Ugly sisters: Difference between revisions

The ugly sisters are characters in the fairy tale and pantomime, Cinderella. They are the daughters of Cinderella's cruel stepmother, who treat her poorly. The "ugly sisters" have been in variations of the story from as early as researchers have been able to determine.^[1]

In Charles Perrault's original fairytale, the sisters were Cinderella's stepsisters,^[2] and are described as "proud and haughty" rather than ugly. The unnamed younger stepsister is described as being not as rude or spiteful as the elder, who is named Charlotte.^[3] In Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm's version the stepsisters are described as having "beautiful faces and fair skin, but hearts that were foul and black."^[4] In the opera La Cenerentola (1817) by Gioachino Rossini and Jacopo Ferretti, the sisters are named Clorinda and Tisbe. saoirse

Traditionally, the two stepsisters are extremely jealous of Cinderella, as she is very beautiful and they are very ugly. In order to ensure no man will want to marry her, they reduce her to their maidservant and force her into waiting on them non-stop and doing all the dirtiest kitchen jobs. Sometimes Cinderella has an alternate name, such as "Isabella", "Ella", Arabella", or more recently, "Heidi", and the jealous stepsisters rename her "Cinderella" due to the fact she mostly sweeps and cleans the firesides and is constantly covered in ashes and cinders. When Buttons, the Baron's footman delivers the news of the Royal Ball, the stepsisters plot to claim the prince as their own. When they realise Cinderella has also been invited, they force her, or trick her, into tearing up her ticket. They then strut off to the Ball and are amazed and horrified when Cinderella appears with the help of her fairy godmother. The Ball is often used as a comical scene in which the sisters humiliate themselves in an attempt to charm the prince, who is too enchanted with Cinderella to notice them. Then Cinderella flees at midnight, leaving one of her glass or crystal or silver slippers behind.

The next day, the Prince arrives with the news he will marry whomsoever the slipper fits. The two sisters fight and quarrel over who the shoe will fit. It is traditional to have one sister concealing a false leg beneath her skirt in an attempt to fool the prince. Another tradition is that one sister has yards and yards of multicoloured stockings beneath her skirt, which must be comically removed before trying the shoe on. When the shoe does not fit, the Prince allows Cinderella (who has either been tricked into leaving the house or locked in the cellar) to try it on. When the shoe fits, the stepsisters are horrified. Their fates are dependable upon which version is being told. Sometimes they are forgiven for their cruelty, other times they are demoted to servants in the prince's castle, or sometimes the Baron Hardup at last puts his foot down and stands up to them. More commonly, the fairy godmother will cast a spell to make the sisters good and kind forever more.

Recently, the role of the wicked stepmother has been omitted from the story.^{[citation needed]} Sometimes she has absconded with the family fortune and left Cinderella to cope with her two ugly daughters. Other times she has died. Or else the Baron is engaged to be married and the stepmother has sent her two unbearable daughters in advance (whom the baron was ignorant of) to see if it is a suitable place for them all to live. Upon arriving, they instantly assault Cinderella, tearing her dress and reducing her to rags. More often than not, they have been installed for quite a while.

Unlike the Grimms' version of the fairy tale "where the sisters were themselves 'beautiful and fair in appearance,'" Disney's depiction presents Anastasia and Drizella as ugly sisters.^[5] Southwest Texas State University's Department of English identifies various distinguishing characteristics of Drizella and Anastasia, such as exaggerated and naked feet emphasizing physical nature and a big bustle emphasizing clumsiness, of these characters versus their more positively presented counterpart, Cinderella.^[6] Disney describes them as simply "spoiled, awkward, and ungainly."^[7] They will appear in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.

Anastasia Tremaine is the redheaded older, ugly daughter of Lady Tremaine. She appears in Walt Disney's Cinderella, Cinderella II: Dreams Come True, and Cinderella III: A Twist in Time. She is voiced by Lucille Bliss in the original film^[8] and Tress MacNeille in the sequels.^[9] Though following the original story's depiction of the ugly and cruel stepsister in the first film, Anastasia becomes a more sympathetic character in later Disney sequels, depicted as struggling to find genuine love and follow her conscience despite her mother and sister's negative influence and scheming. Pat Williams, James Denney, and Jim Denney report that actress "Lucille Bliss was the voice of Cinderella's stepsister, Anastasia, an experience that remains one of her fondest memories." The actress explains, "I was just a teenager when I got the part...I read that Walt had personally selected me for the part of Anastasia."^[10]

In Cinderella, Anastasia is portrayed just as awkward, clumsy, foolish, and bossy as her sister, Drizella. During their music lesson, Anastasia plays the flute as Drizella sings but in the sequals she has a beautiful singing voice. Anastasia quarrels with her sister often, though they are united in their jealousy of and contempt for Cinderella. Anastasia's most common dress attire is the magenta coloured dress which she wears with a gold coloured headpiece and purple slippers. Her hairstyle is in multiple long curls which run down her back and sway when she moves. During the first film, she was seen as physically ugly, however in the sequels, she blossomed into a beautiful young woman as her inner goodness developed.

