Snow White

"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" redirects here. For the film, see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film).
This article is about the traditional German fairy tale. For the Disney character, see Snow White (Disney). For other uses, see Snow White (disambiguation).
Snow White

Schneewittchen by Alexander Zick
Folk tale
Name Snow White
Data
Aarne-Thompson grouping 709
Country Germany

"Snow White" is a nineteenth-century German fairy tale which is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection Grimms' Fairy Tales. It was titled in German: Sneewittchen (in modern orthography Schneewittchen) and numbered as Tale 53. The Grimms completed their final revision of the story in 1854.[1][2]

The fairy tale features such elements as the magic mirror, the poisoned apple, the glass coffin, matricide, filicide, and the characters of the Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, the huntsman, a beautiful princess named Snow White in a sleeping enchantment, a handsome prince and the Seven Dwarfs. The seven dwarfs were first given individual names in the 1912 Broadway play Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and then given different names in Walt Disney's 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The Grimm story, which is commonly referred to as "Snow White",[3] should not be confused with the story of "Snow White and Rose Red" (in German "Schneeweißchen und Rosenrot"), another fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm.

In the Aarne–Thompson folklore classification, tales of this kind are grouped together as type 709, Snow White. Others of this kind include "Bella Venezia", "Myrsina", "Nourie Hadig", "Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree",[4] The Young Slave and La petite Toute-Belle.

Plot

1. The Queen asks the magic mirror
2. Snow White in the forest
3. The dwarfs find Snow White asleep
4. The dwarfs warn Snow White
5. The Queen visits Snow White
6. The Queen has poisoned Snow White
7. The Prince awakes Snow White
8. The Queen arrives at the wedding

At the beginning of the story, a humble queen sits sewing at an open window during a winter snowfall when she pricks her finger with her needle, causing three drops of red blood to drip onto the freshly fallen white snow on the black windowsill. Then, she says to herself, "How I wish that I had a daughter that had skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony." Some time later, the Good Queen gives birth to a baby daughter whom she names Snow White, but dies shortly thereafter.[1][5]

A year later, Snow White's father, the King, takes a second wife, who is very beautiful, but a wicked and vain woman. The new queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, possesses a Magic Mirror, which she asks every morning, "mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?" The mirror always replies: "My Queen, you are the fairest one of all." The Queen is always pleased with that, because the magic mirror never lies. But as Snow White grows up, she becomes more beautiful each day and even more beautiful than the Queen, and when the Queen asks her mirror, it says; "My Queen, you are the fairest here so true. But Snow White is a thousand times more beautiful than you."[1][5]

This gives the queen a great shock. She becomes envious, and from that moment on, her heart turns against Snow White, and the Queen hates the girl more and more. Eventually, the angry Queen orders a huntsman to take Snow White into the deepest woods to be killed. As proof that Snow White is dead, the Queen demands that he returns with her lungs and liver. The huntsman takes Snow White into the forest. After raising his knife, he finds himself unable to kill her and he spares her life. Snow White is told that her stepmother wants her dead and to get far away from the kingdom as possible. He instead brings the Queen the heart of a wild animal.[1][5]

After wandering through the forest, Snow White discovers a tiny cottage belonging to a group of Seven Dwarfs. Since no one is at home, she eats some of the tiny meals, drinks some of their wine, and then tests all the beds. Finally, the last bed is comfortable enough for her and she falls asleep. When the Seven Dwarfs return home, they immediately become aware that someone snuck in secretly, because everything in their home is in disorder. During their loud discussion about who snuck in, they discover the sleeping Snow White. She wakes up and explains to them what happened, and the Seven Dwarfs take pity on her and let her stay with them in exchange for housekeeping. They warn her to be careful when alone at home and to let no one in when they are away delving in the mountains.[1][5]

