snow white story summary essay

A Summary and Analysis of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Blood wishes, talking mirrors, and poisoned fruit: it’s all here in ‘Snow White’, one of the most enduringly popular and recognisable fairy tales in western literature. Yet what is the story of Snow White and the seven dwarfs really about? Does it have a moral? And what are the fairy tale’s origins? Closer analysis of the Snow White story reveals a hideous and gruesome tale which Disney had to sanitise to make it palatable for family audiences.

Snow White: plot summary

First, a brief summary of the Snow White story. One day, a queen sat working at a window with an ebony frame, with the snow falling outside.

She pricked her finger (presumably she was sewing or knitting, though her precise occupation, other than ‘queen’, is not usually stated), and, watching the drops of blood, she made a wish that her little daughter would grow up to be as white as snow, as red as her blood, and as black as the ebony window frame. And sure enough, the queen’s daughter grew up to have snow-white skin, cheeks as red as her mother’s blood, and hair as black as ebony.

When the queen died shortly after this, the king remarried a vain woman who became Snow White’s stepmother. This stepmother liked to look in her magical looking-glass and ask it who was the fairest in the land, to which the obliging mirror would always return the answer, ‘You, queen.’

Except that one day, when Snow White was seven years old and her beauty has surpassed her stepmother’s, the looking-glass returned the answer, when the queen asked it who was the fairest of them all, ‘Snow White is lovelier than you!’ The wicked stepmother can’t be doing with a beautiful rival, so she orders a huntsman to take Snow White out to the woods and kill her. The huntsman can’t bring himself to kill the little girl, so he merely abandons her in the forest.

Snow White wanders, lost and forlorn, through the forest until she comes to a cottage, which she enters in the hope of finding shelter. Instead, what she finds are seven places laid out for dinner, seven beds: seven of everything. She has a bit out of each of the food and drink set out at the dinner table, before trying each of the beds, until she finds one that’s comfortable, and falls asleep.

Much like the situation the three bears come back to in the ‘Goldilocks’ story , the occupants of the cottage – seven dwarfs – then return from a hard day mining for gold in the nearby caves, and spot that an intruder’s been nibbling at their food.

But unlike the three bears, who are angry upon discovering a juvenile delinquent in their home, the seven dwarfs are so impressed by Snow White’s beauty that they are overjoyed to see her and leave her to sleep. In the morning she wakes and tells them her story, and they agree to let her stay with them, and look after the cottage while they go out to work.

They warn her, though, that the evil queen is bound to learn that she is still alive, and seek to kill her again. Meanwhile, the wicked stepmother’s talking mirror is busy blabbing about Snow White’s whereabouts, and when the evil queen asks it who is the fairest in the land, the bigmouthed looking-glass replies that Snow White still is, and adds where the girl can be found.

Having learned that her plan has been foiled and the girl still lives, the wicked stepmother disguises herself as a pedlar and travels to the dwarfs’ cottage, and sells the naïve Snow White some new laces for her shoes. She ties the girl’s laces so tightly that Snow White falls down, unconscious.

When the dwarfs return, they undo the laces and revive the girl, warning her to be more vigilant – they, unlike Snow White, have realised that the pedlar was the wicked queen in disguise. When the wicked queen gets home and learns from the mirror that her plan has been thwarted again, she sets off in a different disguise and convinces Snow White to take a comb as a gift. When the comb makes contact with Snow White’s black hair, she drops down again, and the wicked stepmother returns, her mission supposedly accomplished.

But once again the dwarfs manage to revive Snow White, and the wicked queen learns from the mirror that the girl is still alive. So she contrives a third plan, and sets off for the dwarfs’ cottage a third time, this time dressed as an old peasant’s wife.

She tempts Snow White to eat a delicious apple she has brought with her, and Snow White reluctantly assents when she is reassured that the peasant’s wife will eat half the apple with her. But the queen has cunningly poisoned only half the apple, and makes sure that that’s the half that Snow White munches on. The girl drops down dead, and the queen is overjoyed, when she returns home and asks the magic mirror who is the fairest of them all, to receive the answer, ‘You, my queen.’

The dwarfs are distraught by Snow White’s death, and lay her to rest in a glass coffin. But then a prince comes by (for some unspecified reason) and is captivated by the dead girl’s beauty as she lies in the glass coffin (a detail bordering on the morbid, but we’ll gloss over that).

He begs the dwarfs to let him take the coffin with him (a detail it’s harder to gloss over), and they reluctantly agree. Which is just as well, since as soon as the prince picks up the coffin, the piece of poisoned apple falls from Snow White’s mouth and she is revived. The prince asks her if she will marry him, and she says yes.

The wicked stepmother learns that a new queen is getting married (thanks to that perennial blabbermouth, her magical looking-glass), and goes to the wedding to see this new queen. When she sees that it is Snow White, back from the dead, she is so consumed with rage that she falls down dead. And that’s the end of the wicked stepmother, and the end of the story of Snow White, who lives happily ever after with the prince.

Snow White: analysis

How should we analyse the story of Snow White? Like many other classic fairy tales, such as Rumpelstiltskin and the story of Goldilocks, the tale is haunted by the number three: there are three drops of blood that drip from the first queen’s hand, there are three queens (Snow White’s mother, her wicked stepmother, and finally Snow White herself), the wicked stepmother has to come up with three plans to murder the girl at the dwarfs’ cottage, and the dwarfs mourn Snow White’s death for three days before burying her.

Like the significance of the number in the Goldilocks tale, the wicked stepmother’s three attempts to kill her rival may be seen as an example of the ‘just right’ balance in classic narratives: the first establishes a plot point, the second is a result of the thwarting of the first attempt and so redoubles the efforts, and the third ends with success.

This can be seen in the countless fantasy trilogies produced in the wake of The Lord of the Rings : the first volume establishes the quest or danger at hand, the second sees that danger doubled, and the third volume sees good triumph over evil (or law triumph over chaos in Michael Moorcock’s trilogies of the 1960s and 1970s). But enough of this digression into fantasy literature.

The story of ‘Snow White’ was first made popular in printed literature by the Brothers Grimm in the early nineteenth century: the tale of ‘Schneewittchen’ appears in their volumes of classic fairy tales. In the Grimms’ version, and indeed all nineteenth-century retellings of the Snow White story, the seven dwarfs don’t have names.

But nor was the 1937 Disney film the first version to give them individual names. That happened in a 1912 Broadway play, which called the dwarfs Blick, Flick, Glick, Snick, Plick, Whick, and Quee. The Disney film then came up with the names with which we forever associate the seven dwarfs (spelt ‘dwarfs’ rather than ‘dwarves’, by the way: Tolkien was largely responsible for the latter spelling, though he argued that strictly speaking the plural of ‘dwarf’ should probably be dwerrows ).

What is the moral of ‘Snow White’? Should we even attempt an analysis of the story in this respect?

Like the tale of ‘Little Red Riding-Hood’ , it may partly be to teach children that the world is big and bad, and that they shouldn’t trust blindly in what strangers tell them (as evinced by the innocent Snow White’s readiness to believe what the wicked stepmother tells her); from another angle, it is about finding peace and happiness even in humbler surroundings (being the daughter of a queen, Snow White is a princess who actually finds she is happy living among miners in their cottage, though she does leave this world behind when she re-attains her exalted social status through marrying the prince).

Perhaps such interpretations are pointless, because fairy tales were not devised primarily to teach children clear morals but to fuel their imaginations and introduce them to the way stories work structurally and emotionally, bringing to light universal human truths through narrative and character.

There is evil in the world, but there is also good; death is a part of life, but so is marriage and love; being beautiful isn’t the picnic it may appear to less attractive people; envy and jealousy ultimately eat away at the person who feels them, and are therefore self-destructive.

