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You know the Evil Queen from the Disney movie “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. The antagonist, called Grimhilde, is the stepmother of the main character.
The Evil Queen: Difference in the Disney and Grimm fairy tale
The evil queen in the Snow White fairy tale was not an invention of Walt Disney. Rather, the story is based on the tales of the Brothers Grimm. In both versions, the life of Queen Grimhilde is similar – only her death occurs with varying degrees of cruelty.
- The evil queen is not an outsider and a passing sorceress. Rather, she is the stepmother of Snow White, who disapproves of the youth and beauty of the growing princess.
- Since her magic mirror eventually tells her that Snow White is the fairest in the whole land, the queen wants to get rid of the girl or rather the young woman. To do so, she sends Snow White into the forest where a hunter is supposed to kill her.
- Instead of carrying out the gruesome act, the hunter spares her, so that Snow White can flee and meet the seven dwarfs in the forest. When the queen learns that Snow White is still alive, she wants to poison her with an apple while disguised as an old woman. In the Grimm’s children’s book, however, she first tried to poison Snow White with a comb, which she used to brush Snow White’s hair when she was a market woman, but only briefly knocked her unconscious.
- But then, apparently, she manages to kill her with the apple. However, while the dwarfs mourn the lifeless Snow White, a prince appears who brings her back to life with a kiss.
- While the evil queen Grimhilde falls to her death from a cliff in the Disney movie after being chased away by the dwarves, the Brothers Grimm gave her a more gruesome death. The evil queen was a guest at Snow White’s wedding and was given glowing iron shoes, which she had to dance in until she died.
What else is known about the wicked queen
Disney’s animated film dates from 1937; the first version was published by the Brothers Grimm in 1812. Neither version explains why the wicked queen turned into such a nasty person.
- All we know is that Snow White’s mother died during the birth of her daughter and her father wanted to find her a new mother.
- In the evil Queen Grimhilde, he found a beautiful bride who had no interest in the equally beautiful Snow White, except to undermine her.
- With the death of the king, the wicked stepmother saw her chance to further degrade Snow White and have her live as a kitchen maid. But the hard work apparently did not detract from her beauty and made Snow White continue to be the wicked queen’s biggest rival – at least in her eyes.
- Some interpretations go that the wicked queen killed her husband and father of Snow White to take power.