Meanwhile, the Queen asks her mirror once again: "Magic mirror in my hand, who is the fairest in the land?" The mirror replies: "My queen, you are the fairest here so true. But Snow White beyond the mountains at the Seven Dwarfs is a thousand times more beautiful than you".[1] The Queen is horrified to learn that the huntsman has betrayed her and that Snow White is still alive. She plans the removal of Snow White, then disguises herself as an old peddler. The Queen then walks to the cottage of the Seven Dwarfs and offers her colorful, silky laced bodices and convinces Snow White to take the most beautiful laces as a present. Then the Queen laces her up so tightly that Snow White faints, causing the Queen to leave her for dead. But the Seven Dwarfs return just in time, and Snow White revives when the Seven Dwarfs loosen the laces.[1][5]

The Queen then consults her Magic Mirror again, and the mirror reveals Snow White's survival. Now infuriated, the Queen dresses as a comb seller and convinces Snow White to take a beautiful comb as a present. She brushes Snow White's hair with the poisoned comb and the girl faints again. She is again revived by the Seven Dwarfs when they remove the comb from her hair. The Magic Mirror tells the Queen that Snow White is still "a thousand times more beautiful". As a third and final attempt to rid herself of Snow White, the Queen secretly consults the darkest magic and makes a poisoned apple. Disguised as a farmer's wife, she offers it to Snow White. The girl is at first hesitant to accept it, so the Queen cuts the apple in half, eating the white (harmless) half and giving the red (poisoned) half to Snow White. The girl eagerly takes a bite and falls into a state of suspended animation. This time, the Seven Dwarfs are unable to revive Snow White. Assuming that she is dead, they place her in a glass casket.[1][5]

After a short period of time, a prince traveling through the land sees Snow White. He strides to her coffin. Enchanted by her beauty, instantly falls in love with her. The Seven Dwarfs succumb to his entreaties to let him have Snow White. The moment he lifts the coffin to carry it away, the piece of poisoned apple falls from between her lips and Snow White awakens saying "Where am I?" The Prince then declares his love for her and soon a wedding is planned. Snow White and the Prince invite everyone to come to their wedding party, including Snow White's stepmother.

Meanwhile, the Queen, still believing that Snow White is dead, again asks her Magic Mirror who is the fairest in the land. The mirror says: "Thou, lady, art loveliest here, I ween; but lovelier far is the new-made Queen". Appalled in disbelief and enraged, she decides to go. Not knowing that the Prince's bride was indeed her stepdaughter, she arrives at the wedding and sees that the bride is Snow White, who she thought long dead. She chokes with rage, falls down, and dies. Snow White and the prince reign happily over the land for many, many years and sometimes traveling into the mountains and visiting the dwarfs, who had been so kind to Snow White.

Inspiration

There are some theories about the origin of the fairy tale. In 1994, a German historian named Eckhard Sander published Schneewittchen: Märchen oder Wahrheit? (Snow White: Fairy Tale or Truth?), claiming he had uncovered an account that may have inspired the story that first appeared in Grimm’s Fairy Tales. According to Sander, the character of Snow White was based on the life of Margaretha von Waldeck, a German countess born to Philip IV in 1533. At the age of 16, Margarete was forced by her stepmother, Katharina of Hatzfeld, to move away to Brussels. There, Margarete fell in love with a prince who would later become Philip II of Spain. Margarete’s father and stepmother disapproved of the relationship as it was ‘politically inconvenient’. Margarete mysteriously died at the age of 21, apparently having been poisoned. Historical accounts point to the King of Spain, who opposing the romance, may have dispatched Spanish agents to murder Margarete.[6]

