Ashenputtel goes to the ball 

Arthur Rackham's illustration of 'Ashenputtel goes to the ball' presents us with a study in contrasts, articulated through a delicate interplay of line and space. The soft, muted palette evokes a dreamlike quality, yet the sharp, wiry lines of the figures lend a subtle tension, an undercurrent of disquiet. The composition pivots on the central figure of Cinderella. The flowing lines of her gown cascade across the scene, creating a sense of movement that seems to defy the static nature of the medium. Yet, Rackham disrupts any easy reading of beauty. The exaggerated features of the surrounding characters, rendered with a starkness that borders on caricature, destabilize our engagement with this scene. The semiotic codes at play here are complex. The image flirts with established notions of beauty and narrative, while simultaneously subverting them through its formal choices. In this, the very structure of the image invites us to question what we think we know about stories and images.