Vanity, too – that magic mirror a clear symbol of the wicked stepmother’s (literal) self-regard – will lead to unhappiness, because you will be destined always to compare yourself with others. Perhaps the moral value of a tale such as ‘Snow White’ is to be found as much in the fate of the wicked queen as it is in the younger heroine.

In summary, the fairy tale of Snow White is a classic that contains many of the genre’s most recognisable features: the wicked stepmother; a love interest in the form of the prince; the patterning of three; the woodland setting; the generous helpers (the huntsman, the dwarfs); and the happy ending. Not all fairy tales end happily, but this one does.

If you enjoyed this analysis of the ‘Snow White’ story, you might also enjoy our analysis of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ , our history of the Cinderella story and our  discussion of the story of ‘Puss in Boots’ .

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11 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’”

Surely the laces the wicked queen was selling were not for Snow White’s shoes but for her stays (your are much more likely to collapse from a tightly laced corset than tight boots). And she did not just drop dead at the sight of Snow White alive and well, she was condemned to dance at the wedding in red hot iron shoes until she died. On another theme – Tanith Lee has written several versions of the Snow White story, one full length novel ‘White as Snow’, and two short stories, one, ‘Red as Blood’ in which the little princess Bianca is a vampire…

That’s true that the Grimms’ version contains different plot details – I’ve added a little a little bit more about that into the article. The version the Opies reproduce is a slightly more sanitised one!

• Pingback: A Summary and Analysis of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ — Interesting Literature – karelitta

It would be interesting to delve into the study of the triad that is an essential component of fairy tales: beginning, middle, end; three tasks; three objects; etc

Agreed. Will have to do a bit more research into that – plus the broader three-act structure of much drama/fiction :)

• Pingback: A Summary and Analysis of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ — Interesting Literature | Your Mind In Bloom, LLC 1-203-414-5176

It wasn’t the window frame which was ebony, it was the embroidery frame, which the queen was holding or if a free standing tapestry frame, was sitting at. In either case she would be using a needle with which she pricked her bloody finger. And, yes, I do realise that the finger may not have been bloody before she did it. But it obviously was afterwards.

Sent from my iPad

I always thought she was sewing at a window – hence the snow on the sill – probably making something for the expected baby, which made her think of the child being red as blood, white as snow and black as ebony. Apparently Disney, who couldn’t imagine a heroine who wasn’t blonde, had to be argued out of making his Snow White blonde instead of dark.

A very interesting and accurate summary of this tale. One of my favourites by the way.

Thank you! Ours too – an endlessly fascinating tale :)

• Pingback: A Summary and Analysis of the ‘Rumpelstiltskin’ Fairy Tale | Interesting Literature

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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

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“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” is a 164-line free verse , narrative poem by Anne Sexton that revisits the original Grimm’s fairy tale from the perspective of a contemporary narrator. Sexton published the poem in 1971 as a part of her collection Transformations , where she retold 17 different Grimm’s fairy tales from “The Frog Prince” to “Rapunzel” to “Rumpelstiltskin.” While Sexton is primarily seen as a confessional poet, gaining critical acclaim around the same time as Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, and W. D. Snodgrass, her poems in Transformations less explicitly connect to her personal life, while still examining many of the themes for which she was well-known. “Snow White” criticizes the cultural expectations of female beauty and sexuality, and condemns the cycle of harm these expectations perpetuate. At the beginning of the poem, Sexton sets up the fragile, virginal ideal of female beauty and behavior. From there, she recounts the Snow White story straightforwardly, interspersing occasional modern details or comments to subtly connect the fairy tale to her modern reality. The poem ends not with a happily-ever-after ending, but with a disturbing insinuation that the mirror that prompted Snow White’s stepmother to set into motion a series of violent acts will still influence Snow White herself, as well as other women.

Poet Biography

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Anne Sexton was born in Newton, Massachusetts in 1928, one of three daughters. She attended boarding school as a teenager and afterwards matriculated at Garland Junior College for a year, after which she married Alfred “Kayo” Sexton II when she was 19. Kayo served in the Korean War, and during that time, Sexton modeled for Boston’s Hart Agency. When Kayo returned, they had two children: Linda in 1953 and Joyce in 1955.

Sexton had several mental health conditions for much of her adult life, including postpartum depression that led to a psychiatric hospitalization after Linda’s birth, and several other subsequent episodes that resulted in further hospitalizations. As part of her treatment, her therapist suggested she begin writing, first about her thoughts, feelings, and dreams, and then later more formally. Soon, Sexton was writing multiple sonnets a day and participating in writing groups in Boston. She met other poets, like Maxine Kumin, Robert Lowell, and Sylvia Plath, who would later become good friends.

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Sexton published her first collection, To Bedlam and Part Way Back in 1960, which touched on her own mental health struggles. Later collections would also embrace the confessional style , and Sexton won numerous prizes and honors, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1969 for Live or Die , a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Frost Fellowship to the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and many others, including academic appointments at Colgate and Boston University. In addition to writing intimately about her mental health, Sexton embraced other topics that were otherwise taboo in the culture, including incest, adultery, abortion, and menstruation, among others. Transformations , published two years before her death, deviates somewhat from her confessional style but still operates from a feminist lens, exploring women’s roles in the cultural and domestic spheres with a biting critique.

Sexton died by suicide in 1974 at the age of 45. Her daughter, Linda, is her literary executor.

Sexton, Anne. “ Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs .” Academy of American Poets.

“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” begins in the voice of an omniscient narrator, establishing the tone of the speaker, and introducing the image of the fragile virgin. The speaker describes this ideal virginal woman as “fragile as cigarette paper” (Line 3) and “unsoiled” (Line 12). In the second stanza, the speaker begins to recount the Snow White fairy tale. She establishes that Snow White was a 13-year-old virgin, living with a beautiful but aging stepmother, the queen. The speaker alludes to the stepmother’s fate in the original fairy tale, in which she was condemned to dance in hot iron shoes until she dies. The queen frequently asks her enchanted mirror who the fairest in the land is, and the mirror always replies “you” (Line 31).

In the third stanza, the mirror changes its answer, telling the queen that Snow White is fairest in the land. The queen begins to see her own flaws: “brown spots on her hand / and four whiskers over her lip” (Lines 40-41), and asks a hunter to kill Snow White and bring back her heart so the queen can eat it, “like a cube steak” (Line 48). The hunter cannot kill Snow White and instead releases her into the woods, where she encounters 20 hungry wolves and other sinister animals. Eventually she finds a cottage, eats, and sleeps.

The dwarfs who live in the cottage find Snow White and consider her a “good omen” (Line 73), asking her to stay and keep house for them. They warn her of her stepmother, who they say will attempt to find her. They tell her not to open the door when they are at work in the mines.

The queen consults her mirror and dresses up like a peddler, setting out to trap Snow White. Snow White opens the door, she purchases lacing from her, and the queen fastens it around Snow White so tight that she faints. When the dwarfs find her, they undo the lace, and “she revived miraculously” (Line 99). Despite their warnings, Snow White continues to fall for her stepmother’s traps, fainting from a scorpion comb the next day, and a poison apple after that. After she bites the apple, the dwarfs are unable to revive her. They construct a glass coffin so that all passersby can see her.

A prince comes to Snow White’s coffin one day and refuses to leave until the dwarfs “[take] pity on him” (Line 139) and give Snow White to him. As his men are carrying her coffin, they drop her, and the chunk of apple that had been in her throat dislodges. She once again wakes up “miraculously” (Line 146).

