Snow White Variants

In The Classic Fairy Tales, four variants of the story of Snow White are presented. Each follows a young girl who will be referred to simply as “Snow White.” In spite of the glaring differences between each story, the protagonist consistently has three core characteristics: she is unthinkably beautiful, is somewhat impulsive, and is surprisingly vengeful. The first of her stories is “The Young Slave,” which was recorded by Giambattista Basile; the second is “Snow White” by the Brothers Grimm; the third is “Lasair Gheug, the King of Ireland’s Daughter,” which was narrated by Macmillan and recorded by Evelyn Stewart-Murray; the last is “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” by Anne Sexton, which is, unlike the others, a poem. All four variants follow the same sequence of events: the birth of Snow White, the development of jealousy of her, the expulsion of her, the adoption of her, a second bout of jealousy, the death of her, the exhibition of her body, the moment when she is brought back to life or wakefulness, and the story’s resolution. Occasionally, steps will appear more than once or in a different order, but the result is always the same. All variants present the same theme, which is that cruel people will be punished and their victims will be

Along with the Evil Queen type character, who is present in every version of the tale, there is a specific cast of characters that is involved in both of the variants in which Snow White comes across as this foolish child. The main features of this cast are the prince and his men who will revive Snow White, a huntsman who will spare her life for his own peace of mind, a mirror — or any sort of vaguely magical creature who will converse with the antagonist — and a set of seven dwarfs. These characters and the specific ways they carry out their actions cause the protagonist to behave in a way that emphasizes these