Patriarchy In Snow White And Her Wicked Stepmother

In more ways than one, the Brothers Grimm origin story of Snow White is a much deeper and more insightful tale in comparison to its Disney counterpart. Snow White and Her Wicked Stepmother, by Gilbert and Gubar brings some of these misunderstood conceptions to light. While this does make sense, why is the Queen so bothered by her daughters fairness? Upon initial thought, the Queen is just threatened by her daughters prettiness and youngness because she’s getting older and she is no longer in her prime, but upon further thinking, that does not quite make sense. The Queen has so much hatred toward Snow White and is so enraged that she tries, on multiple occasions to kill her. Yes, it makes sense for a mother to be sad at the fact that her daughter

This leads to the idea of how patriarchy shapes the story. The Queens uncontrollable anger is ignited by the fact that the mirror states that Snow White is the fairest of them all. She is just that vulnerable, that the King who “surely, is the voice of the looking glass,” caused her to want to have her own daughter murdered (Gilbert and Gubar, 389). This idea expands and is somewhat refuted Gilbert and Gubar’s belief that the hatred lies more within the Queen’s hatred of herself, stating “the Queens hatred of Snow White, in other words, exists before the looking glass has provided an obvious reason for hatred” (Gilbert and Gubar, 389). This idea implies that the hatred began before the “King” butted in and that the conversation with the mirror merely enhanced the anger and aggression, adding fuel to the fire already lit within the Queen and did not necessarily spark it. Additionally, they state that the Queen’s hatred of Snow White could also be caused by “her rituals of self-absorption,” reinforcing that statement by saying that “the Queen...is a plotter. A plot-maker, a

This belief could also explain the Queen’s hatred toward her own daughter, as Snow White represents all the ideas the Queen has renounced. Continuing with that idea, the Queen believes there is a part of Snow White in her and that she does not necessarily want to kill her own daughter, but wants to kill the part of her daughter in her, “the angel who would keep deeds and dramas out of her own house” (Gilbert and Gubar, 390). This opens up the concept that maybe the Queen is not even battling Snow White, but is battling her inner self and Snow White is just a proxy or the person that just so happened to be in the right place at the wrong time. This invokes the thought that maybe the Queen started out like Snow White. Maybe the Queen started out as a beautiful young girl, pure and sweet, but she changed once she realized that you cannot live your whole life as beautiful and pure if you are ruling the kingdom, as Snow White is destined to do. While the Queen may actually be Snow White, it is entirely possible that Snow White may actually be the