Social Convention

“Cinderella,” by nature of its source material, deals with the adherence to and upheaval of social conventions. In the original story, the heroine is forced to follow the social ritual of attending a grand ball in order to win a place at the prince’s side. Conversely, however, her very appearance there — as an impoverished serving girl of low social standing — flouts the constraints of this ritual.

In the poem, Cinderella is already dancing with the prince. The phrase “glided couples all in whirling trance” (Line 9) suggests a homogenization to the scene; each couple is dancing in a similar way, in similar clothes, exhibiting a similar emotional state. Only the central figure is an outlier to these conventions. She is referred to as “the strange girl” (Line 11), suggesting she does not quite fit into this scene the way the other women do. The following line...