In Cinderella II, Anastasia is portrayed as a more sympathetic character. She falls in love with a working-class baker and wants to get close to him, but her mother refuses to allow her to because of her own prejudices towards the baker's social standing. Cinderella reassures Anastasia that the baker is a good man, regardless of what Lady Tremaine thinks, and encourages Anastasia to follow her heart. With the help of Cinderella, Anastasia gets a make-over and becomes beautiful. With help from Cinderella and her animal friends, Anastasia and the baker are reunited and reconciled, they attend Cinderella's ball, where Anastasia thanks her.

In Cinderella III: A Twist In Time, Anastasia is shown not only to have compassion for Cinderella, but to also have a conscience. She unintentionally gains access to Cinderella's fairy godmother's wand, which sets in motion her mother's nefarious plot to destroy Cinderella's "happily ever after" and gain access to an opulent lifestyle at the palace. As she is manipulated into marrying the Prince as a means to fulfill her mother and sister's selfish desires, Anastasia begins to feel remorse and guilt. At the altar, realizing that the prince does not truly love her and having understood what true love really means, Anastasia refuses to marry him and steps aside for Cinderella. After a tense standoff with Lady Tremaine and Drizella, with Lady Tremaine prepared to rid herself of Anastasia by way of a magic spell, Anastasia acquires the wand and sets everything right and makes peace with Cinderella, who lets her stay in the castle. This apparently excludes her from the punishment that is seen to befall her mother and sister; at the close of the film, they have been reduced to working as servants at the palace. During the credits, a picture shows Anastasia sitting in the palace garden while gazing happily at the baker with whom she fell in love in the second film.

Variety asserts that "stepsister Anastasia is appreciably more sympathetic" in Cinderella III.^[11] At Walt Disney World during the Cinderella's Gala Feast attraction, Julie and Mike Neal declare that "everyone will love Anastasia and Drizella, Cinderella's evil stepsisters, who wander the room with Lady Tremaine..."^[12]

Drizella Tremaine is the black haired younger, ugly daughter of Cinderella's evil stepmother, Lady Tremaine. She appears in Walt Disney's Cinderella, Cinderella II: Dreams Come True and Cinderella III: A Twist in Time. She is voiced by Rhoda Williams in the original film^[13][14] and Russi Taylor in the sequels.^[15] Her name is commonly mispelt as "Drusilla". In the University College London Union LGBT Society's performance of Cinderella, "vain, nasty stepsister" Drusilla is played by Sam Brearley as "the eldest of the vile, scheming sisters of Cinderella. She loves to dress in the latest fashions and taunt Cinderella – when she isn’t busy clawing her other sister’s eyes out."^[16] In 2000, Kent Melton sculpted "Dreadful Drizella" as a limited edition piece for the fiftieth anniversary of the film.^[17] Drizella appears in various novels and other publications.^{[18][19][20][21]}

Drizella wears a chartreuse or almost gold-toned green dress with center-parted hair ending in short sausage curls on the back, and a greenish or turquoise blue hair ribbon on her head tied up in a large, candy box bow. For the palace ball, she wears a multi-colored gown with different shades of aqua, turquoise blue, pale green, and jade green on the bodice, sleeves, and bustle, and wears a feather instead of a bow in her hair. In her second movie, her ribbon changes to green. After her downfall she is reduced to wearing a maidservant's frock. In live appearances, and in many book illustrations, Drizella wears a dress similar to that shown for the palace ball in the first film.

She is portrayed as haughty, abusive and highly unorganized. She is bitterly jealous of Cinderella's success and beauty and often gets her into trouble. Unlike her elder sister, Anastasia, who changes her spiteful ways and develops into a kind and good-natured young woman, Drizella remains mean-spirited and cruel, and never overcomes her hatred of Cinderella. In the sequels, though not in the original film, she is exactly like a younger version of her mother.

