"He obliged Cinderella to sit down, and, putting the slipper to her little foot, he found it went on very easily, and fitted her as if it had been made of wax"
About this Quote
Fairy tales love a test that pretends to be objective. Perrault’s slipper scene is basically a courtroom drama rendered in satin: the prince “obliged” Cinderella to sit, performs the decisive act himself, and the verdict arrives as a perfect fit. The language frames the moment as both intimate and procedural, which is precisely why it lands. Desire is sanitized into measurement. Romance becomes something you can verify with a single, clean prop.
That verb, “obliged,” carries the quiet authority of 17th-century hierarchy. Cinderella’s consent isn’t the point; legitimacy is. Perrault isn’t writing modern empowerment so much as modernity’s early blueprint for social mobility: a poor girl can ascend, but only when the right institution (the prince, the court) recognizes her as the correct match. The slipper is not just evidence; it’s an ID card.
The simile “as if it had been made of wax” is doing sly work. Wax is malleable, imprintable, associated with seals, molds, and the act of authentication. The fit seems miraculous, but Perrault nudges us toward craft and fabrication: the world has been shaped to receive her, or she has been shaped to fit the world. Either way, “very easily” signals how inevitability is manufactured. The story sells fate, yet it’s really about systems that reward the appearance of destiny: beauty, smallness, compliance, and a body that conforms to an elite standard.
Perrault’s intent is moral and social at once: reassure readers that order can recognize virtue, while quietly advertising how narrow the gate is.
That verb, “obliged,” carries the quiet authority of 17th-century hierarchy. Cinderella’s consent isn’t the point; legitimacy is. Perrault isn’t writing modern empowerment so much as modernity’s early blueprint for social mobility: a poor girl can ascend, but only when the right institution (the prince, the court) recognizes her as the correct match. The slipper is not just evidence; it’s an ID card.
The simile “as if it had been made of wax” is doing sly work. Wax is malleable, imprintable, associated with seals, molds, and the act of authentication. The fit seems miraculous, but Perrault nudges us toward craft and fabrication: the world has been shaped to receive her, or she has been shaped to fit the world. Either way, “very easily” signals how inevitability is manufactured. The story sells fate, yet it’s really about systems that reward the appearance of destiny: beauty, smallness, compliance, and a body that conforms to an elite standard.
Perrault’s intent is moral and social at once: reassure readers that order can recognize virtue, while quietly advertising how narrow the gate is.
Quote Details
| Topic | Soulmate |
|---|
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