Grimm's Snow White and Rose Red
Models for Sibling Love, Good Behavior, and the Ideal Woman
May 5, 2008
The story of Snow White and Rose Red is about two siblings who are the model of industry, purity, and generosity. The portrayal of them by the brother’s Grimm shows more depth than many of the Grimm’s other fairy tales.
Models for Sibling Love
Snow White and Rose Red are inseparable. “The two children liked each other so much that they would always clasp hands when they went out together. When Snow White would say: “‘We will not leave each other,’ Rose-red answered, ‘Never so long as we live,’ and their mother would add, ‘What one has she must share with the other.’”
Maria Tatar cites Jack Zipes as indicating that the intense sibling love between the two girls is what drew the Grimm brothers to this particular fairy tale. “The girls, not unlike the Brothers Grimm are like night and day but are inseparable and supportive of one another.” (Tatar 342)
Ideal Moral Models for Children
Maria Tatar suggests that the appeal of this story for those who collect fairy tales is the moral applications that can be made from two children who model ideal childhood behavior. They take care of their mother, they are good housekeepers, they are charitable to those who are rude, inconsiderate, and even mean, they have fun but do not exceed the bounds of good taste, and they value their family more than anything else (Tatar 342).
Women Who Fit the Victorian Ideal
Many might agree with negative aspect of Tatar’s statement that the “Male figures clearly have a greater behavioral range than do the three women in this story, who delight in cultivating their ability to be kind, compassionate, and industrious in carrying out household chores.” (Tatar 342) However, these ‘tamer’ qualities make them women who fit nicely into the Victorian ideal and the Christian ideal.
The Range of Passion in the Female Heart
According to Steven Olderr in his book Symbolism: A Comprehensive Dictionary a rose symbolizes completion; perfection; the heart; God; and female sex organs. The red rose in particular reflects divine love and martyrdom (113-114 ). The color red in particular symbolizes love; courage; and charity among other things (Olderr 110). If one considers Rose Red’s name and her description in the story we discover a passionate outdoorsy girl with energy to spare.
Snow often symbolizes death, purity, chastity, frigidity, while the color white often symbolizes peace, purity, faith, timelessness, ecstasy (Olderr 124). When one considers Snow White’s name in combination with the fairy tale descriptions, we realize that we have a serene woman who focuses on the quotidian aspects of life and is peaceful and quiet.
The two girls clearly represent a happy union of the two sides of the female character that often appeal to men; men who want both passion and a contented home life.
The Fairy Tale
The story includes a cursed prince and an evil dwarf. In the end, the dwarf meets a violent death. The violence is enough to cause many readers to conclude that the story is unfit for children. Others would complain that the girls are not realistic and are the product of male chauvinism.
However, one could read the story as that of good triumphing over evil and find in the two girls examples of the scripture’s design for a good wife.
Olderr, Steven. Symbolism: A Comprehensive Dictionary. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 1986.
Tatar, Maria. The Annotated Brothers Grimm: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm Edited with a Preface and Notes by Maria Tatar. W.W. Norton & Company Ltd., 2004.
