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{{Short description|Fictional characters}}
[[File:Ugly Stepsisters Cinderella Disney.jpg|
== Early depictions ==
In the ancient Chinese story of ''[[Ye Xian]]'', the "ugly sister" character is the titular character's half-sister and is named Jun-li. In contrast to the beautiful and talented Ye Xian, Jun-li is unattractive and too lazy to learn any particular skills. Jun-li and her mother, Jin, maltreat Ye Xian, forcing her to clean the cave in which they reside. Jun-li and her mother also put an end to Ye Xian's newfound happiness after they discover that Ye Xian's late mother has reincarnated in the form of a ten foot long golden carp, which grants her wishes. Jun-li and her mother slay and eat the fish, not knowing that Ye Xian has salvaged the creature's bones and buried them beneath her bed, and once again her wishes are granted. After Ye Xian loses a golden slipper at the local festival, the warlord who discovers it visits the family cave, declaring he will marry the woman whose foot fits the slipper. Jun-li and her mother fail to get their feet into the slipper, but Ye Xian succeeds and dons the finery she wore at the festival. Outraged at their cruelty toward her, the warlord exiles forever Jun-li and her mother to the wilderness, where they are killed by a rain of flying stones.
In [[Charles Perrault]]'s original fairytale, the sisters were Cinderella's stepsisters,<ref name="dpp1">{{cite book|title=Cinderella|chapter=The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable |editor=Elizabeth Knowles|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2006|volume=A Dictionary of Phrase and Fable|isbn=978-0-19-860981-0|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t214.e1544|access-date=2009-05-27}}</ref> and are described as "proud and haughty" rather than ugly, though Cinderella is described as being "far lovelier than her sisters, though they were always dressed fashionably." The unnamed younger stepsister is described as being not as rude or spiteful as the elder, who is named Charlotte (Javotte in French).<ref name="jj1">"Once there was a gentleman who married, for his second wife, the proudest and most haughty woman that was ever seen. She had, by a former husband, two daughters of her own, who were, indeed, exactly like her in all things." ... "Only the younger sister, who was not so rude and uncivil as the older one, called her Cinderella." {{cite book|url=http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm021.html|last=Jacobs|first=Joseph|title=European Folk and Fairy Tales|publisher=[[G. P. Putnam's Sons]]|year=1916|pages=1–12}}</ref> The stepsisters are forgiven for their cruelty and Cinderella invites them to the palace to live with her, and she marries each of them to a wealthy lord.
In [[Brothers Grimm|Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm]]'s considerably much darker version of the tale, entitled ''[[Aschenputtel]]'' in German, the unnamed stepsisters are described as having "beautiful faces and fair skin, but hearts that were foul and black", and are portrayed in a much more malicious light than Perrault's version.<ref name="grimm1">{{cite book|author=Jacob Grimm|author2=Wilhelm Grimm|name-list-style=amp|translator=D. L. Ashliman|chapter=Aschenputtel|trans-chapter=Cinderella|date=2001|orig-year=1857|title=Kinder-und Hausmärchen|trans-title=Children's and Household Tales}}</ref> Indeed, the stepsisters are also traitors since, under the stepmother's advice, they attempt to trick the prince by cutting off their heels and toes to make the
In the opera [[La Cenerentola]] (1817) by [[Gioachino Rossini]] and [[Jacopo Ferretti]], the sisters are named Clorinda and Tisbe.
== In pantomime ==
Traditionally, the two stepsisters are played by men (although in some adaptions, they are played by women, whereas in others they are played by a man and a woman) and their attire is outrageous and garish, parodying the latest fashions. A favorite gag is to have one sister tall and thin, the other short and fat, only for them to state that they are "identical twins." They are portrayed as unruly man-eaters who provide much of the story's comic relief, flirting with men in the audience and repeatedly insulting each other yet teaming up to torment Cinderella. The sisters 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", or "Arabella". 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.
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== ''Once Upon a Time'' depictions ==
{{More citations needed|1=section|date=April 2024|find2=Ugly sisters Once Upon a Time}}
In ABC's ''[[Once Upon a Time (TV series)|Once Upon a Time]]'', there a total of five known versions of the stepsisters.
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[[Category:Female characters in film]]
[[Category:Female characters in television]]
[[Category:Fictional
[[Category:Fictional nobility]]
[[Category:Pantomime]]
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