Origin of the Snow White tale
"Snow White" is a German fairy tale known across much of the world. There has been debate over possible origins of the tale and whether it could be an amalgam of other stories, have mythical roots, or be inspired by a real person. It falls within the classification of Type 709 in the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index.
History
The Brothers Grimm published Snow White in 1812 in the first edition of their collection Grimms' Fairy Tales. It was titled in German: Sneewittchen (in modern orthography Schneewittchen) and numbered as Tale 53. They completed their final revision of the story in 1854.[1]
According to Christine Shojaei Kawan, the Grimms' version of the tale combines stories collected from at least three different informants: their friend Marie Hassenpflug and the collectors Ferdinand Siebert and Heinrich Leopold Stein. The Grimms also knew of eight other German variants. One theory holds that Snow White was an original creation by the Grimms’ younger brother Ferdinand. However, this is disproven by the existence of earlier adaptations such as “Richilde,” a 1782 version by Johann Karl August Musäus.[2]
Some earlier recorded tales share elements of the Snow White story, such as the Malay Syair Bidasari and the Italian “The Young Slave.”
Theories
Amalgamation
Beginning with Ernst Böklen's seminal study Schneewittchenstudien in 1915, folklorists have noted that the tale of Snow White (and by extension, tale type ATU 709) shows a combination of motifs present in other folktales:[3] the children in the woods (ATU 327, "Children and the Ogre" and or "Hansel and Gretel"); a heroine cursed into a deep sleep (ATU 410, "Sleeping Beauty"); treacherous sisters (ATU 510, "Cinderella", and , "One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes"); a house in the woods (ATU 451, "The Seven Ravens").[4]
Mythical parallels
Scholar Graham Anderson suggested that the story of Snow White had ancient mythical roots and compared it to the Roman legend of
Historical inspiration
Several German towns have laid claim to the origins of the fairy tale as part of tourism campaigns. As of 2009, the most active and well-known were Bad Wildungen and Lohr am Main. These two towns stood out by connecting the fairy tale to local historical figures, namely 16th-century countess Margaretha von Waldeck and 18th-century baroness Maria Sophia von Erthal.[9]
Margaretha von Waldeck
In 1994, the German historian Eckhard Sander published Schneewittchen: Märchen oder Wahrheit? (Snow White: Fairy Tale or True Story?), claiming he had uncovered an account that may have inspired the Grimms' fairy tale. After hearing a tour guide claim that workers in the mining town of Bergfreiheit had inspired the
By 1539, Margaretha had a stepmother, Katharina von
At court, several high-ranking men vied for Margaretha's attention, including
Margaretha's father owned several copper mines. A majority of workers were children, and Sander suggested that the legendary seven dwarfs were inspired by child labor in the mine. Sander connected the residence of the seven dwarfs to the former copper-mining village Bergfreiheit, now a district of Bad Wildungen that calls itself Schneewittchendorf (Snow White Village) as part of its tourism industry. Like the fairy tale's dwarfs, the child laborers there used to live in large groups (about 20) in a single room house.
Sander theorized that other elements of the fairy tale were drawn from local folklore and different members of Margaretha's family. For instance, the wicked mother figure paralleled the relationship of Margaretha's sister-in-law and niece, and the wedding of Snow White paralleled the wedding of Margaretha's nephew. Both Margaretha's niece and niece-in-law shared her name.[10]
Maria Sophia von Erthal
Karlheinz Bartels, a pharmacist from Lohr am Main in northwestern Bavaria, was part of a "study group" made up of friends who met regularly at a local pub. Inspired by a previous hoax which claimed to trace the real-life inspirations of Hansel and Gretel, he created a tongue-in-cheek theory that Snow White was Maria Sophia Margarethe Catharina, Baroness von und zu Erthal, born in Lohr on 25 June 1725.[15][16] Her father, Philipp Christoph von und zu Erthal, was the local representative of the Prince Elector of Mainz.[17] After the death of Maria Sophia's birth mother in 1738, her father remarried in 1743.