Karlheinz Bartels, a pharmacist and scholar from Lohr am Main, a town in northwestern Bavaria, found evidence that Snow White was Maria Sophia Margarethe Catharina, Baroness von und zu Erthal, who was born in Lohr on June 25, 1725.[7][8] Her father, Philipp Christoph von und zu Erthal, was the local representative of the Prince Elector of Mainz.[9] After the death of Maria Sophia’s birth mother in 1738, her father remarried in 1743. The stepmother, Claudia Elisabeth von Reichenstein, was domineering and employed her new position to the advantage of her children from her first marriage. A Magic Mirror (Snow White) referred to as “The Talking Mirror”, known as always telling the truth, can still be viewed today in the Spessart Museum in the Lohr Castle, where Maria Sophia’s stepmother lived. This mirror was presumably a present from Maria Sophia’s father to his second wife. It was a product of the Lohr Mirror Manufacture (Kurmainzische Spiegelmanufaktur).[10]

Variations

In their first edition, the Brothers Grimm published the version they had first collected, in which the villain of the piece is Snow White's jealous mother. In a version sent to another folklorist prior to the first edition, additionally, she does not order a servant to take her to the woods, but takes her there herself to gather flowers and abandons her; in the first edition, this task was transferred to a servant.[11] It is believed that the change to a stepmother in later editions was to tone down the story for children.[12]

One version of Snow White is the 1937 American animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by Walt Disney. Disney's variation of Snow White gave the dwarfs names and included a singing Snow White. Instead of her lungs and liver, as written in the original, the huntsman is asked by the queen to bring back Snow White’s heart. Snow White is much more mature (about 14). And she is discovered by the dwarfs after cleaning the house, not vandalizing it. Furthermore, in the Disney movie the evil queen tries only once to kill Snow White (by a poisoned apple) and fails. She then dies by falling down a cliff, after the dwarfs had chased her through the forest. In the original, the queen is forced to dance to death.

In Snow White (1987), produced by Cannon Movie Tales, the Evil Queen, after being informed for the last time that Snow White is alive and the most fair, is consumed with rage and hurls an object at the mirror causing it to crack. As she travels to the wedding, the Evil Queen begins to age rapidly as the mirror continues to crack. By the time she reaches the wedding and bursts in, she is an old hag and is humiliated by the crowd. She leaves and, simultaneously with the mirror in her castle, disintegrates into a pile of dust while Snow White and the Prince are married.

In the 2012 adaptation Snow White and the Huntsman, directed by Rupert Sanders, Snow White becomes a warrior in order to overthrow the Evil Queen named Ravenna, and the huntsman named Eric is presented as her mentor and possible love interest.

In 2014, a version of Mattel schools of fairy tale characters, Ever After High, Snow White has a daughter, Apple White (Royal), which disputes with Raven Queen (daughter of the Evil Queen and Rebel) who prefers the Rebels follow the heart, writing their own way.

Many later versions omit the Queen's attempted cannibalism, eating what she believed to be the lungs and liver of Snow White. This may be a reference to old Slavic mythology which includes tales of witches eating human hearts.

From other European traditions

Many other variations of the story exist across and outside Europe. In some of these variations the dwarfs are robbers, while the magic mirror is a dialog with the sun or moon.

Modern uses and adaptations

Snow White as portrayed by Ginnifer Goodwin in the ABC series, Once Upon a Time.
The Disney version of Snow White.

Trademark

In 2013, the US Patent and Trademark Office issued a trademark to Disney Enterprises, Inc. for the name "Snow White" that covers all live and recorded movie, television, radio, stage, computer, Internet, news, and photographic entertainment uses, excluding literary works of fiction and nonfiction.[24]

