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Melody Dillee
Mrs. Martin
Honors Classics in Literature
26 October 2011
The Themes of Little Snow-White
Snow-White and her stepmother’s relationship was full of conflicts. In Little SnowWhite, by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, the main themes are jealousy, innocence, and judging
people by their appearances. The conflicts between snow white and her stepmother cause the
story to have these themes. These are some of the most prominent of all themes in this fairytale.
Jealousy is one of the most obvious of themes in the fairytale Little Snow-White, by the
Brother’s Grimm. Snow-White’s evil stepmother was jealous of Snow-White’s beauty. She
became obsessed with trying to be the most beautiful woman in the land, “The queen took fright
and turned yellow and green with envy. From that hour on whenever she looked at Snow-White
her heart turned over inside her body, so great was her hatred for the girl. The envy and pride
grew even greater, like a weed in her heart, until she had no peace day and night” (“Grimm 053:
Little Snow-White”). When the queen’s magic mirror told her Snow-White was more beautiful
than her she was overcome with hatred and envy towards her. The queen’s hatred for SnowWhite was based on superficial reasons; she hated her because of her physical appearance. True
beauty is based personality; Snow-White had a very beautiful personality, where her stepmother
had a very ugly personality. The queen’s envious actions caused Snow-White to lose her
innocence.
In Little Snow-White, before the queen began attempting to get rid of her, Snow-White
was a very innocent character. Her stepmother sent the huntsman to kill her, “The huntsman
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obeyed and took Snow-White into the woods. He took out his hunting knife and was about to
stab it into her innocent heart when she began to cry, saying, ‘Oh, dear huntsman, let me live. I
will run into the wild woods and never come back’” (“Grimm 053: Little Snow-White”). The
huntsman could not kill her because he saw that she was just an innocent child. The seven
dwarves tried to protect her and her innocence from her stepmother. The evil queen caused
Snow-White to lose her innocence when she repeatedly attempted to kill her. These failed
attempts help to prove that good always conquers evil.
One of the most important themes in the story is judging people by their appearances.
Snow-White was a very good person that was also very beautiful; her stepmother was also very
beautiful, but was very evil. The queen was very envious if someone was more beautiful than
her, “She was a beautiful woman, but she was proud and arrogant, and she could not stand it if
anyone might surpass her in beauty” (“Grimm 053: Little Snow-White”). If someone was more
beautiful than the queen she would do her best to get rid of them so she could be the most
beautiful. In this fairytale, by the Brother’s Grimm, the queen is the second most beautiful person
in the land, but her personality is the ugliest. The queen’s narcissistic and selfish qualities caused
her to become evil. People’s appearances may deceive other people; they did not suspect the
queen to be wicked because of her beautiful physical appearance.
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Works Cited
Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm. "Grimm 053: Little Snow-White." University of Pittsburgh.
Web. 26 Oct. 2011. <http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm053.html>.