The speaker writes: “And thus Snow White became the prince’s bride” (Line 147). The stepmother comes and suffers her fate, dancing in a pair of red-hot roller skates until she dies. The final stanza goes into great detail of the queen’s suffering, detailing how she will “fry upward like a frog” (Line 155). The poem ends with echoes of the stepmother, as Snow White “hold[s] court” (Line 161) like a doll and “sometimes refer[s] to her mirror / as women do” (Lines 163-164).

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A 1923 illustration of Snow White resting in a glass coffin by Gustaf Tenggren, a Swedish American illustrator who worked as an animator for The Walt Disney Co. in the 1930s.

Walt Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was released as the first feature-length animated film in 1937, and decades later, the musical fantasy based on a Grimm Brothers fairy tale about the complications and conflicts in the mother-daughter relationship is still a cultural touchstone. The story has virtually eclipsed every version of the many told the world over about beautiful girls and their older rivals, often a cruel biological mother or stepmother, but sometimes an aunt or a mother-in-law. In her new book, “ The Fairest of Them All: Snow White and 21 Tales of Mothers and Daughters ,” Maria Tatar , the John L. Loeb Research Professor of Folklore and Mythology and Germanic Languages and Literatures and a senior fellow in Harvard’s Society of Fellows, collected tales from a variety of nations, including Egypt, Japan, Switzerland, Armenia, and India. She spoke to the Gazette about her lifelong fascination with the saga and how we can look to fairy tales to navigate uncertain times.

Maria Tatar

GAZETTE: Why did you decide to take up the Snow White story?

TATAR:  While working on my previous book with Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr., “ The Annotated African American Folktales ,” I came across a South African story called “The Unnatural Mother and the Girl with a Star on Her Forehead.” It was basically what we call the Snow White story, but in it the “beautiful girl” falls into a catatonic trance after putting on slippers given to her by her jealous mother. That’s when I fell down the rabbit hole of wonder tales and discovered stories from all over the world in which a stunningly attractive young woman arouses the jealousy of a woman who is usually her biological mother. The Brothers Grimm, whose 1812 story inspired Walt Disney to create the animated film, had many vernacular tales available to them, but they chose to publish the one in which the rival is the stepmother, in part because they did not want to violate the sanctity of motherhood. Now, decades later, it is still our cultural story about the many complications and conflicts in the mother-daughter relationship. It has eradicated almost every trace of the many tales told all over the world about beautiful girls and their rivals.

GAZETTE:  Why does this particular story remain so resonant?

TATAR:  All of the tales in this collection are cliffhangers. They begin with the counterfactual “What if?” then leave us asking “What’s next?” and finally challenge us to ask “Why?” These stories were originally told in communal settings, and they got people talking about all the conflicts, pressures, and injustices in real life. How do you create an ending that is not just happily ever after, but also “the fairest of them all”? What do you do when faced with worst-case possible scenarios? What do you need to survive cruelty, abandonment, and assault? In fairy tales, the answer often comes in the form of wits, intelligence, and resourcefulness on the one hand, and courage on the other. With their melodramatic mysteries, they arouse our curiosity and make us care about the characters. They tell us something about the value of seeking knowledge and feeling compassion under the worst of circumstances, and that’s a lesson that makes us pay attention today.

“All of the tales in this collection are cliffhangers. They begin with the counterfactual ‘What if?’ then leave us asking ‘What’s next?’ and finally challenge us to ask ‘Why?’”

GAZETTE: Can you explain the connection between Snow White’s skin color and her innocence and goodness?

TATAR: The red, white, and black color coding in many European versions of this story reminds me of how the Grimms believed that those were the colors of poetry. Their beautiful girl is “white as snow, red as blood, and black as the wood on this window frame.” It was Disney who changed that to “lips red as the rose, hair black as ebony, and skin white as snow.” When you look at other versions of the story, you realize that, generally, the daughter’s skin color is not an issue, though, curiously, there is a Samoan version of the tale with a girl with albinism who is an outcast. The fact that the beautiful girl in a global repertoire of stories about mothers and daughters is stereotyped as having skin white as snow because of the influence of the Grimm and Disney versions limits the global cultural resonance of the story. There’s nothing sacred about the Grimms’ version of that fairy tale or about Disney’s reimagining of it, but we tend to think of Grimm and Disney as the “originals,” and, unfortunately, they have become the “authoritative” versions.

GAZETTE: What are some of the themes or morals that you found across the tales you collected for this volume?

TATAR: Tales about beautiful girls circulated in adult storytelling cultures, in communal settings. They gave parents a way to talk about, think about, and address their own complicated feelings and unacknowledged resentment about raising children only to have them grow up and exceed you in one way or another. Myths and fairy tales enact all the fantasies, fears, anxieties, and terrors stored up in our imaginations that we are ordinarily afraid to talk about. By amplifying and exaggerating real-life conflicts, folktales animated our ancestors, getting them to sit up, listen, and think. In the safe space of “once upon a time,” they could explore taboo subjects and talk about the dark side of human nature. They are the symbolic stories that help us talk about and navigate the real. That’s why a psychologist like Bruno Bettelheim saw in the telling of the stories a form of therapeutic value.

But there is more to these stories than cathartic release. Fairy tales are also a great contact zone for all generations, enabling us to think more and think harder about crisis, resources, and recovery in a whole range of situations: famine, expulsion, abduction, loss, dispossession, enslavement, and so on, all the terrible things that can happen to us.

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GAZETTE: Were there any versions of the story that surprised you in their approach?

TATAR: I think that almost every version of Snow White surprised me in one way or another. There’s a Swiss story called “The Death of the Seven Dwarves” in which you have all the tropes of the Snow White story, but scrambled up. A homeless child finds protection with seven dwarves, and an old woman comes knocking on the door, seeking a bed for herself as well. When the girl refuses to offer shelter, the old woman denounces her as a slut and accuses her of sleeping with all seven of the dwarves. This is pretty heady stuff, and that tale made it clear to me that these stories were never really for children. They were meant to entertain adults while they were spinning, sewing, repairing tools, and doing chores late at night. John Updike tells us that fairy tales were the television and pornography of an earlier age, and a story like that is revelatory about the true uses of enchantment.

GAZETTE: You say that fairy tales are larger than life and can reflect and magnify our fears and anxieties. What do you think fairy tales can provide during this time of uncertainty and fear during the COVID-19 pandemic?

TATAR: One of my favorite fairy tales, “Hansel and Gretel,” starts in a time of famine. How do you manage to stay alive when your parents throw you out? The philosopher Walter Benjamin put it beautifully when he said that fairy tales transmit one big lesson: You need wits and courage to confront the monsters out in the woods.

There’s no practical advice or wisdom to be drawn from the lore of times past. But our ancestors did use these stories to talk with each other about the tools you need to survive, and what is often modeled in fairy tales is an instinct for compassion and collaboration. I think here of all those grateful animals that are not slaughtered and then turn up to help carry out an otherwise impossible task. In the time of a pandemic, something global that affects all of us, the golden network of storytelling reminds us of everything we share, that we are all human, and that solidarity and caring for each other build a path forward to developing the tools and knowledge we need for healing.

Interview was edited for clarity and length.

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Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs Story for Kids

The Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs original story is one such fairy tale that needs no introduction and has been loved worldwide. It’s so captivating that several movies and cartoon shows have been made on it. The famous  Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs story is provided here which  is adored by kids and adults alike. 

The Snow White story is a tale about a beautiful girl who is faced with the wrath of her step-mother and is saved by seven little beings. Read the Snow White short story here and download the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs story PDF through the link provided below.

Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs Story – Download PDF

Long, long ago in a huge palace, a beautiful princess was born. Her hair was as black as ebony, her lips as red as a rose and her skin as white as snow. She was named Snow White. She was very generous and gentle to everyone.

Snow White had a step-mother, who was beautiful but utterly cruel. She had a mystical mirror to which she used to ask -who the fairest lady of all is. The mirror always used to say that the queen was the fairest of all. Listening to this she used to be content until the next day.