In art

Religious interpretation

Erin Heys'[25] "Religious Symbols" article at the website Religion & Snow White analyzes the use of numerous symbols in the story, their implications, and their Christian interpretations, such as the colours red, white, and black; the apple; the number seven; and resurrection.[26]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Jacob Grimm & Wilhelm Grimm: Kinder- und Hausmärchen; Band 1, 7. Ausgabe (children's and households fairy tales, volume 1, 7th edition). Dietrich, Göttingen 1857, page 264–273.
  2. ↑ Jacob Grimm; Wilhelm Grimm (2014-10-19). "The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm: The Complete First ...". Books.google.co.in. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  3. ↑ Bartels, Karlheinz (2012). Schneewittchen – Zur Fabulologie des Spessarts. Geschichts- und Museumsverein Lohr a. Main, Lohr a. Main. pp. 56–59. ISBN 978-3-934128-40-8.
  4. ↑ Heidi Anne Heiner. "Tales Similar to Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs". Retrieved 22 September 2010.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 English translation of the original
  6. ↑ Sander, Eckhard (1994). Schneewittchen: Marchen oder Wahrheit? : ein lokaler Bezug zum Kellerwald.
  7. ↑ Bartels, Karlheinz (2012). Schneewittchen – Zur Fabulologie des Spessarts. Geschichts- und Museumsverein Lohr a. Main, Lohr a. Main; second edition. ISBN 978-3-934128-40-8.
  8. ↑ Vorwerk, Wolfgang. Das ‘Lohrer Schneewittchen’ – Zur Fabulologie eines Märchens. Ein Beitrag zu: Christian Grandl/ Kevin J.McKenna, (eds.) Bis dat, qui cito dat. Gegengabe in Paremiology, Folklore, Language, and Literature. Honoring Wolfgang Mieder on His Seventieth Birthday. Peter Lang (publisher) Frankfurt am Main, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Warszawa, Wien 2015. pp. 491–503. ISSN 0172-0872.
  9. ↑ Loibl, Werner (2016). Der Vater der fürstbischöflichen Erthals - Philipp Christoph von und zu Erthal (1689-1748). Geschichts- und Kunstverein Aschaffenburg e.V., Aschaffenburg 2016. ISBN 978-3-87965-126-9.
  10. ↑ Loibl, Werner (2012). Die kurmainzische Spiegelmanufaktur Lohr am Main (1698–1806). Geschichts- und Kunstverein Aschaffenburg, Aschaffenburg 2012. ISBN 978-3-87965-116-0. ISBN 978-3-87965-117-7
  11. ↑ Kay Stone, "Three Transformations of Snow White" pp 57-58 James M. McGlathery, ed. The Brothers Grimm and Folktale, ISBN 0-252-01549-5
  12. ↑ Maria Tatar, The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales, p 36, ISBN 0-691-06722-8
  13. ↑ Hahn, Johann Georg von (1864). Griechische und albanesische Märchen,, Volume 2, "Schneewittchen". W. Engelmann, Leipzig. pp. 134–143.
  14. ↑ "The Jealous Sisters - Albanian Literature | Folktales". Albanian Literature. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  15. ↑ Adapted by Amy Friedman and Meredith Johnson (2 June 2013). "Nourie Hadig (an Armenian folktale)". Uclick. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  16. ↑ Orr, Christopher (2012-06-01). "'Snow White and the Huntsman': The Visuals Dazzle, the Performances Don't". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  17. ↑ Pushkin, Alexander (1974). The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights. Raduga Publishers.
  18. ↑ Anne Sexton. "Transformations". Books.google.com. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  19. ↑ "Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2014-06-03.
  20. ↑ Barrett, Annie. "Julia Roberts' Snow White movie titled 'Mirror, Mirror' | Inside Movies | EW.com". Insidemovies.ew.com. Retrieved 2012-05-27.
  21. ↑ "Update: Relativity Confirms Julia Roberts In Snow White Pic". Deadline.com.
  22. ↑ Breznican, Anthony (2011-03-26). "Armie Hammer cast as prince in 'Snow White'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2011-03-28.
  23. ↑ "Helen Oyeyemi's 'Boy, Snow, Bird' turns a fairy tale inside out". LA Times. 2014-02-27. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  24. ↑ "US Patent and Trademark Office – Snow White trademark status". Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  25. ↑ Heys, Erin. "Home". Religion & Snow White. Archived from the original on October 23, 2014.
  26. ↑ Heys, Erin. "Religious Symbols". Religion & Snow White. Archived from the original on October 28, 2014.
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