The Illusion of “Happily Ever After” in Anne Sexton’s Cinderella

The Illusion of “Happily Ever After” in Anne Sexton’s Cinderella The poem “Cinderella” by Anne Sexton is a darkly ironic version of the classic fairy tale, depriving it of innocence and revealing the illusions of the idea of “happily ever after.” Instead of praising magic, love, and virtue, Sexton criticizes society in its fascination with instant wealth, romanticism, and unrealistic beauty. Sexton makes her arguments about the fairy tale through repetition, sarcasm, and disturbing imagery that they are cultural lies that promote passive hopefulness and denial of the truth of human suffering and imperfection. This poem eventually presents happiness, not as a state of meaningful emotion, but as a big performance that is maintained to be shown. Sexton starts the poem with a listing of some various rags-to-riches tales that reflect Cinderella. These brief tales, like “the plumber with the twelve children, who wins the Irish Sweepstakes,” are built in order to create the pattern of the miraculous success that is exaggerated and impersonal (Sexton). All instances are closed with the same coded sentence, "That story," to underline the familiarity and stereotyping of such fantasies. Through this repetition, Sexton implies that these stories are retold myths, as opposed to real-life depictions. The opening makes the reader ready to doubt the story of Cinderella as another unrealistic offer to those who feel powerless or unhappy. By focusing on the Cinderella story itself, Sexton brings in a combination of a mocking and a violent tone. The elements of the fairy tale are familiar, yet they are outlined in very blunt stylistic styles, which are grotesque. The stepsisters of Cinderella are reported to have “hearts like blackjacks,” which instantly eliminated any sense of their cruelty (Sexton). As they grow older, they become so desperate to make the slipper fit that they end up mutilating their bodies to cut off toes and heels. Sexton says to him coldly, “That is the way with amputations. They just don’t heal up like a wish,” and this makes the readers remember that real pain cannot be erased by passion or fantasy. This section supports the theme of the poem because it shows the physical and emotional harm resulting from the attempt to follow unrealistic ideals. The prince, who traditionally is a romantic hero, is also turned into a shallow character. He is one who is said to be seeking a wife in what Sexton simply refers to as “a marriage market.” This saying is depriving romance of its authenticity and making marriage a business deal instead of a feeling. Even after trying the slipper on several ladies, the prince “began to feel like a shoe salesman,” which adds to the gap of the ritual (Sexton). Sexton employs this language to suggest that fairy-tale romance is not actually about love, but rather about choice and ownership and looks.