Snow White in her coffin, Theodor Hosemann, 1852.
Snow White, (in German, Schneewittchen, Snowdrop in their first
edition[1]) is the title character in a fairy tale known from many places in Europe, the
best known version being the one collected by the Brothers Grimm. The German version
features elements such as the mirror and the seven dwarfs. In non-German versions the dwarfs are generally robbers, while the
talking mirror is a dialog with the sun or moon. In a version from Albania, collected by Johann
Georg von Hahn and published in Griechische und albanesische Märchen. Gesammelt, übersetzt und erläutert (1864), the main
character lives with 40 dragons. The sleep is caused by a ring. The start of the story also has
an interesting twist in that a teacher urges the heroine to kill her own mother so that the teacher can take her place. The
origin of the tale is debated; it is likely no older than the Middle Ages. Many scholars think it originated somewhere in
Asia.
In the Aarne-Thompson folklore classification, they are grouped
together as type 709, Snow White. Others of this type include Bella Venezia,
Myrsina, Nourie Hadig, The Young Slave and Gold-Tree and
Silver-Tree.[2]
Story
Once upon a time, a queen was staring outside her window at the beautiful snow. It was because of her distracted state that
she pricked her finger on her needle and a drop of blood fell on
some snow that had fallen on her windowsill. As she looked at the blood on the snow she said to
herself, "Oh, how I wish that I had a daughter that had skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony." Soon after
that, the queen gave birth to a baby girl who had skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony. They named her
Princess Snow White. The queen soon died, perhaps in childbirth.
Soon after, the king took a new wife who was beautiful, but very vain, and who possessed
supernatural powers. She also possessed a magical mirror, to whom she would often ask, "Looking
glass upon the wall, Who is fairest of us all?" and to which the mirror would always reply, "'tis you" But after Snow White
became seven (which is the official age wherein a girl becomes a maiden) when she asked her mirror, it responded, "Queen, you are
full fair, 'tis true, But Snow-White fairer is than you."
The Queen was jealous, and ordered a huntsman to take Snow White into the woods to be killed. She demanded that the huntsman return with Snow White's heart as proof. The
huntsman took Snow White into the forest, but found himself unable to kill the girl. Instead, he
let her go, and brought the queen the heart of a young deer or a pig.
Snow White discovered a tiny cottage in the forest, belonging to seven dwarfs, where she rested. Meanwhile, the Queen asked her mirror once again, "Who's the fairest of them
all?", and was horrified when the mirror told her that Snow White, who was alive and well and living with the dwarfs, was
still the fairest of them all.
Three times the Queen disguised herself and visited the dwarfs' cottage
trying to kill Snow White. First, disguised as a peddler, the Queen offered colorful stay-laces
and laced Snow White up so tight that she fainted, and the Queen took her for dead. Snow White was revived by the dwarfs when
they loosened the laces. Next, the Queen dressed as a different old woman and combed Snow White's hair with a poisoned comb. Snow White again collapsed, and again the
dwarfs saved her. Lastly the Queen made a poisoned apple, and in the disguise of a countrywoman
offered it to Snow White. She was hesitant, so the Queen cut the apple in half, ate the white part — which had no poison — and
gave the poisoned red part to Snow White. She ate the apple eagerly and immediately fell into a deep stupor. When the dwarfs
found her, they could not revive her, so they placed her in a glass coffin, thinking that she had
died.
Time passed, and a prince travelling through the land saw Snow White in her coffin. The prince
was enchanted by her beauty and instantly fell in love with her. He begged the dwarfs to let him have the coffin. The prince and
his men carried the coffin away. The prince kissed Snow White, awakening her. The prince then declared his love and soon a
wedding was planned.
The vain Queen, still believing that Snow White was dead, again asked her mirror who was fairest in the land and yet again the
mirror disappointed her by responding that, "You, my queen, are fair; it is true. But the young queen is a thousand times fairer
than you."
Not knowing that this new queen was indeed her stepdaughter, she arrived at the wedding,
and her heart filled with the deepest of dread when she realized the truth.