Days passed by and Snow White grew to be an extremely beautiful girl. Then something very peculiar happened. One day when the cruel Queen asked the mirror who the fairest lady of all is, the mirror answered, “Snow White”. Hearing this, Queen got infuriated with envy. She decided to get Snow White killed.

She appointed a huntsman to take Snow White far into the woods and kill her. Although the huntsman took Snow White into the woods, he decided that he would not kill her. He told Snow White the whole scenario and left. Snow White was all alone in the forest. She was scared and completely unaware of the way to find her way out of the woods. She started sobbing and running through the stones and thorns. It was getting dark when she finally saw a small house. She took a sigh of relief and approached the house.

She entered the house but found no one there. Everything in the house was little. The house looked messy. She cleaned the house and when she was exhausted, she lay across seven small beds in a row.

After some time, the residents of the house- seven dwarfs, returned from an exhaustive day at the mines. They were startled to see their house so clean. Then they saw Snow White sleeping in their beds. They screamed with shock, Snow White woke up hearing them shout. She too cried out in astonishment. Then, all the dwarfs introduced themselves to Snow White and asked who she was and what she was doing in their house.

Snow White acquainted them with the whole incident with the huntsman and how she found her way to the house of the seven dwarfs. The dwarfs felt pity for her. They told her that she can stay in the house if she can help them with the household chores and make them suppers. Snow White happily accepted the condition and they all started living merrily together. During the day when she used to be alone at home, she used to play with the small birds and animals around the home. She was very content with her peaceful life.

The cruel Queen in the misconception of death of Snow White proudly asked the mirror the same question yet again- Who is the fairest lady of all?

And to her biggest shock, got the reply from the mirror, “Snow White”.

She was fiercely puzzled on hearing this. She understood that she has been deceived by the huntsman. This time, she decided to take the charge herself and kill Snow White.

She went to her secret room and poisoned an apple. It was so heavily poisoned that even a small bite could kill the person who eats it. She impersonated herself as a hag and left for the dwarfs’ house.

Reaching the dwarfs’ house, the wicked Queen knocked on the door. In order to keep her safe, Snow White was forbidden by the dwarfs to open the door to strangers. Snow White opened the window and asked the purpose of the old lady at the door. The Queen in disguise told Snow White that she is selling the tastiest apples. Reluctant to take it at first, poor Snow White fell into the trap and got enticed by the beautiful apple. She merely took a bite of the poisoned apple and fell to the ground dead.

The wicked Queen cackled and went back to the palace. Once again, she asked the mirror who was the fairest lady of all? This time, the mirror replied, “You, my Queen”. She gave a loud evil laugh.

When the dwarfs returned from their work, they were shocked to see Snow White lying dead on the floor. They shook her, tried talking to her and began crying. They kept her safe inside a transparent glass coffin and made sure that one of them was always there to protect the coffin.

Once it so happened that a Prince was passing by the forest and he saw the coffin. He had known and loved Snow White and when he saw her in the coffin, he asked the dwarfs what exactly had happened to her. After listening about the brutal incident, he requested the dwarfs to hand him over the coffin. The dwarfs initially denied giving the coffin, but the Prince convinced them to give it to him.

The Prince’s opened the coffin and kissed Snow White’s hand. With the kiss of Love, she woke up at once. The Prince’s love for Snow White won over the wicked Queen’s hatred for her.

People in and around the kingdom got to know about the Queen’s cruel act and she was thus banished forever from the land. The Prince married Snow White and they happily lived ever after.

The Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs story provided above teaches us the essence of having faith and being kind. No matter how evil the force is against kindness, the latter always emerges to be victorious. 

Loved reading the Snow White story? You may want to have a look at other exciting fairy tales here like the stories of Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, Cinderella, etc. 

The Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs story provided above teaches us the essence of having faith and being kind. No matter how evil the force is against kindness, the latter always emerges to be victorious. The victory of kindness over evil is taught to kids through a lot of such amazing stories.

There are several other genres of stories such as Bedtime stories, Moral stories, Panchatantra stories, etc. which kids would love to read. Stories open up the mind of readers to new worlds and experiences. They work as the building blocks of creating a habit of reading. Once the interest in reading is inculcated, kids gradually start moving to novels, articles, magazines, etc.

We provide the best of resources and learning material for kids like brain-tickling general knowledge questions, easy trivia questions on different subjects, intriguing worksheets for kids, CBSE poems for primary classes, essays on the most frequently asked topics, NCERT solutions, and much more on our kids learning section that your kid will love.

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Analysis of Snow White And The Seven Dwarves

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Analysis of Snow White And The Seven Dwarves by Stephen Flynn. CQSW., ECP., BPA. Psychotherapist

The Opie's (P & I Opie, The Classic Fairy Tales ) tell us that the story of Snow White can be found with little variation all over the world `...from Ireland to Asia Minor and in several parts of North and West Africa.' (Opie & Opie 1980:227).  So we are dealing with a fairytale which has a lot of meaning for many people and like myth continues to fascinate.

I feel quite humbled as I continue to realise such simple stories as Snow White still hold much for us that remains deeply buried within its simplicity.  I am prepared to conclude that some fairy stories seem to verge on myth, in that, the more I read about the science of myth, the more I conclude that this tale has the key factors of classical mythology.   If this is so, then we might give more weight to these simple tales. Perhaps it is `invented' just to show us something of our selves and perhaps these simple stories are as C. G. Jung considers myth to be, the '..unconscious expressions of ourselves...'(Jung and Kerényi 1989:162),

My difficulty with 'classical myth' is that it was once believed to be true, and was yesteryear religion. Whereas the fairy story was never believed to be so, but then again, in the eyes of a child such stories are considered `true.'  Was medieval man more 'child like,' primitive or less differentiated in his belief then modern man and did he give credibility to the fairytale as we now give to religion?

I would like to believe society has moved on to distinguish a little better between the truth of ‘maybe’, and the fantasy of  ‘what if...’. Whatever stance one takes either with religion, myth or fairy tale, they all share a common purpose of transmitting meaning. Both fairytale and myth have stood the test of time, both contain an underlying pattern that speaks to our present day condition. On this basis I suggest we take the fairytale seriously and try to discover what this pattern is. But no matter how extensive my rendering of the story, deeper meanings will always remain.  As Jung put it, `...The archetypes are the imperishable elements of the unconscious, but they change their shape continually.' (Ibid:98). This 'imperishable element' of the unconscious is a key, held in myth, to assist in our understanding of a pattern, the unconscious maps within us all. What if we can identify this map? It may be possible to 'plan' or 'map out' the stages of life in the analysand, and thereby aid psychological healing.

To start my analysis of Snow White, I will assume that the whole of the story to date describes a state of the immature feminine  psyche. For instance, there are three women in this story, and the first, the caring mother soon dies leaving our heroine Snow White with no psychological mother. Thus all the images in the story can be seen or can become  aspects of a feminine or the ‘Anima’ irrespective of gender (Jung 1960:345).

I will use all the people mentioned in this Fairy Story to represent autonomous complexes  common to us all and yet still held in a single mind or to put it another way, I will take each character of the story to represent different aspects of ‘the Self’.   This story is essentially a story for little girls and so I may be in danger of running the sexist gauntlet, but I wish to make it clear that there is equally such immature imagery to be found in the psyche of men or in the masculine psyche ‘Animus’ (ibid.), which can also be found in stories like Jack and the Bean Stalk . In fact, these stories tell us how to develop and integrate conflicting aspects of our selves as our personal unconscious map unfolds.  At the start of the story Snow White, or the anima, is far from complete as she is both innocent and immature and lacks a caring mother figure within.  I will continue to pursue this line of thought throughout the remainder of this paper as there is much to gain from so doing. I will use anima or animus to be  interchangeable with either ‘boy, man’ or ‘girl and woman’.

