Household Tales · Chapter
Little Snow-White explained
A queen gives birth to a daughter as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as ebony, but dies soon after.
What happens
A queen gives birth to a daughter as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as ebony, but dies soon after. The king remarries a beautiful but vain and cruel woman who cannot bear anyone more beautiful than herself. When Snow-White surpasses her in beauty, the stepmother orders a huntsman to kill her, but he lets her escape into the forest. Snow-White finds refuge with seven dwarfs, but the stepmother, using a magic mirror to track her, attempts to kill her three times—with a poisoned lace, a poisoned comb, and a poisoned apple. The third attempt succeeds until a prince finds her, revives her, and marries her. At the wedding, the stepmother is forced to dance in red-hot iron slippers until she dies.
Themes in this chapter
Jealousy and Envy
The stepmother's envy of Snow-White's beauty drives the entire plot, leading her to attempt murder multiple times.
Virtue Rewarded and Vice Punished
Snow-White's kindness and innocence are rewarded with marriage and happiness, while the stepmother's cruelty ends in a gruesome death.
Magic and the Supernatural
The magic mirror, the poisoned comb and apple, and the stepmother's witchcraft are central supernatural elements.
Characters to notice
- Little Snow-White
The protagonist, a princess of unparalleled beauty, who survives multiple murder attempts by her stepmother and ultimately marries a prince.
- the Queen
Snow-White's vain and wicked stepmother who repeatedly tries to kill her out of jealousy, using magic and disguises.
- the huntsman
A servant ordered to kill Snow-White but who spares her life and brings back a boar's heart as proof.
- the prince
A king's son who discovers Snow-White in her glass coffin, falls in love, and marries her.
Key passages
“Would that I had a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as the wood of the window-frame.”
The queen wishes for a daughter with snow-white skin, blood-red lips, and ebony-black hair.
This wish establishes Snow-White's iconic appearance and foreshadows her name.
“Looking-glass, Looking-glass, on the wall, Who in this land is the fairest of all?”
The queen asks her magic mirror who is the most beautiful in the kingdom.
This repeated question drives the stepmother's jealousy and the narrative's conflict.
“Then she was forced to put on the red-hot shoes, and dance until she dropped down dead.”
The stepmother is made to wear iron slippers heated red-hot and dance until she dies.
This grim punishment concludes the tale with a vivid image of poetic justice.