognize her for she looks amazingly beautiful in her delightful dress matching her golden shoes.
23- False hero: Both Cinderella’s stepsisters try to cheat the prince claiming they are the owners of the glass shoe. In the Brothers Grimm’s story they want to trick the prince twice: the first time, one or the sisters, by cutting of her big toe and the second time, the other sister, by cutting off her heel.
24- Deffault task: When Cinderella asks her stepmother to go to the festival, the woman says she will go only if she is able to pick up a dish of lentils into the ashes for her in two hours.
Cinderella goes to the garden and asks the birds to help her with that difficult task and in less than one hour the kitchen is clean and bright. Later the girl takes the dish to her stepmother, but she tells Cinderella that she can’t go because she doesn’t have anything to wear and everybody will laugh at her. The poor girl starts to cry so the woman empties two dishes of lentils amongst the ashes again and tells her to pick them up if she really wants her stepmother to help her with the clothes, sure the girl won’t be able to do that again.
While weeping Cinderella begs the pigeons, the doves and the birds to help her and half an hour later everything look fine. Now Cinderella hopes to go to the festival with her stepsisters. However her stepmother does not allow her go to for she can’t even dance.
25- Compliance: Although the stepmother gives her such a difficult task, Cinderella manages to solve it with the help of the birds and the pigeons.
26- Recognition: Cinderella tries the glass shoe on and it fits her like a glove, when she looks into the king’s son’s eyes and he looks at her face, he recognizes her and says that she is the right bride. He takes Cinderella on his horse and leaves with her.
27- Unmasking: Both stepsisters are exposed and reported by the pigeons and the doves. The prince realizes about the trick, he comes back to the house and finally meets Cinderella.
28- Transfiguration: Cinderella changes her look when attending to the royal festival, so that nobody is able to recognize her, ever her stepmother and stepsisters get astonished because of her beauty but they never consider Cinderella is that pretty woman.
29- Punishment: In Basile’s version both stepsisters die of envy (because of their rivalry). In Perrault’s story, Cinderella forgives them. On the contrary, in the Brothers Grimm’s version both women become blind because of the pigeons’ action, so for them, blindness is their punishment.
30- Wedding triumphant: The prince manages to meet Cinderella again, says she is her right bride, takes her on his horse and leaves with her. Finally they get married and Cinderella is given the throne.
Vladimir Propp also explains there are seven kinds of characters in fairy tales:
1- The villain: The wicked stepmother who mistreats Cinderella all the time, forces her to work hard, sleep in the ashes and doesn’t let her attend to the royal ball.
2- The donor: In Perrault’s version, the fairy godmother who gives Cinderella the dress to go to the ball, the golden shoes, as well as the carriage to get to the palace. In The Brothers Grimm’s version, the donor is represented by the wishing hazelnut tree that grows on the grave of her dead mother.
3- The magical helper: In Perrault’s version, the fairy godmother who appears whenever Cinderella needs her. In the Brothers Grimm’s version, the pigeons and the doves help Cinderella in the quest. Moreover, they are the ones that warm the prince about the stepsisters’ trick.
4- The princess and her father: In this story, Cinderella is the one who marries the prince.
5- The dispatcher: Cinderella’s stepmother lies the prince when he goes to their house looking for the golden shoe’s owner. First, she says that the shoe belongs to her daughters and then she denies that there is another girl in her house to try the shoe on.
6- The hero or victim/seeker hero: Finally, Cinderella weds the prince.
7- False hero: Cinderella’s stepsisters take advantage from the prince’s visit to their house while looking for the golden shoe’s owner. They tell them that their shoe belong to them and try to marry the prince.
