The Myth Of Snow White, The Classic Fairytales

Cinderella has changed so little over time that it seems we’re still in the 1700’s listening to Charles Perrault. And yet it remains of the most popular fairy tales read to children. The role of women continue to be either the cruel, evil one or the good, docile one while the prince continues to be the saving grace of the helpless girl. The skeleton hasn’t changed much as well. A damsel in distress, saved by a knight in shining armor, who falls in love with her and they live happily ever after. Does this sound familiar? This sentence might as well be a fairy tale. We’ve seen this over and over in Cinderella, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White.

Few people can grow up within today's society without knowing the tale of Snow White. From the Grimm Brothers to Disney, it has been told and retold to children throughout the ages. However, what is often overlooked are the true meanings within the story. Fairytales typically have underlying messages that can be found written between the lines, generally in terms of the key themes. Snow White discusses the themes of envy and beauty, and shows how humans' obsessions can lead to their own downfall as well as the harm of others. When focusing on the relationship between Snow White and her step-mother the Queen, it is evident that the combination of these two themes results in a power struggle in which beauty

Myth – Is a cultural featured folklore story of some early history regarding a supernatural phenomenon or wild belief. Myths are often told by people in order to explain a particular history or the origin of a custom. This can include contexts to a story that is over exaggerated or truthful in some perspectives. For example, the folklore history of “Bloody Mary” and saying her name three times will make her appear.

Biblical myth probably covers the greatest range of human situations, encompassing all ages of life including the next life, all relationships whether personal or governmental, and all phases of the individual’s experience, physical, sexual, psychological, spiritual (p.

Fairy Tales are not just stories that parents tell to their children, but stories with hidden valuable messages which are mostly left on a side. In the article “An Introduction to Fairy Tales,” Maria Tatar clearly explains how people need fairy tales in their lives. Tatar also states how fairy tales have the ability to take the listener, especially children’s, into a journey in which they can play with their imagination so that they can discover their deepest fears and wishes. Personally I agree with the author, because of the fact that in an individual’s lives as they get older, they will try to define themselves, sometimes comparing their own life with a character from their favorite story or Fairy Tale.

Everyone loves a good fairytale, and nothing is quite as magical and heartwarming as a Disney fairytale. The themes of love, comedy, and morality deem them as more than just little kids' stories, but suitable and entertaining tales for the entire family. This is known by a majority of the stories' readers. However, what one may not be so familiar with is the origin of these tales. Where did the stories of Cinderella, Ariel, and Rapunzel come from? The Disney writers certainly did not create them themselves. The differences in the originals will shock anyone familiar with Disney. And what about Snow White? There are differences between the original Brothers Grimm version of the ebony-haired, white-skinned princess and the Disney movie, believe it or not. Some major differences between both versions are the multiple ways the evil queen tries murdering her stepdaughter, the cause of Snow White's revival, as well as how the evil queen died. Why the story was altered is obvious:

Snow White starts off with a lonely queen who sat sewing by her window one mid-winter night. She pricked her finger and seeing the blood so red made her wish for a child who has cheeks as red as blood, her

As happy as this stories summary seems, it is clearly not even remotely realistic in our society. Entering adolescence teens are less concerned with imaginary stories and more worried about meeting social and family expectations while trying to shift through an awkward phase and find their own identity. Duhamel refers to the original version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

In “Little Snow White” by Germany, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm, there is a Queen who becomes jealous of her seven-year-old daughter. She envied her daughter’s beauty and sends a huntsman to kill Snow White. Snow White is then all alone and unable to care for herself and becomes dependent of the Seven Dwarfs. Although she is the main character, she is also the weakest character in the story. In Fables, we encounter a very different Snow White. Here Snow White oversees the town, Fabletown. Unlike the original fairytale story, there are no Dwarfs looking after her. She doesn’t need a Prince to come to her rescue because she is the hero in her own right. Her fierceness makes her a strong female who embodies power. Unlike the Little Snow White, in Fables Snow White is the head in charge, she’s independent, and bold.

The story of “Snow White” depicts what a beautiful girl has to endure from her evil stepmother, whose vanity and cruelty know no boundaries, is there more to the story though? The Brothers Grimm give us clues here and there, about how they both have similarities. Little by little, Snow White’s character can be seen changing from the pure character at the beginning of the story, to someone that if you look close resembles the evil Queen by the end of the story. Snow White’s and the evil stepmother both share some common traits such as vanity, envy, and at times no remorse among others; in which Snow White can be compared to the Queen.

Over the years, Snow White’s story has been told in numerous different versions then its original version in 1812 by the Grimm Brothers. The main basis of the story has remained the same. Only a few minor tweaks to the story have changed. The three versions of the story that are going to be analyzed are the original story “Little Snow White” by the Brothers Grimm, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” by Disney, and “Mirror, Mirror” by Disney also. They each were created in very different times and the original story has changed over the years to appeal to the audience of that time. No matter how many versions there are Snow White is considered, one of the most cherished fairy tales of all time. They each use different methods to get their

Within the collection of fairy tales, one of the most prominent is Snow White. The tale conjured up by the Brothers Grimm keeps to what one would expect with fairytale stereotypes. However it also plays the part of ancient myths of Aphrodite. The fairytale is simplistic in reasoning, and holds to the ancient goddess’s petty reasoning. Thus, other authors have taken it upon themselves to rewrite it with different plots, once such author being Angela Carter. In her story, The Snow Child, the queen is transformed into a Hera figure. This change rewrites the story’s meaning as well as one’s view point on the villain.

In order to be able to understand Snow White’s text one must first look at the relationship between Cinderella and her stepmother in Cinderella.

When this word “myth” is used, the term is usually related to a fable, invention or a fiction story. Over the years, many scholars started approaching the study of myth differently. These scholars have approach myths in a way their meaning was traditionally regarded. In many traditions these myth are true stories and never refer to as false stories. ( http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/grecoromanmyth1/a/whatismyth.htm )

Fairy tales are something that everyone has read or seen, they all seem to have important lessons at the end of each one to teach young children some of the lessons they need for life. These fairy tales when we were younger all seemed innocent and something we all hoped that would happen to us. Little did we know as we got older that the fairy tales we all knew and loved when we were younger, weren't as innocent as they seemed.