Snow White
Fairy Tale Comparison

The story of young girl forced to flee from her home due to the jealously of her step-mother has been told in many languages in a variety of ways since its first publication by the Brothers Grimm in 1812. Storytellers capture their audiences by relating the common man’s plight to that of Snow White. To gain a greater understanding of this story, it is best to examine three versions that have been told at significantly different times within society. The original story “Little Snow-White” by the Brothers Grimm, Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, and Disney’s “Mirror Mirror” serve as inspiration when discussing the story, language, art direction, heroines, heroes, conflict and resolution with them.
As each new adaptation of the story Snow White is told, many individuals will reference the Walt Disney version as fact over the original story by the Brothers Grimm. Two hundred years have passed and the story of Snow White has kept true to its original telling with only minor changes that have been implemented only as a way to appeal to the intended audiences at the time. The physical description of Snow White, our heroine, has always remained close to the original, “a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as ebony wood” (Taylor, 1884). With Walt Disney being a family oriented individual he made only a minor change to her description, "lips red as a rose, hair black as ebony, and skin white as snow" (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937). The story always starts the same with a woman giving birth to a true vision of loveliness, then sadly passing away leaving her child alone with only her father, a King, to care for her. The King remarries a woman who he feels will raise Snow White and love her as her own. Tragically, when the King is removed from the story, the step-mother, the Queen begins to show her true