The Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, consults her magic mirror by Franz Juntter (1905).
For the Disney version see: The Evil Queen
"Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all?"
- The Evil Queen's signature quote
The Evil Queen is the main antagonist of the fairy tale and the Evil Queen is also the evil stepmother of the Princess Snow White. The Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, is characterized by being heartless, vain, wicked, evil and a cruel woman. The Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, wishes to be the fairest woman in the land and has a magical mirror which she obsessively consults by asking by her beauty: "Mirror mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all?" When her magic mirror reveals that her stepdaughter Snow White has surpassed her evil stepmother, the Evil Queen, in beauty, her evil stepmother, the Evil Queen, begins a ruthless and cruel to quest to kill her stepdaughter Snow White. The Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, was created by the Brothers Grimm .
Role in the Fairy Tale []
The Evil Queen is Snow White's evil stepmother and the new and second wife of Snow White's father, the King, who marries her after the death of the Good Queen, his first and deceased wife, Snow White's mother. The Evil Queen becomes into the evil stepmother of Snow White. The Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, is very beautiful, but she is a cold, wicked, cruel, evil and vain woman. The Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, has in secret a magical mirror who has all wisdom. The Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, ask the mirror every day: "Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all?" if the magic mirror answered: "You Are the Fairest of them all, My Queen," all was well, but if another lady was named, she would fly into a jealous rage. She would summon her huntsman and have her killed.
Years later, the magic mirror reveals that Snow White was even more beautiful than her evil stepmother, the Evil Queen, and when the mirror reveals: "Your stepdaughter Snow White is a thousand times fairer than You, My Queen." The Evil Queen's face grew pale with anger. She calls for her royal huntsman and commands him to take her stepdaughter Snow White into the forest and kill her, and gives him a jeweled box to place her heart in. The huntsman takes Snow White into the forest and grabs his knife to kill her. However, he has pity on her and can't bring himself to do it. He breaks down at Snow White's feet and tells her the truth about her evil stepmother, the Evil Queen, that she's mad and jealous of her beauty and will stop at nothing. The huntsman tells Snow White to run away and hide and never return again to the castle with her evil stepmother, the Evil Queen.
The Huntsman kills a pig and takes its heart to give to the Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother. Some tame later, the Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, consults her magic mirror and learns that her stepdaughter Snow White lives with the seven dwarfs in their cottage in the forest, and she's holding the heart of a pig. Outrage that her huntsman tricked her, she decides to go herself to the seven dwarfs cottage. The Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, used her black magic to disguise herself as an old peddler hag, and decides on the poisoned apple sleeping death. The spell could only be broken by true love's kiss, and she believed Snow White would be buried alive.
The next morning, before the seven dwarfs leave for work, they warn Snow White that her evil stepmother, the Evil Queen, is a sly one and not to let anyone in the house. Unfortunately, Snow White forgets the warning of the seven dwarfs and bites into the poisoned apple.
The forest animals when to the diamond mine to bring home the seven dwarfs. They see her leave their house and go after her. They chase her up a mountain in a thunder storm, and lightning strikes. The Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, falls to her death in the bottomless darkness.
Other versions
The Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, is one of the most iconic villains history. In every version, she is slightly altered. In some versions she is an evil sorceress and also an evil witch with dark magical powers. In some versions she is delusional. Her end differs in almost every version: in the original version by the Brothers Grimm the Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, is forced to dance on iron shoes. In the Disney film the Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, transforms herself into an old, peddler and ugly witch and falls of a cliff. In 2012's "Snow White and the Huntsman" she is a immortal entity. In some film versions she has a brother. In almost all versions she has no name, but in film and stage versions this changed. Some of the names associated with her are: Queen Bangomar (in the 1912 play and the 1916 film as portrayed by Dorothy Cumming), the Evil Queen Grimhilde (in early concepts for the Disney film and voice by Lucille La Verne), the Evil Queen (in the 1961 adaptation film Snow White and the Three Stooges as portrayed by Patricia Medina), the Evil Queen (in the 1984 Faerie Tale Theatre adaptation as portrayed by Vanessa Redgrave), the Evil Queen (in the 1987 Cannon Movie Tales adaptation as portrayed by Diana Rigg), Lady Claudia Hoffman (in the 1997 adaptation film Snow White: A Tale of Terror as portrayed by Sigourney Weaver), the Evil Queen Elspeth (in the 2001 adaptation film Snow White: The Fairest of Them All as portrayed by Miranda Richardson), the Evil Queen Clementianna (in the 2012 adaptation film Mirror Mirror as portrayed by Julia Roberts) and the Evil Queen Ravenna (in the 2012 adaptation film Snow White and the Huntsman as portrayed by Charlize Theron). The Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, has been portrayed by many actresses.
Possible real-life influence []
In 1986 a German scholar claimed the character of the Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, might have been based on 17th-century noblewoman Claudia Elisabeth von Reichenstein who was a vain woman who was the second wife of a nobleman in Lohr. The Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, had a magic mirror known as "The Talking and Magic Mirror".
Notable Depections[]
Dorothy Cumming in "Snow White" (1916)
Mea Questel in "Betty Boop is Snow White" (1933)
Lucille La Verne in "Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs" (1937)
Adele Adametz in "Schneewwitchen" (1955)
Suna Selen in "Pamuk Prenses Ve Yedi Cucler" (1970)
Diana Rigg in "Cannon Movie Tales's Snow White" (1987)
Sigourney Weaver in "Snow White: A Tale of Terror" (1997)
Miranda Richardson in "Snow White: The Fairest of Them All" (2001)
Julia Roberts in "Mirror Mirror" (2012)
Charlize Theron in "Snow White and the Huntsman" (2012)