Here is a brief reminder of the story:

A young queen sat sewing by a window in mid-winter, using an ebony embroidery frame. She pricked her finger and seeing the red  blood, made a wish that the child within her should have skin as white as the snow, with cheeks as red as the blood and hair and eyes as black as the ebony frame.  Subsequently a daughter was born with the gifts the Queen wished for, but she herself died at the birth. A year later the king married again. His new queen was very beautiful, but vain and proud. She relied on a magic mirror to assure her of her supremacy in beauty.

When Snow White was seven years old the magic mirror told the queen that her step-daughter had surpassed her in loveliness. The queen fell into a rage and sent a huntsman into the forest with Snow White to kill her. He could not bring himself to carry out her order, but left her in the forest. Eventually, she found the cottage of the seven dwarfs, where she was well received. In return for house keeping they undertook to look after her, having heard her story. Concerned for her safety, they told her she must not allow anyone into the house when they were away working, digging for precious metals in the nearby mountains.

All went well until the step-mother queen found out from her magic mirror that Snow White was still alive and still surpassing her in beauty. She made three visits to attempt to kill her (after trying to do so via the huntsman) and appeared to have succeeded in the fourth attempt when she handed her a poisoned apple through the window.

The dwarfs came home to find Snow White's lifeless body and placed her in a glass coffin as she remained as beautiful as ever. Sometime later a prince came by on a horse, fell in love with Snow White and persuaded the Dwarfs to give the body and the coffin to him. As he lifted her onto his horse, the piece of poisoned apple fell out of her mouth and she was brought back to life.   The prince took Snow White back to his castle where they were married amidst great rejoicing. The step-mother queen danced herself to death in rage at the wedding.

In psychological terms, what is going on for Snow White?

In Opies' version, the alternative title of Snow Drop is used, and starts with Snow Drop's mother a Queen who ...'sat working at a window, the frame of which was made of fine black ebony: and  as she was looking out upon the snow, she pricked her finger and three drops of blood fell upon it. Then she gazed thoughtfully upon the red drops which sprinkled the white snow,...' (Opie and Opie 1974:230).

It is interesting to compare Grimm's story here. It is actually snowing in this version of the tale as Snow White's mother '...sat at a window netting. her netting needle was of black ebony, and as she worked, and the snow glittered, she pricked her finger, and three drops of blood fell into the snow. The red spots looked so beautiful in the white snow that the queen thought to herself...' (Grimm 1984:188)

This silent reflection by the Queen looking upon her freezing blood and the pattern it made in the snow activated a deep yearning for her expected child. This form of reflecting, Jung considers, is a masculine trait within the feminine. The (animus) often uses the silent image to illustrate meaning to the woman. He presents himself `...as a painter ...or is a cinema-operator or owner of a picture gallery..' (Jung 1960:171). The above motif is a fine example of such an experience. Or as Jung would put it ‘Image and meaning are identical, as the first takes shape so the latter becomes clear.’ (ibid: 204)

There are other archetypes (Jung1981:21) to be found in this story. The  `Primordial Child and the earth mother.'(Jung and Kereyi 1989:158) is aptly described in the opening paragraph whose colours of black and red are depicted in the beginning of the story. It is only later as the story unfolds does it become apparent the need to `..extend the feminine consciousness both upwards and downwards..' (Ibid:162). In so doing the bud like quality of the maiden unfolds and maybe the roots go deeper.

More significantl perhaps  is the symbol of transcendence of the above motif:  A mosaic of some future promise which surpasses the life of the mother. Note how Snow White's mother ‘gazed thoughtfully’  on the image and places her future offspring into its structure by visualising her future child’s attributes. Within one motif we can find a pure feminine act of imagination as well as Jung’s ‘masculine trait’ (ibid) of  a mother imaging her daughter's nature prior to birth.

We are presented with a `symbol' of the child through the element of `snow' on the ground.  Professor Kerényi defines it ..`as an image presented by the world itself. In the image of the Primordial Child the world tells of its own childhood, and of everything that sunrise and the birth of a child mean for  the world.' (Jung and Kerényi 1989:45).  Later he refers again to the Primordial Child who '... originally comprised both begetter and begotten. The same idea, seen as the woman's fate, presented itself to the Greeks. The budlike quality of it is expressed in the name often given to its personification: kore,  which is simply the goddess "Maiden" (Jung and Kerényi 1989:105). Our simple story touches on deep imagery in its opening passage.

Certainly what follows is the birth of a maiden of bud-like quality, and all that follows from this description by Jung and Kerényi of the science of myth is applicable to Snow White. These are ancient patterns indeed.

Other observations on the above include the number three recurring: three drops of blood: the ‘black needle,’ the ‘blood’ and the ‘snow,’ make three images: giving her daughter three attributes: Black hair and eyes, white skin and red cheeks, and the 'three' symbol of unity in ‘maid,’ ‘mother’ and ‘child’ involving a cycle of death of the maid when she is in union with a man, giving birth and renewal of life again. Three seems to be a significant figure. It is when we reach the number four the process is complete. The mother, the daughter, the shadow (the wicked step-mother) and eventually the Prince, is one example of a quaternity. It is the fourth element that seems to enter from nowhere to complete the story. The masculine or 'animus,’ appears as her prince. However, before we leap to the end of the story, our heroine has to undergo her final stage of transformation. In terms of dramatic action, it is with the fourth attempt to kill her that the step-mother queen is supposedly successful. Maybe she is spent, complete, as it were, on her fourth attempt.

Examining the development of the masculine and feminine: 

There are ten men in the story of Snow White and nine represent weak or inadequate father figures within Snow White. These ten men can be broken down into four stages of development of the masculine within the development of the female in her striving to become a fully mature woman at the end of the story.

However, prior to the Ego development, it doesn't seem to matter what gender the child is, as Professor Kerényi pointed out, `..the role of the child was restricted neither to the male nor the female sex' (Jung and Kerényi 1989:147). The psychic transcendence of unconscious forces in a child includes the boy transcending to a man or ... ‘in this case 'maid' transcending to 'mother'. The metamorphosis of `one unfolding of the bud like idea that envisaged the continuity of life in the unity of maiden, mother, and child, a being that dies, gives birth, and comes to life again.' (Jung and Kereyi 1989:148). (The male in a similar state has to face his shadow side too. Non-acceptance or none integration of the shadow, results in no growth. Peter Pan never grew up, but then, he never had a shadow. In clinical practice as a therapist, I ask the patient to explore their ?attitude' to the shadow within them. I am reminded of Jack, in Jack and the Bean Stalk. His shadow was the giant he had yet to meet.)

Uniformity starts to emerge when we read how the queen died at the birth of her child and after her death her husband, '..the king took another wife'(Grimm 1984:188). This is the only mention of Snow Whites' father. He is an indolent father because he utterly fails to protect his child from the murderous hands of his new wife. This indolent father figure is also shared with ‘Cinderella’ and perhaps ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ who does not seem to have a father at all. Common to all these tales is the fact that the negative aspect of the masculine (indolent father) cannot be integrated and this can result in a denial of the masculine ?as..These maidens are always doomed to die, because their exclusive domination of the feminine psyche hinders the individuation process, that is, the maturation of personality'(Jung and Kerényi 1989:172).

