SNOW WHITE

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is one of the most publicized and talked about fairy tales. The Disney version, the one which is the most widespread, tells about the princess whose evil stepmother sends her off to the woods with a hunter who has the task of killing her and bringing her heart. The hunter, who sympathizes with the princess, has a change of heart and lets her free. The evil stepmother, after learning that she is not dead, because Snow White was still the fairest of them all, decides on killing the princess herself. Meanwhile, Snow White finds a little house in the woods, with little beds and pots and cleans and cooks for the people. After being exhausted, she sleeps and is woken by seven dwarfs who let her stay with them, making her a bed and assigning her tasks. They also grow very close to her, treating her as a member of their little family. The queen comes to the little cottage disguised as a hag bringing Snow White a poisoned apple, who falls into a death-like sleep that was broken when Prince Charming gave her a kiss of love.

Such a nice tale, so neatly wrapped and served to the kids. The fairest of all, getting justice for her father and marrying the Prince Charming. But the original version, the one by Grimm Brothers, was slightly more gruesome yet more realistic. Snow White wasn’t woken up by the kiss from Prince; she was woken up after the piece of poisoned apple got dislodged from her throat. Also, as a punishment for her attempted murders (not just one- but three tries) of Snow White, a pair of glowing-hot iron shoes were brought forth with tongs and placed before the evil Queen. She is forced to step into the burning shoes and to dance until she drops dead.

Such variations were made to the story to make it more child-friendly. Torture was taken out, magic and miracles were added. They were made unaware of the cruelty of the world, and were taught to hope. Because even though Snow White was a Princess, and she had everything that money could buy her, she was lonely. Only her kind-heart got her the acceptance from the seven little humans. Also, she was thrown into the woods, asked to fend for self, she did not lose hope. She survived and thrived in the unfriendly environment. This was a story full of love, miracles, happiness, friendship and the triumph of good over evil. The ideal classic fairy-tale for kids.

But now we have grown up, even just a bit. We now know that the world is a harsh place, full of evil witches and warlocks. There is more evil in us than we like to believe.  And it is not just black and white; there are those shades of grey that define us. That makes us wonder how Prince Charming could fall in love with just a glance, and Snow White reciprocate it; how the queen could be so evil, etc… We want to know the backstory of the characters, to know what really happened which defines how they are today. Basically, we want more, and this time we want it to be realistic.

Hence, more variations were introduced, stories were made adult. Backstories were given and explained. We learned to sympathize with the queen, understanding why she became like this. One variation had Snow White’s mother humiliating the evil Queen early in her life, resulting in the evil Queen, Regina losing everything she held dear. So many variations have left us in awe. Movie adaptations like Snow White and the Huntsman and TV adaptation like Once Upon a Time made us want more of Snow White.

So much new in now, yet the basic message is clear. Good will triumph over the evil, whether it is Snow White and the Queen, or the good inside the Queen winning over the evil. And justice will prevail, even if you or I is the fairest of them all.

“A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.” 

― Italo Calvino, The Uses of Literature

-Swati Hans