Teaching Tool

Teaching Tool

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were recognized for their publication of folk stories and fairy tales during the 19th century. Young children continue to obtain pleasure from reading such fairy tales as Snow White, Rumpelstiltskin, Cinderella, and Hansel and Gretel in the 21st century. Over time others have imitated the Grimm brothers by rewriting their fairy tales and stressing what the author thinks are the important moral factors of the fairy tale. Anne Sexton rewrote some of the Grimm fairy tales into satirical poem modifying it to illustrate what she thought was important. In doing this she was able to stress what she saw as important. In the fairy tale Snow White, Anne Sexton and the Grimm Brothers stress the idea of jealousy of punishment one receives differently. Sexton stresses the importance of Snow White’s death through detailed explanation while the Grimm Brothers explain the process of killing Snow White in order to show consequences.

Although Anne Sexton and the Grimm Brothers never mention the word envy in either of there works, it is clear that envy plays a significant role. The story began when Snow White’s step-mother was told she was not as fair as her daughter. Driven by jealousy Snow White’s step-mother immediately sent Snow White to be killed in the woods. However, the hunter did not have the heart to murder beautiful Snow White so he let her go in the woods, with the promise she would never return. In the woods, she found a small cottage and lived with seven dwarfs. Snow White’s step-mother then asked the mirror again, “who is the fairest of them all?” The mirror answered Snow White is the fairest of them all. After numerous times of trying to kill Snow White, the evil queen was finally successful after feeding Snow White a poisonous apple. The dwarfs, unable to revive her, put Snow-White in a clear glass casket and set her on top of a hill for everyone to see. When the prince first laid eyes on Snow-White, he immediately fell in love with her. He took her casket back to his castle, however, she was accidentally dropped and the piece of poisonous apple was dislodged from her mouth. She awoke and lived happily ever after with her prince. The evil queen, however, was tortured to death at the end of the tale.

The punishment for the witch’s jealousy is a good way of illustrating the repercussions she faced. In doing so the reader is taught that envy is not an honorable trait. Snow White’s step-mother believes that “she would hear of no beauty surpassing her own.”(Sexton) Her self perception would eventually lead to her demise:

The wicked queen was invited to the wedding feast

and when she arrived there were

red-hot iron shoes,

in the manner of red-hot roller skates,

clamped upon her feet.

First your toes will smoke

and then your heels will turn black

and you will fry upward like a frog,

she was told.

And so she danced until she was dead,

a subterranean figure. (Sexton)

Her explicit, detailed language tells the reader exactly what happened to the queen. Unlike Sexton, the Grimm brothers bring up Snow White’s step-mother’s death very briefly, saying, “Then they put a pair of iron shoes into burning coals. They were brought forth with tongs and placed before her. She was forced to step into the red-hot shoes and dance until she fell down dead.”(Grimm) The mention of the queen’s death is brief and straightforward. The story really does not spend much time describing the punishment for being so envious of Snow White. Sexton thought it was very important for us as the audience to understand the torture and pain the witch suffered due to her self notion that she was the prettiest of them all.

Coming from a family of three other brothers, there have been periods of my life when I was envious. I remember especially when I was younger and my brother was a better athlete than I was. Every sport he played he was just naturally good at. What really made me upset was that he always won when we played together. So like Snow White’s step-mother jealousy, I took it out on my brother even though he was not at fault. My jealousy had a negative effect on my relationship with my brother. Looking back upon it I feel the consequences of my jealousy really put a strain on our relationship. I feel I have lost time with my brother that I can never have again just because of my ego. Like Sexton I