Analysis of snow white

Female activeness against passiveness in patriarchal world
when talking about the world-known, romantic and happy-ending fairy tale “Snow White”, people always admire the happiness of the heroines which she gains at the end because she is married to the most powerful prince in the world who loves her so much. However, this romance may not be achieved from the point of view of the two femaleauthors Gilbert and Gubar, who analyze “Snow White” from the psychoanalytical point and the interaction between two totally opposite characters. They combine the extended interpretations of images with the cultural context which reflects the value and judgement in patriarchal background and redefine the ending as more tragic.
Most of Gilbert and Gubar]s arguments are based on the contrast andconflict between Snow White and her stepmother, which is obvious from the original story. The characters of Snow White and the second Queen, from both physical and psychological aspects, represent two types of female figures under patriarchy. As Gilbert and Gubar noted, “the one sweet, ignorant, passive, the other both artful and active; the one a sort of angel, the other an undeniable switch”(Gilbert and Gubar 292). One character is more feminine and submissive and the other is more masculine, assertive and ambitious. However, this contrast between angel and monster is not as simple as people think. Gilbert and Gubar interpret this contrast from a more complex, relative and psychological way. They explain that “Shadow fight shadow, image destroys image in the crystal prison” (Gilbert andGubar 292). They specifically argue that this conflict is not unilateral but reciprocal. Both the Snow White and the Queen have two parts of the characters, the difference is that they are in different stages. From the action, it is obvious that the Queen wants to prosecute her daughter, but Gilbert and Gubar argue that Snow White threatens her stepmother too if analyzing the extent of the hatredof the Queen specifically. Besides the fact which reveals from the story that the stepmother envies her daughter's beauty, her hatred is also stimulated by the competition which is set by the King, or the ruler of the world. The Queen is active and creative, and what she wants is “ a life of 'significant action'” (Gilbert and Gubar 294). Nevertheless, Snow White, “as her daughter, is part ofherself”, who would keep deeds and dramas out of her own house” and her “contemplative purity […] could quite literally kill the Queen” (Gilbert and Gubar 293). As the Queen becomes assertive and active, the passiveness of Snow White significantly hinders her pursuit of power and freedom.
If Snow White and her stepmother represent two types of females, their conflict and competition are set orstimulated under the circumstances of patriarchy. The passive characters of Snow White, which includes innocence, service,submissiveness, are what expected for ideal females by males who are the rulers of the world at that context. Although it seems that the dramatic conflict is set by the two women in this story, Gilbert and Gubar analyze and interpret patriarchy from different kinds of glass, thewindow, the mirror and the coffin. As the judge of the world, the king “is the voice of the looking glass, the patriarchal voice of judgement that rules the Queen's —as every woman's —self evaluation (Gilbert and Gubar 293). Then, the king is absent from the story because the Queen has internalized his rules into her mind, in the form of the mirror. This interpretation is valid and significant. Inthe story, the Queen uses the mirror as her only judgement of the beauty of females, and all her actions and thoughts are guided by this mirror. Besides the mirror, patriarchy is present In the story in various forms and implications, like the huntsman. Gilbert and Gubar value the action that the Queen commands the huntsman of kill Snow White as foolish because the huntsman “is really a...