As punishment for her wicked ways, a pair of heated iron shoes were brought forth with tongs and placed before the Queen. She was then forced
to step into these and dance until she fell down dead. In later versions, the Queen's death was the result of destroying her mirror in a fit of rage upon hearing that there still is one
fairer than her. In yet another version, when the Queen sees Snow White and realizes the truth, she goes insane and kills
herself. In one more version, the mirror shows the Queen Snow White, or tells her Snow White is more beautiful by name, and the
Queen runs so fast to kill Snow White that she dies from the exertion at Snow White's feet. In Disney's adaption of the story,
the queen falls to her death while attempting to crush the dwarves with a boulder.
Commentary
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
the first edition, additionally, she does not order a servant to bring her to the woods, but brings her there herself to gather
flowers and abandons her herself; in the first edition, this task was transferred to a servant.[3] It is believed that the change to a stepmother in later editions was to tone down
the story for children.[4]
Snow White, although marrying at the end of the tale, is seven when her stepmother tries to kill her. This may be explained by
her growing up while in the coffin or during her stay with the dwarves; but more often, Snow White is depicted in illustrations
as considerably older.[5]
One interpretation of the tale is the polarization of women into the evil and active versus the innocent and domestic.[6]
Other versions
Literature
The story in Russian writer Alexander Pushkin's
1833 poem The Tale of the
Dead Princess and the Seven Knights is similar to that of Snow White, with knights
replacing dwarfs.[citation needed]
One of the many retellings of the Snow White tale appears in A Book of
Dwarfs, by Ruth Manning-Sanders.[citation needed]Tanith
Lee's novel White as Snow is a dark, very adult retelling of the tale (woven into a reworking of the
Demeter/Persephone myth), as is her short story "Red as Blood" (published in her story collection of the same title), and
Neil Gaiman's short story "Snow, Glass, Apples"
(published in Smoke and Mirrors). Other writers who have made use of the
theme include Donald Barthelme (in his novel Snow White), Gregory Maguire (in his novel Mirror Mirror), Jane Yolen (in
her story "Snow in Summer," published in Black Swan, White Raven), Anne Sexton (in
her poem "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," published in Transformations), and A. S.
Byatt (in her essay "Ice, Snow, Glass," published in Mirror, Mirror on the Wall).[citation needed]
In 1982 Roald Dahl's book Revolting Rhymes rewrote the story in a more modern way.[citation needed]
Film and television
First, a 1902 Snow White film was released. A 1916 silent
film with the title Snow White was made by Famous Players-Lasky Corporation and produced by Adolph Zukor
and Daniel Frohman. Directed by J. Searle
Dawley, it was adapted to the screen by Jessie Graham White from his play
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The film starred
Marguerite Clark as Snow White, Creighton Hale
as Prince Florimond and Dorothy Cumming as Queen Brangomar/Mary Jane.
A 1933 Betty Boop cartoon,
Snow White, was adapted from this story, as was the famous
1937 Disney animated feature,
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. In the Disney
version, Snow White wakes from her enchanted sleep as soon as the Prince kisses her, similar to Sleeping Beauty. Furthermore, the prince and Snow White have met prior to her enchanted sleep, so
that he has fallen in love with the awake rather than the sleeping princess, an unusual variation in the Snow White
tales.[7] This version is perhaps the most well known
version of the story, and is a classic of the cinema. This version of Snow White also has a role in the videogame
Kingdom Hearts where she is one of the Princesses of Hearts kidnapped by Maleficent. The Disney version is distinctly parodied in the 1943 Merrie
Melodies short cartoon Coal Black and de Sebben
Dwarfs.
This version of Snow White was featured as a guest in House of Mouse. This
version of Snow White also appears at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as
a meetable character.
In 1961, the story was parodied in the film Snow White and the Three
Stooges, starring Moe Howard, Larry
Fine and Joe "Curly-Joe" DeRita. This film is
widely regarded by fans of the Three Stooges as their worst feature film. In the film, the
dwarfs had gone on vacation and lent Moe, Larry and Curly Joe the use of their cottage. The three are traveling entertainers,
along with a young man who was born a prince, but lost his memory in an assassination attempt that was thwarted by the Stooges.
