2007-12-02 17:53:52 · 4 answers · asked by oilerman49 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Mythology & Folklore
The earliest version of Snow White was a somewhat meaningless and bawdy anecdote about a woman who was found living with 7 men. The story goes that her husband or someone-or-other found her and killed everyone. Other fairy tales started out as crass anecdotes like this but over time, they became more elaborate and then became children's stories (with Peroit, the Grims, Anderson and other persons who were collecting folk tales).
Archetypes include the wicked stepmother and the lost father--Oedipal stuff. The #7 plays in a lof mysticism, relating to spheres of consciousness (planetary spheres in western mysticism) that need to be traversed as a kind of hero's journal. The damsel (Snow White) represents the soul in need of redemption (from the Wicked Queen or Stepmother, etc--representing the limitation and chaos of the world) and reunion with the Father (the deity or higher consciousness). The damsel is awakened and redeemed by the prince (who is the father surrogate and may represent the"Redemptive Principle" [Son] secondary to the Godhead [Father]).
2007-12-03 08:13:00 · answer #1 · answered by philosophyangel 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The predatory step-mother-the woman who took the father from the birth mother and defiled the innocence of the archetypal family. The idea that a broken family can never be together, so the step-mother must try to kill Snow White.
Snow White is the defiled innocence-the product of the broken family, a victim who needs to be saved by another man...the prince charming that will not be like her father.
2007-12-03 02:54:50 · answer #2 · answered by Mimi 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The mature destructive feminine.
The immature creative feminine.
2007-12-03 10:29:08 · answer #3 · answered by EdgeWitch 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
virginity/purity. rite of passage.
2007-12-03 02:17:08 · answer #4 · answered by nobudE 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