Stepmother's Jealousy

In many classic fairy tales, the role of women is directly tied to her relationships with men. In the Brothers Grimm fairy tale of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, the role of the looking glass is to allow Snow White’s stepmother to gain truth of her questions, which the literary website SurLaLune interprets as the male gaze, which objectifies the woman. However, this interpretation is viewing the Stepmother’s hatred to be jealousy of Snow White’s beauty as a method to gain men. This is a one dimensional argument because it does not take into account the Stepmothers own feelings, and rather diminishes them to seeking male attention. I believe that the mirror represents the Stepmother’s insecurities in herself and her reflection of her soul, which she projects by hating Snow White. While the story of Snow White is not free of men, they are not the ones that sexualize Snow White’s beauty, as that is the role of the Stepmother through her mirror. The stepmother shows her reaction from the mirror saying that Snow White is …show more content…
After each attempt to kill Snow White, she again asks the mirror, “Who’s the fairest one of all” (Grimm 87). When she has finally killed Snow White, and the mirror affirms this, the Stepmother is intensely relieved; “Her envious heart was finally at peace, as much as an envious heart can be” (Grimm 87). SurLaLune describes this as the mirror being the male gaze, which objectifies beauty. However, once Snow White is dead, the Stepmother mentions nothing about ridding herself of the competition in order to gain objectification from men, she has relief because she feels her source of stress is at rest, and that it will not haunt her anymore. The entire story the mirror has been the focal point for the Stepmother; her obsession with destroying Snow White began with the mirror telling her another was fairer, which caused the Stepmother to doubt her own beauty and