The 'absent one' in a persons life or the one least mentioned usually has an enormous contribution to make. Our heroine starts out with an almost non-existent father figure or 'Animus’ and at this stage the mother is dead. This state of the psyche is tragic. It lacks a caring mother image and a father who cannot  stand up for her and ‘doing nothing’ is the most expressive form of violence because the very act of non-doing prevents its own cure.  He doesn’t offer any suggestions, guidance or even attempt to control the raging forces within her personified by the wicked step-mother. He does nothing against the raging opposite. The counter balance to the weak Animus is an inflated negative feminine 'shadow' which  ?... is totally unconscious....and... seems to possess a peculiar wisdom of its own...'(Jung1981:233f)  in the form of the step mother. The whole story seems to be about Snow White eventually finding her prince, the tenth male figure, before she is able to face and tame the rage within.

The Ego although ‘..an immense accumulation of images of past processes..’ within Snow White is nevertheless infantile in development and immense (Jung:1960:323:360). This initial state of a person contains all that is needed to develop into an adult but suffers from a failure of adaptation, compensated by '... an older...regressive reactivation of the parental imagos...' (Jung1995:140). As we discover, there is growth of the primal female in the form of the wicked step-mother queen. So it is not surprising that this dominant ‘shadow’ (ibid.: 208) tries to dislodge the Ego, especially when the shadow itself is married to such a weak Animus. Snow White is in a mess, we can conclude the inevitable 'Partial suicide’ is the shadow's way of restricting the existence of Snow White, our heroine (Jung and Kerényi 1989:110). If she were a patient at this stage of development, she would appear hysterical, have a terror around freedom and at the same time be dependant on whoever was available. She may well describe her feelings likened to being in a small dark place and hiding away from responsibility and the danger of the wide outside.

The ego began its own development when Snow White was seven years old, and it was then we find terror expressed by our Queenly step-mother. This terror can also accommodate jealousy, a lack of love for the child within, which then becomes hateful and murderous '...she would have been ready to tear her heart out of her body'(Grimm 1984:189).

This involves the first glimmer of awareness on the part of Snow White. She is considered a threat by the shadow figure in her psyche- the wicked step-mother. So the first state of male awareness emerges too- the Woodman who will do no harm, but will not protect either. This is a transit stage for Snow White as she finds herself wandering in the wilderness of the wood abandoned by adults.   The shadow within, our new usurper Queen is out to destroy Snow White and has hired the services of the Huntsman as the killer. Thus, enters the second male figure. He is not as violent as the first in that, he does do something and he refuses to harm her, but also fails to protect her, letting her go into unknown danger in the wood. At least he deceives the Shadow figure (the usurper queen) and takes back a heart of a deer as a pretense.   The Ego at this stage is under the spell of unknown forces within and is restricted in freedom ’ ...being alienated from normal life’ (Jung1960: 311) where she continues ‘hiding in the woods.’

All the masculine force of the father in Snow White was mesmerised by the attributes of beauty masking the evil content which harbored no warmth of feeling. We are told the shadow queen  '..could not endure that anyone should surpass her in beauty' (Grimm 1984:188). And of course, she had the magic mirror. It was magic because the reflection looked into the mirror and saw the real self looking back from within the mirror. This is indeed a symbol of one aspect of feminine beauty. Jung says of such a woman that they have '..artistry in illusion being a specifically feminine talent.. However, it seems if a woman remains '...content to be a femme a' home, she has no feminine individuality. She is empty and merely glitters-a welcome vessel for masculine projection. (Jung and Kereyi 1989:172-3). The mirror told the queen she was no longer the best. The first emotion '...the queen was terrified' (Grimm 1984:189). A rather interesting feeling, when we consider it  is only competitive beauty that is at stake. Her beauty is also about control because if she ceases to mesmerise her man he would 'see though her' and all would be lost.

Stage three:

Here is indeed more maturity within the feminine and masculine at this stage. This is where Snow White meets the common man, the vast majority of men- all seven of them! He (the dwarfs) works all day and expects everyone else to do so. So Snow White enters a tentative agreement based on mutual help: She does the house work for her keep and they needs-must work. The Shadow takes up a disguise at this stage too as the shadow is becoming aware of the budding Ego Snow White.  But the Dwarfs are not grown-up enough, half man size as it were, and fail to protect their female charge and leave Snow White unguarded even after repeated homicide attempts. Likewise, the feminine is equally as stupid where she obeys the instructions ‘not to open the door’ but opens the window instead, because they never told her not to do that.

She meets the animus in the form of many which ....’is undifferentiated and many (Jung1981:16f)). ‘The animus also embodies helpful figures’... as the Dwarfs proved to be, and thus starts the Ego’s road back to recovery (Jung1960:347).

In this state although obviously distressed, Snow White is unable to get in touch with her feelings. The split within herself eventually becomes evident.  The discovery of the hatred expressed by her own negative mother within, is actually witnessed.  All this is painful to witness for people in real life too and our heroine is only just beginning to see it. The subdued Ego needs to  find 'herself'.  In the meantime, there is a need for the Ego to 'grow up' by becoming more 'differentiated,' albeit this is a process which takes time.

If you think about it, the shadow (the wicked Queen) is not the legitimate heir to the Psyche. She is usurping the Ego, and by so doing, is prepared to commit partial suicide. The wicked queen’s modus operandi includes the notion that '..there is no actual loss of reality, only a falsification of it' (Jung 1995: 140). Notice how the feminine shadow includes the 'glistening' part of the libido. It allures the masculine with little concern for the more wholesome purpose which should include the need to form an intimate relationship or to reproduce. However, in our story the potential of the ego resorts to hiding, and thereby grows up slowly replacing the totally inept ?animus' (the indolent father) with the un-differentiated but helpful dwarfs.(Perhaps the therapist plays the role of the dwarfs retrieving treasures from the unconscious, and the analysand is represented by the Ego ‘keeping house’ the temporary safe space.)

When working with women striving to integrate, the therapist’s task includes helping her to... '. Keep everything neat and clean and orderly . . . '(Grimm1984:191) and helping her to see  '...directly that all was not right...' (Opie and Opie 1974:232). This latter comment includes looking at the 'sociology' of our patients too.

The number of  times in fairy stories where a girl has a father in ‘name only’ indicates  uniformity.  'The psychotherapist cannot fail to be impressed when he realizes how uniform the unconscious images are despite their surface richness.'(Jung 1995:175). (It was only later in Walt Disney's 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' in 1938 did the dwarfs receive any personality traits whatsoever.)

For Snow White’s personal growth,  her transcendence is dependant on the  process of building up the inadequate masculine father through the help of the Dwarfs.

'Thus the creative dwarfs toil away in secret; the phallus, also working in darkness, begets a living thing; the key unlocks the mysterious forbidden door behind which some wonderful thing awaits discovery (Jung 1995:124). They delve into the underground or unconscious to find precious stones and minerals. In the mean time the Shadow imposter, having failed the first time, makes three more attempts to destroy the Ego. The fourth succeeds, she thinks.

