Snow White: It's About Time

Illustration by Isobel Read from "Fairy Tales", Retold by Katharine Gibson, Whitman Publishing Company, 1950

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The key message in Snow White was never about a girl waiting for a Prince to come and rescue her. That is a shallow interpretation. Snow White is the battle between a maiden, who is coming-of-age and of a mother/crone, who can not accept the passage of time. It is a story of life and death. Neither of which can be avoided by any one of us.

The Evil Queen already lived her time as a maiden. She could have chosen to enjoy the opportunity to be mother to Snow White. But when she saw the little girl's beauty, and the looking glass informed her that her time of maidenhood had passed, she became consumed with fear of becoming the crone.

The Magic of Numbers:
3:
The magic number 3 is very significant in the tale of Snow White. This is because there are 3 phases in a woman's life: maiden, mother & crone. They are reinforced 3 key times in this fairy tale. The 1st instance is when Snow White is described as having skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood and hair as black as ebony. The 2nd instance is shown in the Evil Queen's attempts on Snow White's life - the laces, comb and apple. And finally, the 3rd occurrence swoops in as the owl, the raven and the dove; who are the faithful sentinels watching over Snow White in her glass coffin. The nameless men also factor into the story 3 times: the huntsman who spares Snow White's life, the 7 dwarfs and the Prince.
7:
The magic number 7 in Snow White is curious but its utilization becomes clear when one understands its symbolism ie completeness & capacity. 7 is woven throughout this tale because at the end of the story, Snow White blossoms into the completeness of full maidenhood & is capable to start the next phase - motherhood, which of course, requires the appearance of a man! Snow White is said to be 7 years old when the Queen becomes jealous of her beauty, Snow White travels over 7 hills before she encounters the house of ... the 7 Dwarfs. And that is 3 x 7 = 21. My guess is this might have meant to signify that when the Prince finally came across Snow White in her glass coffin ... she was now 21 years old. A rather "old" maiden for the time but illustrating that Snow White too, just as the Evil Queen, could not escape time; in her case by sleeping forever. She had to become a maiden, just as the Queen had to become a Crone. And it is not until she "awakens", that the Queen is forced to face her own, inescapable demise.

What about the boys?
All of the men in the story were integral to Snow White's transformation to full maidenhood, but the story remains about her transformation:
1. the huntsman does the Evil Queen's bidding by taking Snow White into the forest with instructions to kill her and bring back her heart & liver for the Queen to eat,
(Note: This little ritualistic bit of cannibalism was probably the Queen's hopeful bid to consume Snow White's youth & revive her own),
2. the Seven Dwarfs? Non-threatening, non-human caretaker "men"; they provide the safety for Snow White to grow up, and finally,
3. the Prince triggers the final event that will bring Snow White into full maidenhood.
(Note: Notice too how none of these men can interfere with the process. The huntsman is unable to kill Snow White due to her innocence & beauty. The dwarfs warn Snow White not to open the door while they are away, but seem impotent to think of another way to safeguard her; and the Prince would never have thought to release her from her coffin, had his servants not stumbled while carrying it, dislodging the apple from her throat).

The key player in Snow White's transformation, and in the Crone's demise
.. is time.

Walt Disney understood magic. In 1938, he had to "sanitize" the fairy tale of Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs, to appeal to the audience of the time. But the symbolism & message remained intact. And the tale he told .. was still one of womanhood and time.

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Contrast this to the makers & portrayers of the new 2025 Disney movie. They think they modernized the tale. In an attempt to "fix" their superficial interpretation of the fairy tale, they created a more "active" role in life for Snow White, as the rightful Ruler of the Land. But they only reinforced her original transformation. For in this new version, Snow White does become a full maiden and now she is the "mother" of her people. The Evil Queen? Now, she's the one who needed help. But this time, they didn't even allow her the natural closure of death - they made her forever a victim of the magic mirror from which she apparently drew her power. But in the original version, the Queen was schooled in the art of witchcraft. That's how she was able to fashion the poison comb and apple. To liberate her? Would have been for the maiden to learn herbalism and life's wisdom from the crone. If, of course, the crone could accept her role.

Illustration by Adele Werber, Grimms' Fairy Tales, Grosset & Dunlap, 1963

Ah, but the Prince! Now HE's been liberated! He's been elevated to a starring role. Now, more than ever, he is responsible for Snow White's transformation. He tells her what's what. He directs her what to think, what to do and when to do it. So I guess they did bring Snow White into the modern age after all.

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Me? I prefer the old tale - which was about women, nature and the endless battle (or acceptance) of time. The men played a supporting role in Grimms' "Snow White". Not because they weren't important. But because the story was about Snow White. And it was ... about time.

Bibliography:  Grimms' Fairy Tales, Translated by Mrs. E.V. Lucas, Lucy Crane & Marian Edwards, Grosset & Dunlap, New York, USA, 1963; Fairy Tales, Retold by Katharine Gibson, Whitman Publishing Company, Racine, Wisconsin, USA, 1950; The Brothers Grimm, The Complete Fairy Tales, Wordsworth Editions Ltd., Cumberland House, Hertfordshire, Great Britain, 1997; Grimms' Fairy Tales, Peal Press, London, Great Britain.

Meadow Sweet Grove © V. Buchanan, 2025