The Magic Mirror in the Disney Classic 1937 animated film of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
"Snow White is a thousand times fairer than Thee."
- The Magic Mirror
The Magic Mirror is an all-knowing entity in the fairy tale of Snow White in the form of a magic mirror. The magic mirror is in most versions an emotionless, featureless and magic mirror which sees and knows everything. It is owned by Snow White's evil stepmother, The Queen, which asks it: "Mirror mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all?".
Role in the Fairy Tale[]
The magic mirror is a magical object that has all wisdom. The magic mirror has all knowledge and is owned by the second and new Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, who uses it for her own vainity. Every day the Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, ask it obsesivl at the magic mirror: "Mirror mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all?" And every time the magic mirror answers that the Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, she is the fairest woman in the land. However, one day the magic mirror reveals at the Evil Queen that Princess Snow White, her only and beautiful stepdaughter, has surpassed her evil stepmother, the Evil Queen, in beauty. The magic mirror knows where Snow White is and reveals to her evil stepmother, the Evil Queen, three times that her stepdaughter Snow White is alive. At the end of the fairy tale the Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, breaks the magic mirror out of anger.
Other versions and analysis []
In most versions the Magic Mirror is only a deep voice with no emotion or soul. In the Disney film it was a theather mask in the magic mirror. In some versions, the magic mirror does have emotion and rebels against the Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother. In the 1997 adaptation film "Snow White: A Tale of Terror" the magic mirror manipulates Lady Claudia Hoffman, the Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, into cruel acts.
The magic mirror symbolises the proces of aging and vanity of the Evil Queen, Snow White's evil stepmother, in the story. It is as well stands for the wicked obsession of an evil and vain woman's fear of age. A magic mirror is an object that cannot lie. It shows. The other thing it symbolises is that the most important factor of beauty is on the inside.
The voice of the magic mirror over the years have been Mironi Olsen and veteran actor Vincent Price in the 1984 Faerie Tale Theatre film adaptation and Julian Chagrin in the 1987 Cannon Movie Tales film adaptation and Christopher Mobi in the 2012 film adaptation Snow White and the Huntsman among others.
Notable portrayals: []
The Magic Mirror as depicted in "Schneewittchen" (1955).
The Magic Mirror in "Snow White and the Huntsman" (2012).