Snow White has been pursued, robbed of her rights, been misunderstood or failed in her understanding, and yet she has shown few emotions. She did thank the hunter who had been ordered to kill her '..so sweetly.. '(Grimm 1984:189) for sparing her life. Another rare expression of emotion was whilst she was in the forest where the story states she became '..dreadfully frightened, and knew not what to do. She ran on as long as she could until her feet were quite sore; and towards the evening she saw, to her great joy, a pretty little house'(Grimm 1984:189). This is the time, I suggest,  when a person is suffering this kind of problem they feel they are at there lowest, abandoned by all and seeking help. How many times do we therapists marvel at what our patients have been through? I am often presented with dullness of feeling and at the same time ?a toughness.' This latter quality is the very thing that will take them through the analysand to reach integration. It is as though, the resilience, or ability to suffer, is equal to the task to be surmounted.     The fairy story of a young man’s personal development is similar, but he ‘goes forth’ to meet his shadow, and the woman remains in the house and is visited by her shadow. Whereas Jack (in Jack and the Bean Stalk) disguised himself three times when approaching the 'shadow complex'. '.. He had a dress prepared, which would disguise him, and with something to discolour his skin, he thought it impossible for any one to recollect him.'(Opie and Opie 1974:221), it is the opposite with the feminine, as the shadow, the step-mother queen disguises herself three times '...disguised herself as an old pedlar,... '(Opie and Opie 1974:232) and the second time the wicked queen '... dressed herself up again in disguise but very different from the one she wore before...'(ibid:234). Snow White would have known by now one would think, but no! On her final and third visit we learn '.. she dressed herself  up as a peasant's wife'...(ibid:234). I am often astounded when working with some women that they do not realize that what is going on in their lives is 'not right.' They have come to accept the unacceptable.  It seems there is a necessity to help the Ego recognise the wrong doing and 'grow up' and first to ‘accept’ the shadow. Instigating a dialogue with the dark side is essential in this task of negotiating with the shadow. This work also involves examining the ‘attitude’ held towards the shadow. I find the technique of Jung's 'Transcendent function'(Jung 1960:67-91) can be used here to great advantage.

Stage four:

The Prince comes into her world only when she is unconscious, before she can lay claim to her  birth-right as a Princess. What luck she had, lying there as one dead when the Prince happened to come along, or as Jung would have it ‘... is there some other nervous substrate in us, apart from the cerebrum, that can think and perceive, or whether the psychic process that go in us during loss of consciousness are synchronistic phenomena.. (Ibid: 509)

Another pattern common in the fairy story is the notion of hiding or comatose state of the heroine which amounts to a special kind of sleep, and even results (in our case) in the wicked Queen stopping scheming too. The Ego has now a chance to become redeemable, that is, ?return to life' and at the same time claim unity with the masculine (the arrival of the Prince). United in marriage, they return to put the usurper in her proper place.

The universal principles of maidenhood:

There seem to be six major aspects in the universal principles of life found in the myth of the maiden (Jung and Kerényi 1989:137). How many of these principles can we find in the fairy tale? I offer a brief comparison between what the two professors deducted and what has come to light in our story:   1. The first principle is '... to be pursued...'(Jung and Kerényi 1989:137). Snow White was certainly pursued by the step-mother queen, '...and went her way over the hills to the place where the dwarfs dwelt.'(Opie and Opie 1974:232).   2. The second aspect is one of being '...robbed..' (Jung and Kerényi 1989:137).  Snow White's heritage was usurped. She was the Princess and rightful heir to the whole kingdom. The step mother robbed her of her rights and would have robbed her of her life too.   3. The third aspect of the myth of the maiden concerns being '...raped, ...'(Jung and Kerényi 1989:137). Such calamities cannot be allowed in childrens stories. However, Snow White was unquestionably physically abused when she was subjected to the wicked step-mother who placed a silk lace for her stays round her waist and '...pulled the lace so tight, that Snow-drop lost her breath, and fell down as if she were dead.(Grimm 1984: 192). Next, the child was subjected to a poisoned comb and she '..stood before the woman to have her hair dressed; but no sooner had the comb touched the roots of her hair than the poison took effect'(Grimm 1984:193/4). Finally, having failed via wrapping the white skin tight and digging into the black ebony hair, she poisoned her with an apple placed between those rosy red lips. All of these together do not amount to rape, but certainly amount to serious abuse.

4. The fourth quality according to Jung is for the maiden  to '.. fail to understand,(Jung and Kerényi 1989:137). Snow White did this on so many occasions it seems there was never a time she did understand. She was told '... on no account to open the door...'(Grimm 1984:194), which she technically did not, but instead shouted to the disguised farmer's wife 'I dare not let you in; the seven dwarfs have forbidden me. 'But I am all right,' said the farmer's wife. 'Stay and I will show you my apples.'(ibid:194). On one level could any person be so dim? Snow White is not so innocent though,  she did play a role in all of this by her desire for the trinkets and goodies on offer.  This showed naivety too, thus giving her full rites of passage to qualify for this maidenhood archetype found in mythology. When working with people suffering this internal split, I make great play on the qualities of the shadow’s ability to know, to be cute, to have wisdom, as one of the reasons why it is necessary to accept the shadow.  However, it seems Snow White is so innocent even at this stage that an approach of trying to introduce the shadow to her would be almost disastrous. She has to die, and thereby transform and become a woman first.   5. Having suffered so much pain and malice, our sweet heroine must at some time undergo the fifth quality  '..to rage ?(Jung and Kerényi 1989:137). In our story there is no hint that Snow White herself actually becomes enraged or grieves, but the shadow does. This can only happen when the prince or the animus has established itself in the feminine psyche.

For the first time, the wicked step-mother 'is actually invited' by the Ego, that is, she joins with what Snow White is doing. The shadow is recognised. This is the final process where the shadow is invited by the Ego to integrate with the Ego, (not the other way round.) In so doing, the Shadow is allowed to express the rage and grief.    6. The sixth principle is to '... grieve, (ibid)., which is the completion of transition:

I'll let the story take over here and tell its own tale.        'Now it happened that the stepmother of Snow-white was invited, among other guests, to the wedding-feast. Before she left her house she stood in all her rich dress before the magic mirror to admire her own appearance but she could not help saying:

'Mirror, Mirror on the wall Am I most beautiful of all?' Then to her surprise the mirror replied : 'Fair queen thou art the fairest here, But at the palace, now, The bride will prove a thousand times More beautiful that thou.'   Then the wicked woman uttered a curse, and was so dreadfully alarmed that she knew not what to do. At first she declared she would not go to this wedding at all, but she felt it impossible to rest until she had seen the bride, so she determined to go. But what was her astonishment and vexation when she recognised the young bride Snow-white herself, now grown a charming young woman, and richly dressed in royal robes! Her rage and terror were so great that she stood still and could not move for some minutes. At last she went into the ball-room, but the slippers she wore were to her as iron bands full of coals of fire, in which she was obliged to dance. And so in the red, glowing shoes she continued to dance till she fell dead on the floor, a sad example of envy and jealously.'(Grimm 1984:198).   The interpretation of the ‘complex’ actually dancing itself harmlessly to death from vexation and rage, constitutes the demise of the maiden (Jung 1960:98&369). This is another reason why the maiden had to die in the story, to indicate her innocence is no more.  Significantly, her wedding is taking place at the same time, which indicates the unifying of the feminine and masculine. This is the symbol of the fourth element or fourth stage (re above), the completion.

I have tried to show that the fairytale has a lot of the hallmarks normally reserved for classical myth. This being so, I suggest the fairy tale needs to be taken seriously as representing authentic primitive unconscious patterns within the psyche.   Robert Graves suggests there are few references to ritual murder of women in European myth (Graves 1999:411). He cites the German folk-stories Sleeping Beauty and Snow White as exceptions. He stats their significance also includes the importance of the number 13, in the case of Sleeping Beauty representing the thirteenth month as the death month whereby the uninvited thirteenth guest curses the Princess.

In the Snow White illustration Graves states Snow White was a Goddess who was plainly immortal and that 'These deaths are therefore mock-deaths only-.'  The emphasis is on the 'annual drama...when his bride consents to open her half-closed eyes and smile' (ibid: 412).  So Graves has no problem elevating the fairy story to classical myth.

Just  to complete my analogy of the fairy story to myth before I draw together my conclusions, Jung then adds that the maiden will '....get everything back and be born again.'(ibid:137).  She takes the place of the mother,  able to reflect as she herself was imaged by her mother, and so on, stretching back and forward in time.   We have seen that although the Anima is singular in the male, it has both positive and negative qualities. By contrast the animus in the female is multiple, represented by the ten men. Note the progression :-

The first was her father who did absolutely nothing.

