The Snow Queen Explained

The Snow Queen
Author:Hans Christian Andersen
Country:Denmark
Language:Danish
Genre:Fairy tale
Published In:New Fairy Tales. First Volume. Second Collection (Nye Eventyr. Første Bind. Anden Samling)[1]
Publication Type:Fairy tale collection
Pub Date:21 December 1844
Wikisource:Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales/The Snow Queen

"The Snow Queen" (Danish: Snedronningen) is an 1844 original fairy tale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. It was first published 21 December 1844 in New Fairy Tales. First Volume. Second Collection (Nye Eventyr. Første Bind. Anden Samling). The story centers on the struggle between good and evil as experienced by Gerda and her friend, Kai. Unlike Andersen's other stories, The Snow Queen is written in a novel-styled narrative, being divided into seven chapters.

The story is one of Andersen's longest and most highly acclaimed stories. It is regularly included in selected tales and collections of his work and is frequently reprinted in illustrated storybook editions for children.

Story

A mirror and its fragments

The devil, in the form of a troll,[2] has made a magic mirror that distorts the appearance of everything that it reflects. The mirror does not reflect the good and beautiful aspects of people and things and magnifies their bad and ugly aspects. The troll's minions take the mirror all over the world to distort everything, then carry it up to heaven to mock God and the angels. As they approach heaven, the mirror trembles and falls, shattering into billions of pieces. Some become windowpanes, some spectacles, and some get stuck in people's hearts and eyes, giving them a cold and bitter disposition. The troll laughs himself sore at his mischief.

Kai and Gerda

Years later, a little boy Kai (often spelled "Kay" or "Kaj" in translations) and a little girl Gerda live next door to each other in the garrets of buildings with adjoining roofs in a large city. They could get from one's home to the other's just by stepping over the gutters of each building. The two families grow vegetables and roses in window boxes placed on the gutters. Gerda and Kai have a window box garden to play in, and they become devoted to each other as playmates, and as close as if they were siblings.

Gerda's grandmother tells the children about the Snow Queen, who is ruler over the "snow bees"snowflakes that look like bees. As bees have a queen, so do the snow bees, and she is seen where the snowflakes cluster the most. Looking out of his frosted window one winter, Kai sees the Snow Queen, who beckons him to come with her. Kai draws back in fear from the window.

By the following spring, Gerda has learned a song that she sings to Kai: Because roses adorn the window box garden, the sight of roses always reminds Gerda of her love for Kai.

On a summer day, splinters of the troll's mirror get into Kai's heart and eye. Kai becomes cruel and aggressive. He destroys their window-box garden, he makes fun of Gerda's grandmother, and he no longer cares about Gerda, since everyone now appears bad and ugly to him. When winter comes again, the only things he finds no fault in are snowflakes, which he studies through a magnifying glass. Kai goes out with his sled to play in the snowy market square and hitches it to a sleigh driven by a mysterious robed figure. The sleigh drives through the town gate, going faster and faster through the countryside, then stops, and the driver reveals herself to be the Snow Queen. She kisses Kai to numb him from the cold, and again to make him forget about Gerda and his family. They then fly together in the sleigh up into the clouds.

The magician woman's garden

The people of the city conclude that Kai died in the nearby river. When spring arrives, Gerda goes to the river and offers it her favorite red shoes if the river will return Kai. The shoes wash back to shore, so she climbs into a nearby boat to throw them out farther. The boat is unmoored, drifts away from the shore and becomes caught in the current.

Gerda drifts until she reaches the home of an old woman, who pulls her to shore with her crooked staff. The woman is a sorceress and wants Gerda to stay with her forever, so she causes Gerda to forget Kai, and causes all the roses in her garden to sink beneath the earth, since she knows that the sight of them will remind Gerda of her friend. The woman lets Gerda play in her flower garden day after day, where all of the flowers are in bloom, until one day she notices a rose on the woman's hat. She remembers Kai and begins to cry, and her tears raise one of the rose bushes from the ground. The roses assure her that Kai is not dead, since they could see all of the dead while they were underground. Gerda questions the other flowers; each sings its own song, but none have anything to say about Kai. Gerda flees the garden and discovers that autumn has arrived while she was there.

