Tatar's Cinderella & Donkeyskin

Tatar argues that the female character is almost always villainized in the fairy tale. The stepmother is often made especially evil; however, this problem of having a stepmother can ultimately be traced back to the biological mother’s death and the widower’s remarriage. Should he not remarry, still the mother is leaving her daughter with an incompetent or harmful husband when she dies, such as the case in the stories of incest. In reading these tales, Tatar notes that the male character remains victim, as he is still carrying out the wishes of his dead wife and thus fulfilling his rightful duty— even if this means pursuing his own daughter.
In the Italian tale Gold Teeth by Estella Canziani, the mother passes, but she is not at all portrayed as evil in a direct manner; neither does the father seem benevolent. Rather, the position of the parents merely sets up the story which is focused primarily on the daughter’s escape, her refuge in the prince’s palace, and his eventual realization that his love has long been living with him. This story provides no evidence to refute Tatar’s argument, but is instead a minimal, objective recounting of the tale, and in fact does well to support her point that Donkeyskin style stories should be read alongside Cinderella stories. They are essentially the same, though in one the peasant princess lives in a distant home and is the servant of her own family; in the other she lives and works as a servant in the castle. Further, the ball-room encounters of Cinderella are much more dramatic and make for a much more glamorous visual depiction of the tale (hence Disney’s rendition).