The second man would not hurt Snow White but did little to help her either and let her go in the woods. She did speak to him though by begging to be let free.

The third type of man is Mr Majority,  the seven dwarfs who were much better:  They took her in: Offered her shelter and advice: They nursed her when she was attacked. She gave back, (Note this is the first act of communicating with the masculine by her). By looking after their house for them, she entered a contract, an agreement. But the dwarfs did not stay back to protect her when there was an attempted murder, rather they left her to her own devices. So the dwarfs care for their female charge  was incomplete. There was not a ?full man' between them.

The last, the fourth, was the Prince. The tenth male figure represents the symbol of completion of unification with the masuline.  After all, Snow White is essentially a story for girls, for the female, and it is about the development of the feminine psyche, but the whole story is as relevant to men as it is to women, as I hope I have shown.   I recall an account where C.G. Jung once concluded in a stubborn case, in desperation he advised a neurotic patient to just ‘shut up!’ I have made the connection that the piece of apple caught in Snow White's throat effectively did just that, It ‘shut her up.’ Thus the Ego stopped the shadow-part of herself from creating further havoc. The negative aspect of the feminine has to be silenced before the Prince can arrive.   What if the Prince met the wicked step-mother first? That would lead to a whole new tale, but through the  ‘controlled silence’ the prince was actually given space to become enthralled with his bride to be and thus  installed.   In Conclusion:   I have tried to establish underlying patterns of the psyche in the fairy tale by perusing a notion that the story could also be interpreted as an aspect of psychic development. I have attempt ed to plot the process through which our heroine had to travel in order to find completion, as an aid to our understanding.

At the beginning of our story where Snow White is almost comatose and un-differentiated.  It could be said such people are in shock, chaos and in a state of not knowing where to turn and continuing to reside in a life style of aloneness and fear. When there is some degree of differentiation the shadow is threatened. A terror prevails around the prospect of taking what is rightfully their own; freedom to become, freedom to embrace their own opposite.

Rather than contemplate this freedom, such an individual would rather create chaos and even wish to die.

At this primitive stage the Ego lives to please others.   Our heroine was unable to seek out what is useful from the unconscious, and had little idea of her own dark side.

From the above story we can see people in this state lack power. In the state of innocence a person will  attribute to others all that happens to them and take no responsibility themselves. They are not willing to accept their own dark side. After several incidences brought about by their own destructive behaviour, they are still incapable of looking at the raging ‘other half’ within, but choose to remain tucked away from life.

Statements like  'I can't.'  form part of the power game being played out by the shadow which prevents them from seeing their own part in this destruction. At this point there is a long process of dialogue, psycho dramatically with the complex, and slowly our heroine (Ego) can begin to accept their own faults.

There are many dangers at this stage as the Ego gathers knowledge from the depths of the unconscious. This process continues until a final stage of conflict occurs where the Ego is in serious trouble. The awareness begins to prove intolerable: The choices are stark, either become more comatose or find a way to go more fully into life.   To complete their integration, our heroine must invite her shadow to participate.

A person has to learn to ‘shut up’ the endless complaints made by the shadow and witness their own rage and discover a way of expressing it harmlessly, that is, to observe their rage 'dance itself out harmlessly' is preferable to becoming their own victim once again. Then a person can decide to stop the previous useless and harmful actions and take charge of their own life, or as in the story, rule their own kingdom.   Bibliography:   Anderson, H, C, The  Complete  Illustrated Stories of Hans Christian Andersen  (1983), Chancellor Press London.

Jung C,G. The  Collected Works..Vol’ 8. ‘The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche ‘1960 Routledge London .

Jung C,G. The Collective Works. Vol ‘6  pt X1. ‘Psychological Types’  ‘1971  Routledge  London.

Jung C,G.  The  Collected Works. Vol' ‘9 pt 11. ‘Aion’ 1981. Routledge , London.

Jung C, G. The Collected Works Vol 16  ‘The Psychology of the Transference’ ‘1983 Ark Paperbacks. London

Jung C,G. The  Collected Works.  Vol 12. Psychology and Alchemy 1993 Routledge London

Jung C,G. The  Collected Works.  Vol  5 Symbols of Transformation 1995 Routledge London

Jung C, G.& C. Kerényi Essays on a Science of Mythology 1993 Princeton University press USA.

Opie. P & I. The Classic Fairy Tales. 1980  Granada. Oxford.

Graves Robert The White Goddess (1999) Faber and Faber.

© Stephen Flynn 2005.

This Horrific Snow White Theory Changes Everything About The Disney Movie

Long before the Little Mermaid was turned into a horror movie monster in a new trailer , fans of Disney-fied fairy tales were conjuring up their own nightmare fuel on Reddit boards, with one in particular involving Snow White. As you may recall from the classic tale, upon taking a bite from a poisonous apple, Snow White (Adriana Caselotti) falls into a deep sleep, unable to wake until a prince appears to give her a spell-breaking kiss. Ignoring the non-consensual interaction that is one of the many Disney moments that haven't aged well , the Reddit theory posits the idea that Snow White never actually wakes up and the prince is a dreamy remedy from a nightmare she never escapes from.

Over on r/movies , a now-deleted user suggests that the prince is only a figment of her imagination and that Walt Disney even left clues for the audience to back up the idea. One of the most notable points from the viewer is that "there is never any mention of the Prince except by Snow White when she either sings about him or when he appears to her at the beginning and end of the movie." They also deem, "The most obvious clue [is that] when the Prince and Snow White are riding off together, they are going to a castle in the sky that seems to resemble heaven." However, there is one counterpoint that could cause this fun but frightening theory to collapse, courtesy of a magic antidote.

Was the prince really just the man of Snow White's dreams?

Besides the talk of a prince who rarely appears and a heavenly castle to get to, one part of the theory argues, "After the Queen has made the poisoned apple and looks up the antidote that states 'sleeping death can be revived only [by] love's first kiss,' she says with certainty, 'There's no fear in that!'" The Redditor continues, "She very clearly (supposedly) saw the Prince and Snow White together in the courtyard." Might the queen have known the prince would never get to Snow White and that she merely imagined him finally coming to break the spell?

Redditor  u/Typical_Humanoid  argued against the idea, writing, "I don't think the prince is imaginary. The dwarfs clearly reacted to him when he revived Snow and rode off with her," which the original poster rebuffed, saying, "Are we sure that's what really happened? Or was that a part of her imagination in the afterlife?" It certainly leaves room for thought during a magic-induced slumber. However, call us old fashioned, but the version that ends with a happily ever after is still our favorite. 

Perhaps this alteration could find its way into the upcoming remake of the classic fairy tale that's being given the live-action treatment. To learn more about that version, starring Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, check out everything we know about the "Snow White" live-action remake's release date, cast, director, and more.

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White as Snow: Internal and External Beauty Zuzanna Krawczyk College

The Grimm Brothers’ tale of Snow White and The Seven Dwarves uses the duality of hatred and good to deliver the idea that being a person of good morals and mind triumphs over being a person of hatred and the desire to hurt the lives of others. Characterizing the Protagonist of the story with the name of Snow White, already shows to the reader that this central character will be one of pure heart and good intentions for others. The use of symbols such as the name of Snow White is seen throughout this piece as a method for delivering the message that those who choose to turn to hatred rather than a morality that allows for the well being of others, will ensure the experience of a plight of some sort. Prevalent symbols throughout the story include the use of the color white as a means for characterizing all things clean, pure, and good, the symbol of darkness and all that surround it as having to do with fear, hatred, and plight, as well as the symbols of the animals that watch over Snow White’s coffin standing for both what she is lacking, and what she is made up of. Grimms’ extensive use of symbolism as a tool for delivering the messages of the story shows the audience that nothing was placed in the story without a purpose, that...

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