In 1992, Bartels' fellow theorist and local museum head Werner Loibl analyzed a surviving letter from the stepmother, Claudia Elisabeth von Reichenstein, which revealed that she answered Philipp Christoph's mail and handled important decisions while he was traveling abroad. Based on this, Loibl extrapolated that she was domineering and favored her children from her first marriage.[18] Also in 1992, Loibl unveiled a Snow White-themed exhibit at the Spessart Museum in Lohr Castle (once owned by Philipp Christoph).[19]
Mirrors made in Lohr were said to always tell the truth due to their high quality and smooth surfaces that were unusually clear for the time. Lohr Castle was home to one such mirror during the time that Maria Sophia's stepmother lived there. Supporters of the theory compared it to the Magic Mirror in "Snow White." It was constructed by the Mirror Manufacture of the Electorate of Mainz in Lohr, and may have been in the castle as early as 1719. It can still be viewed there today.[20][21]
The dwarfs in Maria's story are also linked to a mining town,
Despite the joking origins of Bartels's theory, it became popular as a marketing tactic for the local town.[20] Maria's gravestone was found in 2019.[23]
Criticism of historical theories
Virtually no serious scholars agree with Sander's or Bartels's theories. As stated by Professor Donald Haase, "There have been a couple of attempts to show that the story of Snow White is based on the fate of a historical figure, but they are pure speculation and not at all convincing."[24]
Bartels’ theory in particular is recognized as a joke.
See also
References
- Grudrun Anne Dekker, Schneewittchen: blonde Tochter einer Adligen aus Ostfriesland: Eine historische Spurensuche, BoD 2013.
- ^ Jacob Grimm & Wilhelm Grimm: Kinder- und Hausmärchen; Band 1, 7. Ausgabe (children's and households fairy tales, volume 1, 7th edition). Dietrich, Göttingen 1857, page 264–273.
- ^ Kawan, Christine Shojaei (2005–2006). "Innovation, Persistence and Self-Correction: The Case of Snow White" (PDF). Estudos de Literatura Oral. 11–12: 239.
- ISBN 0-520-03537-2.
Böklen also shows that there has been extraordinary borrowing from other tales [to "Snow White"] with similar motifs.
- JSTOR 541351.
- ^ Jacobs, Joseph. Europa's Fairy Book. London: G. Putnam and Sons. 1916. pp. 260–261.
- S2CID 161823801.
It would seem to me that Snow White is an amalgamation of the archaic form of magic tales and the Zaubermärchen. Perhaps it is not without significance that AaTh/ATU 709 is classified in the section Other Tales of the Supernatural (AaTh/ATU 700–749) because it does not fit properly into the Tales of Magic.
- ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book XI, 289
- ISBN 978-0-415-23702-4. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
- ^ Lauer, Bernhard (2009). "Wem gehört 'Schneewittchen'?: Ein Beitrag zur Verortung von Märchenstoffen und zur Herausbildung von Stereotypen". Hessische Blätter für Volks- und Kulturforschung. 44: 390–425.
- ^ a b Sander, Eckhard (1994). Schneewittchen: Märchen oder Wahrheit? : ein lokaler Bezug zum Kellerwald.
- ^ a b Dekker, p. 33
- ^ Dekker, pp. 31–32
- ^ Dekker, p. 35
- ^ Dekker, p. 40
- ISBN 978-3-934128-40-8.
- ISBN 978-3-631-64872-8.
- ISBN 978-3-87965-126-9.
- ^ Werner Loibl, Schneewittchens herrische Stiefmutter (The domineering stepmother of Snow White), Lohrer Echo, 28 August 1992 with further references.
- ^ Möhler, Thomas Josef (3 June 2015). "Schneewittchen nach Vierteljahrhundert noch gefragt". Main-Echo. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
- ^ a b Wolfgang, Vorwerk (2015). "Das 'Lohrer Schneewittchen': Zur Fabulologie eines Märchens" (PDF). Paremiology, Folklore, Language, and Literature: 491–503.
- ISBN 978-3-87965-117-7
- ^ Bartels, Karlheinz (1990). Schneewittchen – Zur Fabulologie Des Spessarts.
- ^ "'Snow White' gravestone surfaces in Germany". Fox News. 6 August 2019.
- ^ a b Stewart, Sara (25 March 2012). "Snow White becomes a girl-power icon". The New York Post.
- ^ Kawan, Christine Shojaei (2005–2006). "Innovation, Persistence and Self-Correction: The Case of Snow White" (PDF). Estudos de Literatura Oral. 11–12: 238.