Snow White

Snow White

After reading the selected readings for today, what stuck out to me the most was The Snow Child. In this tale of Snow White, the longing for a beautiful girl from the father was more evident. Oppose to the mirror or moon telling the stepmother who is most beautiful the Count is wishing for a girl that is as white as snow, black as a bird’s feather and red as blood. In his wishing, the Count refers to the person he is wishing for as a girl and not a child or daughter, which could account for the Countess being jealous even though it is assumed or implied that he is referring to the girl as his child. In the end, as most of the other tales do, the Countess drops dead due to her vengeful actions in trying to get “rid of the girl”. In this particular version the Countess dies from the same rose that kills the girl.

The Mirror Speaks, The Snow Child, and Lessons from the Mirror, all relate in the way that the story is about the “Queen’s/Stepmother’s jealousy of Snow. Each tale is told in the perspective of the Stepmother and how Snow is fairest. These reversions of Snow White are a bit hard to decipher since it is harder to relate them back to the original/common story of Snow White. These versions only hint at the more common tale by mention of the pure white virgin skin and spitefulness toward the more “beautiful” girl.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by Anne Sexton is most closely related to the Disney version of Snow White. In this version, the seven dwarfs are present and tell Snow to stay with them and “keep the house” until the Queen finds her. I found it quite interesting that the Queen dressed in rags to disguise herself when tricking Snow White as if dressing in informal attire will somehow change the person’s appearance completely. For this to work on Snow White three times is another interesting addition to the story. The Queen approached Snow White three times in an attempt to kill her and everytime Snow gave into her trick despite what the dwarfs told her to do.

In the end of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a prince showed of on the seventh mountain where Snow’s lifeless body laid and would not leave her. It could be implied that he fell in love with her beauty and needed to keep her body for himself in his castle. When the dwarfs gave her body to the prince, as if somehow the dwarfs owned her body after she “died”, the Prince’s men moved her and dropped for “miraculously” waking her. Upon her awakening she marries the Prince. This is also a recurring event the comes up in many of the other versions of this story. Snow White is just expected to marry a complete stranger just because he is in love with her beauty, and not with her and she not with him. These stories teach children that beauty is the most important thing about a girl and the women should be jealous of this feature in other women.

The Snow Child

Like other versions of the fairy tale Snow White, Angela Carter’s “The Snow Child” depicts desirable beauty causing sinister outcomes. In Carter’s story, the desire is not just a beauty one but a sexual desire. The choices that influences desire is base on the standards of society.

In “The Beauty Myth,” Naomi Wolf speaks to this relationship between beauty and sexual desire. She writes, ” women must want to embody [beauty] and men must want to possess women who embody it.” (Wolf 47) This beauty myth is about the control of men in power of women, thus, the physical standard is the standard given by men. (Wolf 47) According to, “The Beauty Myth,” aging women are seen as no longer beautiful and therefore, have limited or no sexual attraction to a man because “beauty” and youth contributes to sexual selection.  (Wolf 47)

In the beginning of “The Snow Child,” the Count and his wife are going riding and it’s snowing. As soon as the snow stops, the Count describes “a girl” that he wishes to have, even though he has a wife. This description is similar to the Brothers Grimm’s retelling of the fairy tale of Snow White. The Count wishes for a girl as white as snow, red as blood, and hair as black as a raven’s feather. The Count’s desire for this girl can be understood as a reflection of sexual desire for another woman that will fulfill his urges for pleasure and that this desire fills the emptiness left by his aging wife because of his desire for youthfulness. This goes back to the “beauty myth.” The reason for the Count desire for a youthful girl is describes in the readings: “fresh snow” and  the” hole is filled with blood.” (Carter 91) With the phrase “fresh snow”, this means that the Count wants something “new” and the “hole is filled with blood” (Carter 91) means that the Count wants a girl who is healthy and is new to womanhood. And that the story links beauty with youth and sexual desire.

The Countess was jealous of the girl that she tried several ways to get rid of her. This is similar to the Evil Queen in some of the Snow White’s where she tried different ways to get rid of Snow White because the Evil Queen needs to be the “beautiful one” or the “fairest.” In Carter’s retelling, the Countess would lose a piece of her clothing until she becomes naked. When the Countess would lose her clothing, the clothing would be on the girl. The Countess is hoping that the Count will lust over her but the Count only “felt sorry for his wife.” (Carter 92)

When the Countess wants the girl to pick a rose, the Count did not deny the Countess that demand. Then reason the Count lets the girl pick a rose for his wife is because the rose represents “love.” Carter’s phrase, “all in flower” (Carter 92) symbolizes full bloom meaning maturity in a woman. Then when the girl touches the rose it pricks her finger and she bleeds, screams, and falls dead. But when the Countess touches the rose she does not bleeds, screams, and she does not falls dead this is because she is mature enough for sexual activities. When the girl falls, the Count starts to weep and he rushes over and with force sticks his “virile member” in her dead body for his sexual pleasure. The Count does this to the girl because of her youthfulness and beauty. The Count had so much lust for her because her beauty was so hard to resist. When the Count was done he gave the rose to his wife for he had love for her. But the Countess deny the rose and said, “It bites!,” (Carter 92) this means that she deny the Count his urges for sexual desire. Something to remember is that beauty comes at a price and that jealousy and sexual desire can be messy and may not be satisfactory.

Why does the Count “feels sorry for his wife; when the Count makes his wife feel jealous? Why did the Count want to have “a girl?” Do you believe that the “girl” was really or was she something else, like an object of some sort? When the “girl” come to life why do you think she was not clothed….was it part of the Count sexual desire to have a youthful girl? Another thing, how old do you think the “girl” was and why was it a “girl”?…..Do you think that the Count was into very young girls??? How would you interpret the rose part?

 

Citations:

Carter, Angela. “The Snow Child.” The Bloody Chamber, Penguin Books, 1990 pp. 91;92.

Wolf, Naomi. “The Beauty Myth.” GWS 378: Fairy Tales & Gender Formation, edited by            Valerie O’ Brien, Illini Union Bookstore, 2017, pp. 45-50.