The prince suffers amnesia and the Stooges "adopt" him and raise him to manhood; but he is only shown as a boy in a flashback
segment. The prince ends up marrying Snow White, played by real life Olympic figure skating champion, Carol Heiss. The film is
also a musical and features many ice skating scenes. There are a few other things that differ from the original story, such as
Count Oga (villainous henchman of the Wicked Queen), a magic sword that transports the Stooges to various places and a carriage
chase scene.
The comedy-horror-erotic adaptation of Grimm's Fairy Tales, Grimms Märchen von Lüsternen Pärchen (1969), presented Snow White among other characters of Grimm Tales. A pornographic version of Snow White was
released in 1976 in the X-rated animated film Once Upon a Girl. 1979 pornochanchada adaptation Histórias Que Nossas Babás Não Contavam (Stories Our Nannies Don't Tell)
featured an Afro-Brazilian actress, Adele Fátima, as Snow White. However, Snow White was
not named "White" (branca) but clara (a Brazilian racial term similar to fair
skin). 1982 film Biancaneve & Co. is an adaptation of the fumetto Biancaneve by Leone
Frollo. The film features the starlet Michela Miti as "Snow White". Snow White story has also been made into a number of
adult films. The most famous among these films is Biancaneve e i sette nani
(1995) by Luca Damiano, starring Ludmilla Antonova.
The 1987 fantasy film Snow White (starring Diana Rigg as the Wicked Queen and Sarah Patterson as Snow White)
was released direct to video using the Cannon Movie Tale logo. Other fantasy films were released in the series. It is currently
available on Region 1 dvd from MGM.
The 1997 fantasy/horror film Snow White: A Tale Of Terror
(starring Sigourney Weaver as the Stepmother and Monica
Keena as Snow White) purports to be a more authentic adaptation of the original Grimm fairytale. It did not have seven
dwarfs, but instead had seven miners. In 2001 another live action version was made for TV,
called Snow White. This version changed the storyline to include several more
magical elements such as demons.
Daddy's Little Bit of Dresden China, a 1988 short film
by British animator Karen Watson, uses the Snow White story as part of a story of child
sexual abuse.
10th Kingdom, a short TV-series movie, was loosely based on Snow White, as well as
many other fairy tales.
HBO's Happily Ever After: Fairy
Tales for Every Child cast Snow White as White Snow, daughter of a native American chieftain.
In 1988, ABC released a sitcom based on the home life of Snow White and Prince Charming called "The Charmings."
Snow White is one of Princess Fiona's friends in the Shrek movies. She shares an affinity with small woodland creatures with her Disney counterpart.
There have also been a few anime adaptations of the story. Nippon Animation told the story of Snow White in three episodes of its 1987 TV series Grimm Meisaku
Gekijo (released in English as Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics). In
1994, the Tatsunoko animation studio adapted the story into a 52-episode TV series,
Shirayuki-hime no Densetsu ("The Legend of Princess Snow
White"), aired in Japan on NHK. Tatsunoko's production incorporated several "prelude" episodes emphasizing the romance
between Snow White and her prince before launching into the story proper. She now features in 2007 film Shrek the Third
In 1988, the Filmation company produced the first ever sequel to the Snow White tale, originally titled Snow White and the
Realm of Doom, but Disney feared that it would be mistaken as a direct sequel to their own. Disney filed a lawsuit against
Filmation, which lead them to change the title to Happily Ever After. Other drastic
changes were made to the film as well. After several years it was later released on video in 1993. The story involves Snow White
and her prince on their way to meet the seven dwarves, but the wicked queen's BROTHER, Lord Malice, wants revenge for his sisters
death. Lord Malice transformed into a dragon and kidnapped Snow White and transformed her prince into a hideous man. Snow White
escaped and thinking she'd see the seven dwarves again, instead she meets their cousins, the seven dwarfells. Together they all
journey to the Realm of Doom where they will defeat Lord Malice and save the prince.
An episode of the supernatural series Charmed entitled Happily Ever
After featured an evil witch escaping from captivity and using fairytales to toy with the sisters. Among other things, she
plants a poisoned apple which one of the sisters eats and dies. Her sisters cast a spell that ends up bringing the descendants of
the seven dwarves to the house. The magic wears off when the evil witch is defeated.