Drizella and her mother constantly plot to ruin Cinderella and have no qualms about hurting her feelings. Lady Tremaine is well aware of her younger daughter's harsh and cold-hearted - and even violent - mannerisms, and can trigger Drizella's anger with a mere handful of casually-delivered words. In a particularly distressing scene in the original film, as Lady Tremaine and her jealous daughters prepare to leave for the prince's ball, Cinderella appears wearing her beautiful homemade gown. Lady Tremaine notes that Cinderella is wearing a pearl necklace that belonged to Drizella, who rejected it on the claims she was sick of the sight of it. After Lady Tremaine casually points out to Drizella that the necklace adds a charming touch to the dress, Drizella flies into a rage and yanks the necklace from Cinderella's neck, and along with Anastasia, lunges upon her stepsister and tears her gown to rags, leaving Cinderella devastated.

Later on throughout the series, Drizella turns on Anastasia and torments her, being able to physically intimidate her even though she is younger than her. Although she seems to be awed by her during the story An Uncommon Romance, after Ananstasia openly rebelled against their overbearing mother and told her she was in love with a baker of low-birth and that she was happier with him than she would ever be with the wealthy suitor Lady Tremaine had hoped she would encounter at another palace ball. Angered, Lady Tremaine stormed off, leaving Drizella stunned, though she sided with her mother and returned home with her.

Unlike Anastasia, who eventually liberates herself from her mother's domination, Drizella obeys her mother's every order and schemes with her to undermine her hated stepsister, Cinderella, though they are foiled by Anastasia and as punishment, they are removed of their wealth and status and are reduced to working as scullery maids in Cinderella's palace.

Doris and Mabel are ugly sisters in the films Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third. Doris seems to have a much more major role than Mabel as she is an ally of Princess Fiona. They are derived from the fairy tale of Cinderella (named Anastasia and Drizella in the Disney adaptation) but their names and personalities have changed dramatically. Additionally, it should be noted that when both sisters meet their stepsister, Cinderella, they did not fight like as depicted in other adaptions of them.

Template:Shrek character Doris makes her first appearance in Shrek 2 and she returns for Shrek The Third. Unlike other adaptations of her, she is more of an ally to Fiona. She's seen as an unusually masculine female bartender at the Poison Apple. She is depicted as a tall independent woman with purple-themed clothes.

Doris is first seen in Shrek 2 when King Harold secretly enters The Poison Apple club in which she is working as a bartender. She recommended the king to Puss In Boots for the task of assassinating Shrek. Later, when Shrek, in his human form, has some drinks with Puss and Donkey after thinking that he must let Princess Fiona go. Again near the climax of the film, Doris points King Harold to a door guarded by the Fairy Godmother's bodyguards in which Prince Charming and the Fairy Godmother are secretly meeting. At first, she had a crush on Prince Charming and forces him to kiss her at the end of the film. She is accused of being ugly in Far Far Away Idol by Simon Cowell, where she sings Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."^[22]

In Shrek the Third, Doris becomes one of Shrek's best friends prior to the events of the film. In the beginning of the film, Doris is briefly mentioned by Mabel when Prince Charming visits The Poison Apple. Mabel says that Doris does not belong here and this indicates that Doris is residing with Princess Fiona in the castle. She is also seen during Fiona's baby shower but she escapes by a hidden trapdoor in the room when Charming has started to enter the castle. Later, she gets imprisoned by Charming after he invaded Far Far Away. The princesses, Doris, Donkey and Puss manage to escape and they infiltrate the castle to confront Charming. They did and in the end Doris and Mabel finally meet in Charming's play.

Doris is confirmed to return for the fourth film, set to be released theatrically in 2010. Larry King will reprise her voicings (anywhere outside the UK) but it is not confirmed that Jonathan Ross will reprise her voicings for the UK version.

Template:Shrek character Mabel first appears in Shrek the Third where she assists Prince Charming in his plan to take over Far Far Away. She is Doris's sister. She is depicted to be chubby with green-themed clothes but, like Doris, she is actually a kind-hearted person.

Mabel is first seen when Prince Charming asks her where Doris is at the Poison Apple Bar, she says "She isn't welcome here anymore!" (presumably because Doris now resides in the castle with Shrek and Princess Fiona). It is shown that she has a crush on Prince Charming. She takes Doris' place as the bartender in the Poison Apple. Later, she is seen in the film's climax in which she meets Doris on stage after Prince Charming is 'dead'.

• "Anastasia (Character) from Cinderella (1950)," The Internet Movie Database
• "Anastasia," The Disney Wiki
• "Drizella," IGN