The Story in a Spider's Web: Analyzation of Cinderella Part 2

You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.
You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,
that I might sing praises to you and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!
~Psalms 30:11-12~

Here it is: my analyzing of the story Cinderella. There are so many ways to look at it allegorically. One of the reasons why I love it is because of her beautiful transformation.
I'll explain later in this post and save the best for last.

Midnight:
The number 12 is the number of completion. The hour when the past day has lost its power and a new day has begun. It's a big turning point in time, between sunset and sunrise, the darkest hour of the night.
Many things happened at midnight in the Bible.
Esther became Queen out of a large selection of "beautiful young women" who were brought before the King, regardless of whether they wanted to come or not. The story of Esther reminds me of a fairy tale, the way the book is laid out. Esther means Star. Cinderella in the actual story once had a dress "as bright as the stars."
Boaz woke up at Midnight to find Ruth proposing to him (by laying on his feet). God did many things at Midnight.
I don't know what the point of that observation is, but if you think of something, do tell!

Moving on...

The Ashes

Cinderella has many different names, different variations of the story because it's so popular. Most of her titles have something to do with ashes. The Cinder Maid, Aschenputtel (that's the German name), Cendrillon (French) are a few of those names. Cinders are the ashes in a fireplace. In the Grimm's fairy tale, Cinderella has no bed to sleep in but in the ashes by the fireplace in the kitchen.

The reason why the ashes are so important to the story is because they resemble the fact that Cinderella is in mourning, both for herself and for her dead mother.
In the book of Esther, Mordacai clothes himself in rags and puts burnt ashes on his head when he's in mourning. Many people do this when they mourn in the Bible.
And the reason why this is interesting is because of Cinderella's transformation from rags to riches, mourning to dancing, from sorrow to joy in the presence of the Prince. She came from the ashes into a beautiful palace.

Now I'll get into at least two different ways to see the Cinderella story allegorically.
Jesus is a Prince, who chose us, even though we were covered in ashes and sin. He loved us so much. That's why He chose us to be his Bride.
In the story, the Prince chose Cinderella, even though she came from a place where she was ill-treated, and in a low position. Of course, it depends on what version you read, whether or not the Prince ever found out that she slept in the ashes every night, but you get the idea.

The second way to see it is that God made Israel his bride but Israel kept betraying him. He sent His son to the earth to be a servant, to save. Jesus is the Prince who became a servant for all of us, very low but selfless. Some didn't know who he was, and others wouldn't believe him. Still others did believe. Then they killed him and his dead body disappeared early in the morning on the third day, leaving nothing behind but the cloth that had been wrapped around him.
He appeared to people and had to prove it to them that it was really him, for some still didn't believe. He showed them the nail piercings in his hands and the scar in his side.
In the story, Cinderella was a daughter of a man who was high in society. In some versions, he was a "rich merchant. In other versions he was a Duke, and in one or two versions he was a King, which made Cinderella an actual Princess. When he remarried, Cinderella became a lowly servant to her stepsisters. They were jealous of her beauty but covered that up with their mean actions. Cinderella found a way to go to the ball, but at midnight she fled, leaving behind only a glass slipper.

And here is another way to see the story. We prove we are the Bride of Christ because of our faith, our hope in Jesus. Cinderella proved she was the maiden at the ball because of a glass slipper. She had held in secret the other glass slipper which had remained, the last bit of hope that she might ever become a princess.

Another thing is that the ashes and the rags the Cinder Maid slept in by night could be called a curse as depression could be called a curse. But it was broken, shattered in the light of pure joy, if only for one night.

This is why there is one version of Cinderella that I absolutely LOVE. It is a Japanese Anime which I watched all of it on Youtube a few weeks ago. It's called Cinderella Monogatari and it's 26 episodes long and I love how the story is retold so uniquely yet staying true to the tale. I highly recommend it. It begins far before the ball and the ball happens in the 24th episode. The last five episodes are so good, I cried in amazement of all the emotions it was giving me.
In some versions of the story, the "ball" was called a wedding. In other versions, it was an actual church on a Sunday morning.

So that's it I think, on my analyzation of Cinderella. Check out Cinderella Monogatari! Yes, it is a cartoon (26 episodes), but it's so good. It's my favorite anime, and it made me want to dig into the story of Cinderella in the first place! This was the first episode I saw (part 1 and part 2 of episode 22), then I went back and watched the rest in order.