Another unofficial sequel of sorts was released in theatres in Belgium and France in January 2007. (Snow White: The Sequel) is an animated film for mature audiences. It was directed by
Picha, who is known for his animated films of a sexually explicit nature, including
Tarzoon: Shame of the Jungle and The
Big Bang.
The film Sydney White is a modern retelling of the classic fairy tale. It stars
Amanda Bynes as Sydney (Snow White), Sara Paxton as
Rachel Witchburn (the Wicked Queen), and Matt Long as Tyler Prince (Prince Charming).
Music
Snow White is referenced in the song "Waiting For Magic" from the Swedish pop group Ace of
Base in their debut album, "Happy Nation". The U.S. version of the album was titled "The
Sign" and had a slightly different track listing. They referenced Snow White by singing, "Kiss me baby, I am Snow White sleeping
in my coffin waiting for you."
Snow White is referred to as a person or queen, with stalking and/or obsession overtones, in the song "Snow White Queen" on Evanescence's album The Open Door. This is based on experience of Amy Lee, who once had
to deal with a stalker. It is similar to how the prince in Disney's version of Snow White fell in love with her at first sight
when he heard her sing. After that he continued searching for her to no end, even though he never really knew her. The actual
story is that Amy Lee's username on both Evboard.com and Evthreads.com is SnowWhite, after her stalker experience Lee wrote the
song and based this upon her username.
The character Snow White is also referenced in the metal band Xandria's album
Ravenheart, in the song "Snow-White", which talkes about "snow white skin", "lips as red as
blood" and "ebony hair".
In 2001, German rock band Rammstein's music video Sonne borrowed elements from the Disney version of Snow White with the band members being portrayed as
the Seven Dwarfs, while Snow White is portrayed as a gold addict, taking the gold dust in a similar way to cocaine. In the video,
she dies from overdosing on what appears to be an injection of the dust.
The band Envy on the Coast's song "Mirrors" is written in the format of a letter,
starting with 'Dear Miss White,' and ending with 'From me.' It refers to Snow White further by beginning the chorus with: "With
hair as Black as night, her skin, a dead, pearly White, and blood red," refering to her looks, and then compares/makes allusions
to a girl on cocaine, or some type of drug.
Snow-White And Rose-Red
There is another Brothers Grimm tale called Snow-White and Rose-Red which
also includes a character called Snow-White. However, this Snow-White is a completely separate character from the one found in
this tale. The original German names are also different: Schneewittchen (the Princess)
and Schneeweißchen (together with Rosenrot). There is actually no difference in the meaning (both mean "snow
white"), but the first name is more influenced by the dialects of Low Saxon while the second
one is the standard German version, demonstrating a class difference between the two
Snow-Whites.[citation needed]
The Twelve Wild Ducks
A Norwegian fairy tale The Twelve Wild Ducks has as its heroine the
character "Snow-white and Rosy-red" who was born, like Snow-White, after her mother had wished for such a child.
However, the form of the wish was that she did not care what happened to her sons if she had such a daughter, and the tale is
a variant of The Six Swans.
See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
References
- ^ Terri Windling, "Snow, Glass, Apples: the story of Snow White"
- ^ Heidi Anne Heiner, "Tales Similar to Snow White and
the Seven Dwarfs"
- ^ Kay Stone, "Three Transformations of Snow White" p 57-8 James M.
McGlathery, ed. The Brothers Grimm and Folktale, ISBN 0-252-01549-5
- ^ Maria Tatar, The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales, p36, ISBN
0-691-06722-8
- ^ Maria Tatar, p 83, The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales, ISBN
0-393-05163-3
- ^ Maria Tatar, The Annotated Brothers Grimm, p 242 W. W. Norton &
company, London, New York, 2004 ISBN 0-393-05848-4
- ^ Terri Windling, "Snow, Glass, Apples: the story of Snow White"
Further reading
- Grimm, Jacob and William, edited and translated by Stanley Appelbaum, Selected Folktales/Ausgewählte Märchen: A
Dual-Language Book Dover Publications Inc. Mineola, New York. ISBN 0-486-42474-X
Theodor Ruf: Die Schöne aus dem Glassarg. Schneewittchens märchenhaftes und wirkliches Leben. Würzburg: Königshausen und
Neumann, 1994 (absolutely reliable academic work)
External links
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