Andrew Z. Ho

Writing 39B

Professor Ludisaca

The Truth Behind Fairy Tales

What are fairy tales? These stories are usually told to children and are seen in a very innocent or light hearted way. There’s a clear distinction between good and evil with a feel good happy ending with some moral to wrap things up. However, when taking a closer look at these tales, we realize that these stories aren’t all sunshine and rainbows. Instead there’s a much deeper and darker meaning in the history of these stories. An example of this can be seen in the Grimm Brothers version of Snow White. The structure of the story is the same as the Disney version that most people know. Snow White being our main character hiding away from the evil Queen trying to get rid of her. However, where this story differs is how the author instills many elements of fear and horror into the story. This can be seen through the characters actions and the setting in which the story takes place. The Queen in this story is obsessed with beauty. Constantly asking “who is the fairest in the land?” to her magic mirror. The mirror would usually reply by telling the Queen that she was but that all changed when snow white came into the picture. As a result of this we see the queen slowly fall into insanity. This eventually corrupts her mind and this obsession would become the driving force for her wanting to murder Snow White. In addition to the queen, we can also analyze interaction with other characters. Not only will we learn more about the characters themselves but also about the time period in which the story takes place in, and the dark undertones of society back then. There are also many symbols that add to this terror thorughout the story. These symbols add a feeling of entering the unknown or foreshadow future events to come. Overall, By examining Evil or villainous figures, interactions with other characters and symbolism it is clear that the Grimms Brothers Snow white is part of the dark fairy tale genre.

Through examining the actions of the antagonist in the story, we can see how Snow White fits into the dark fairy tale genre. In this case, the antagonist is the queen or the stepmother of Snow White and when compared to the other characters she’s definitely the most wicked and dark out of all the characters. The Queen herself is built upon the idea that she wants to be the prettiest in the land. While this did initially start out as want it turned into a need which then led to her obsession with beauty. The queen herself is a symbol for greed and envy. While her greed isn’t based on money but has more to do with eliminating any competition when it comes to attractiveness. She becomes envious of Snow White and her looks and as a result wants to eliminate her. Instead of looking for a more peaceful way of accomplishing her goal, she instead chose to go down the route of violence. When she ordered the hunter to kill snow white, not only did she want her dead, she wanted her heart and liver back as well. Not only was this to prove that she was actually dead, but also because the queen wanted to eat them which adds an element of cannibalism into the story. While the hunter chose to spare Snow White and told her to go into the woods, and brought back an animal heart and liver, the fact still remains that she still ate them anyway. When she found out that she was lied to and that Snow white was still alive, all that did was push her crazier and deeper into her obsession. She decided to take matters into her own hands with two separate attempts to kill Snow White, with the last one semi-succeeding, before the prince saved her. Even up to the end of the story she didn’t change. This obsession turned into insanity and lasted throughout the whole tale. However, it makes sense that she would be as stepmothers or step relatives are usually seen in a bad light within fairy tales. In Archetypes and Motifs in Folklore and Literature: A Handbook, in the section titled, “Step Relatives”, it talks about this very thing. It states, “In othertales,  the  previously  victimized  stepchildren  directly  witness  (or  perhaps even order) the execution of their stepmothers…” This is further proved in the ending of the story where we see the Step mother being forced to dance herself to death wearing red-hot iron shoes, adding onto the already dark elements within this fairy tale.

In addition to the queen, Snow white also had many interactions with other characters in the story, the first ones being the seven dwarfs. To many the dwarfs seem kinda like they gave a place for Snow white to live and offered her hospitality, but they’re not as innocent as they seem. When they first get introduced, they only offer hospitality. “If you will keep house for us, cook, make the beds, wash, sew, knit, and keep everything neat and tidy, then you can stay with us, and we’ll give you everything you need.” This displays the gender norms at the time with the women doing domestic chores while the men are out working. However, what’s weird about this is the fact that the dwarfs are adults taking in this child. It makes one wonder what were the true intentions of the dwarfs through this action? Remember that Snow White is still a child at the time and for the dwarfs to say that they’ll give her everything she’ll need is more than enough to draw suspicion, turning this once innocent interaction into something much darker. Another character we see interact with Snow White would be the prince. While he did end up saving Snow White, as seen in many other tales, the text would suggest that he had ulterior motives. When the prince saw Snow White in the clear coffin, he wanted her so badly as he said “Let me have the coffin. I will give you whatever you want for it.”. He doesn’t give up either when getting turned down. The prince was very persistent and knew what he wanted. Leading to the dwarfs pitying him and giving him the coffin in the end. While this may seem like a kind gesture at first, it makes the reader wonder what on earth is he going to do with a clear coffin? He says he’ll “cherish her as if she were my beloved.” making the reader question his true intentions even further. Through the actions of the prince it adds the element of necrophilia into the story making it a much darker one than meets the eye.

When taking a closer look at the symbolism we can see a much darker version of the story. The first example being the woods, as it’s been known as a universal symbol for terror amongst fairy tales. This is further supported in the story of Snow White. When Snow White was leaving to go into the woods, the text says she was left in the “vast forest” with “wild beasts” around her. The story depicts the forest as something that she should be afraid of while never explicitly stating it. Through the author's choice of words it helps create a sense of fear of the environment surrounding the character leaving the reader not knowing what can happen next. Another symbol we see is the color black. While it isn’t mentioned as explicitly as the forest, it still is important in defining the story and Snow White as a character. In the beginning, Snow White can be described as a girl “who was white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as ebony.” While the other colors do have their own significance, the color I’ll be focusing on is the color black. Although being used to describe Snow White’s hair, the color black symbolizes death, and is mentioned right from the start. Even though it only gets mentioned here, Snow White experiences a lot of death and this line from the start foreshadows this. She nearly dies from the hunter that was first sent to kill Snow White, then “died twice” from the queen's hands and her use of magic before doing some killing herself at the end of the story with the evil queen's death. On the surface, the color black was seen as something used only to describe the color of Snow White’s hair, but upon closer inspection we see the real significance of the color black within this story. Through the use of symbols within this story, it’s clear how the Girmms brothers incorporated elements of fear into this seemingly “innocent” story.

In conclusion, Snow white by the Grinms Beothers fits into the dark fairy tale genre. By analyzing the actions of the queen and interactions snow white had with owl ther characters we can see how this pure light hearted story took a dark turn with this version. Also through the use of symbols we can see the many undertones that added to the atmosphere of the story. Overall through everything I’ve mentioned before, Snow White by the Grinms fits the dark fairy tale genre