Bettelheim Snow White

An Analysis of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

According to Bruno Bettelheim, the form and structure of fairytales suggest images to the child by which “he can structure his daydreams and with them give better direction in life” (1). In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs the film contains animals that sing and dance, little dwarf men, and a beautiful princess, however it also contains dark scenes of death and transformation. Primarily based for a child audience, Snow White teaches children many valuable lessons such as the importance of cleanliness, and friendship that will enable them to shape their values in life and choose which path they want to follow. Although in the bigger picture Snow White offers the message through examples of isolation
and polarization that even in unfavorable situations if one makes the best of it, eventually good will supersede evil. In the Disney version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a Wicked Queen calls out to her magic mirror to ask who was the fairest maiden in the land, in hopes it would reply she was indeed fairest. However in clothes of rags, hair a mess, a maiden, Snow White was still deemed the fairest in the land. The Queen becomes furious that Snow White is still considered fairest and devises a plan to have her killed. As the story begins, the Queen sends a hunter out into the forest with Snow White to have her killed, and bring back her heart as proof. Bettelheim claims that the modern child often feels isolated (5).
Isolation occurs in Snow White when she is lead into the woods by the hunter, unaware that she is supposed to be killed. The hunter exclaims “I cannot do it, it’s the Queen! She will stop at nothing! Go! Run! Far away and never return!” This leaves Snow White running frantically through the woods where she encounters scary shadows, birds and creepy creatures in the night. Snow White eventually awakens on the forest floor only to find herself, alone and frightened. As she cries the animals come out to comfort her and help her find a place to stay. Bettelheim believes that by being in touch with primitive things such as a tree, an animal, nature, the child feels more in touch with those things then most adults do (5). This becomes apparent that children could relate to this thought when the birds, animals and Snow White put on happy faces, and the animals lead her to the cottage of the seven dwarfs, all while singing “One day my prince will come.” This scene proves to the child that even in the darkest and scariest of times, they are not alone, and there will always be someone or something that can help them get through the scary situation. Since isolation is most likely going to occur at some point throughout a child’s life, this is a crucial message to present to a
child. As the movie progresses Snow White goes into the abandoned dwarves’ cottage and becomes appalled that the house is so dirty. She realizes that perhaps if she cooks, cleans and sews for them, they in exchange will let her live with them. Returning home the dwarves’ are frightened as they believe an intruder is inside, only to find Snow White. She pleads her story to the dwarves’ and they in turn agree to let her stay, however Snow White is not very easy on them in the beginning. She will not allow the dwarves’ to eat until they have scrubbed themselves clean and have made sure they are neat and tidy. Although this may be a short scene, Snow White still insets a value of cleanliness to a child, which can be important lesson. The story then moves along depicting how happy the dwarves’ are to have Snow White and vise versa, however the film flashes back and forth from the Wicked Queen in the castle to Snow White in the cottage.
This is where polarization of good and evil comes into play. “Polarization dominates a child’s mind and it also dominates fairytales” (Bettelheim 3). The Queen stands holding a box with what she believes is Snow Whites heart, begging the question again of who is the fairest. When the mirror replies that Snow White is still fairest the Queen loses her temper, realizes that she has been tricked by the hunter, and vows to kill Snow White herself. “I’ll do it myself, with a disguise and a potion” the Queen exclaims, thus solidifying herself as the “evil” character. Snow White then becomes without a doubt the “good” character. Bettelheim believes “the child has a basis for understanding that there are great differences between people and that therefore one has to make choices about who one wants to be” (3). Does the child want to follow the good character or the evil one? In essence the child will almost always side with whichever character they feel the most loyalty to. While the Queen creates the magic potion to transform herself into an old hag, and creates the poison apple, Snow White is back at the dwarf’s cottage unaware that she is being plotted against, happy as can be. The difference between the two characters is that Snow White is content with her life now,
whereas the Queen will remain unsatisfied until she assumes the position of fairest in the land. This scene allows the child to then choose which character to sympathize with. In this fairytales case, most likely the child will identify with Snow White because the majority of the scenes are based on Snow White, and not on the Wicked Queen, making it difficult for the child to side with the “evil” character. In the scenes leading up to the end of the movie, we find out that the poison apple has stipulations. The person who eats the apple will fall into a sleeping death, and can only be awaken by true love’s kiss. This should pose as a threat to the Queens plan however, the Queen is confident that no one will ever provide Snow White with true love’s kiss, that she goes about her plan anyway. The dwarves’ while at work are then frantically warned by the animals that someone is at the house, and realize immediately that it must be the Queen. They hurry home to find Snow White who has already taken a bite from the apple and lay dead on the floor. The dwarves’ then chase the queen up the mountain where it begins to rain and storm, where eventually the Queen falls to her death, never to relish in her supposed victory. The dwarves’ place Snow White in a glass cage and bring her fresh flowers daily. Eventually the prince comes and awakens her with true love’s kiss.
If we are to dissect Disney’s version of Snow White, we would find that it tries to instill many choices and lessons in a child’s head. It relays the ideas such as cleanliness and friendship, and lays out examples of isolation through dreary dark scenes, but does so in a painless fashion so the child can quickly recover from the thought of sadness and loneliness. The idea of polarization helps a child identify with the character of his choice. It is through these ideas that children learn the actual lesson of the film. Bettelheim’s idea “if one does not shy away, but steadfastly meets unexpected and often unjust hardships, one masters all obstacles, at the end emerges victorious” (Bettelheim 2) proves to be very apparent in this film. Even though Snow White is unaware of the Queens ploy she still, no matter the outcome, has the possibility of coming out on top, with true love’s kiss. Snow White never gave up hope that one day her prince would come for her. It was through struggle, determination, courage and conviction, that eventually good superseded evil.

Works Cited

Bettelheim, Bruno. “Fairy Tales and the Existential Predicament.” Marjorie Ford, John Ford. Dreams and Inward Journeys. Pearson, 2007. 1-6.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Dir. William Cottrell, Walt Disney. Perf. Adriana Caselotti Lucille La Verne. 2009