The prince and the princess

Gerda meets a crow, who tells her that he might have seen Kai. He explains that a clever princess in the land decided that she should get married as soon as she could find a man good for conversation. For two days men met the princess in hopes of marrying her, but upon meeting her they were tongue-tied. On the third day, a small fellow with shabby clothes walked confidently into the palace and won over the princess by listening to her. Gerda sneaks into the palace with the crow but finds that the prince is not Kai after all. She is offered hospitality in the palace, but instead asks for a horse, carriage and boots so she can continue looking for Kai.

The little robber girl

While traveling in the carriage Gerda is captured by robbers. Her life is spared when a little robber girl demands to have Gerda as a playmate. They ride together to the robbers' castle, where the girl's pet doves tell Gerda that they saw Kai when he was carried away by the Snow Queen in the direction of Lapland. The captive reindeer Bae tells her that he knows how to get to Lapland since it is his home.

The Lapp woman and Finn woman

The robber girl frees Gerda and the reindeer to travel north to the Snow Queen's palace. They make two stops: first at the Lapp woman's home and then at the Finn woman's home. The Finn woman tells the reindeer that the secret of Gerda's unique power to save Kai is in her sweet and innocent child's heart:

In the Snow Queen's palace

When Gerda reaches the Snow Queen's palace, she is halted by the snowflakes guarding it. She prays the Lord's Prayer, which causes her breath to take the shape of angels, who resist the snowflakes and allow Gerda to enter the palace. Gerda finds Kai alone and almost immobile on a frozen lake, which the Snow Queen calls the "Mirror of Reason", on which her throne sits. Kai is engaged in the task that the Snow Queen gave him: he must use pieces of ice like a Chinese puzzle to form characters and words. If he is able to form the word the Snow Queen told him to spell she will release him from her power and give him a pair of skates.

Gerda runs up to Kai and kisses him, and he is saved by the power of her love: Gerda weeps warm tears on him, melting his heart and burning away the mirror splinter in it. As a result, Kai bursts into tears, which dislodge the splinter from his eye, and becomes cheerful and healthy again. He remembers Gerda, and the two dance around so joyously that the splinters of ice Kai had been playing with are caught up into the dance. When they tire of dancing the splinters fall down to spell "eternity," the very word Kai was trying to spell. Kai and Gerda leave the Snow Queen's domain with the help of the reindeer, the Finn woman, and the Lapp woman. They meet the robber girl, and from there they walk back to their home. Kai and Gerda find that everything at home is the same and that it is they who have changed; they are now grown up, and are also delighted to see that it is summertime.

At the end, the grandmother reads a passage from the Bible:

Characters

Background

Andersen met Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind in 1840 and became infatuated with her, but she was not interested in him romantically (although the two became friends). According to Carole Rosen, Andersen was inspired to model the icy-hearted Snow Queen on Lind after she rejected him as a suitor.[3]

Media adaptations

Theatrical films

Television

Novels

Video games

Operas

Stage plays and musicals

The story has been adapted into numerous stage plays and musicals, notably including:

Dance productions

Inspired works

Literature

Media

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Hans Christian Andersen : The Snow Queen. sdu.dk.
  2. Book: Andersen, Hans Christian. trans. Erik Christian Haugaard. 1983. The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories. The Snow Queen. https://books.google.com/books?id=pKO5Bydk2QEC. United States. Anchor Books. 9780307777898. 3 December 2013.
  3. Book: Rosen, Carole. Matthew. H. C. G.. Harrison. Brian. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Lind, Jenny (1820–1887). http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/printable/16671. April 1, 2014. 2004. Oxford University Press. 978-0198614111. [W]hen [Lind] rejected him as a suitor she became the Snow Queen, whose heart was made of ice..
  4. Web site: Snow Queen. Wizart Animation. 23 December 2011.
  5. Web site: The Snow Queen: BBC Version. amazon.co.uk.
  6. https://web.archive.org/web/20200224000032/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a870f6c The Snow Queen
  7. Web site: The Snow Queen, a Skating Ballet. americanarchive.org.
  8. Web site: Snedronningen | Det Danske Filminstitut.
  9. Web site: Arts - The Times . timesonline.co.uk.
  10. Web site: The Snow Queen - The Movie (TXU-001-650-698 - WGA 1382055). https://web.archive.org/web/20120425013839/http://www.koscherfilm.com/ . 2012-04-25 .
  11. The Snow Queen - based on H.C. Andersen. 23 September 2011. YouTube.
  12. Web site: The Snow Queen - The Movie (TXU-001-650-698 - WGA 1382055). thesnowqueenmovie.com. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120425013833/http://www.thesnowqueenmovie.com/. 2012-04-25.
  13. Web site: Gerda and Kai - The Snow Queen Book by Richard Koscher. Gerda and Kai - The Snow Queen Book. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20111003005906/http://www.gerdaandkai.com/. 2011-10-03.
  14. Web site: Richard Koscher ist in vielen Medien zu Hause > Kleine Zeitung.
  15. Web site: Book Review: The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge . Aragona, Mark . Digital Science Fiction . 2024-07-24 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140113174926/http://digitalsciencefiction.com/book-review-the-snow-queen-by-joan-d-vinge/ . January 13, 2014.
  16. Book: Bramwell, Peter . Pagan Themes in Modern Children's Fiction . . 2009 . 978-0-230-23689-9 . 102.
  17. Web site: Pierangelo Valtinoni - Die Schneekönigin. Boosey & Hawkes: The Classical Music Specialists. 2016-12-25.
  18. Web site: The Snow Queen. July 5, 1985. 3215. 66. BBC Genome.
  19. Web site: The Royal Danish Opera. kglteater.dk/en. 5 October 2019.
  20. News: Snedronningen (The Snow Queen) review – Abrahamsen's opera fails to melt hearts. Clements. Andrew. 14 October 2019. 14 October 2019. The Guardian.
  21. Web site: THE SNOW QUEEN. Bayerische Staatsoper. en. 2019-10-05. 28 December 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191228195332/https://www.staatsoper.de/en/productioninfo/the-snow-queen/2019-12-21-18-00.html%3Ftx_sfstaatsoper_pi1%255BfromSpielplan%255D%3D1%26tx_sfstaatsoper_pi1%255BpageId%255D%3D527. dead.
  22. Web site: The Snow Queen. The Guide to Musical Theatre. 2014-07-08.
  23. Web site: The Snow Queen: A New Musical. Steele Spring Stage Rights. 2015-01-12. 2014-07-08.
  24. Web site: San Jose Repertory Theatre. Sjrep.com. 2013-12-22. 2014-07-08. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20140628031836/http://www.sjrep.com/plays/1314/snow-queen/. 2014-06-28.
  25. News: A Fairy-Tale That Rocks' - The Snow Queen,' Based on a Hans Christian Andersen Story. Anita. Gates. New York City. The New York Times. 2014-07-21 .
  26. Web site: The New York Musical Theatre Festival :: The Snow Queen. Nymf.org. 2013-12-13. 2014-07-08.
  27. Web site: Snow Queen. triadstage.org.
  28. The Snow Queen, theatre programme, Royal Lyceum Company Ltd., Edinburgh, November 2023
  29. Web site: The Snow Queen Ballet |. snowqueenballet.com. 16 December 2014. 20 February 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190220062104/http://snowqueenballet.com/. dead.
  30. Web site: The Snow Queen. TownHall Records. 25 April 2012. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120224233538/http://www.townhallrecords.com/cgi-bin/townhall.pl?category=3. 24 February 2012.
  31. News: The Snow Queen, The Coliseum, London. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/the-snow-queen-the-coliseum-london-1865838.html . 18 June 2022 . subscription . live. The Independent. 29 January 2014.
  32. Web site: The Snow Queen. opera.fi. 29 September 2013. 29 September 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130929173146/http://www.opera.fi/en/productions/the_snow_queen/1175. dead.
  33. Web site: O'Sullivan . James . 2014-10-23 . The Queen of the Opera . 2023-09-05 . Helsinki Times . en-gb.
  34. Web site: The Snow Queen. opera.poznan.pl. 29 April 2016. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160531081409/http://www.opera.poznan.pl/pl/event-23-03-2016-krolowa-sniegu-g-kaczmarek-a-niedzwiedz-cheung-chau-2. 31 May 2016.
  35. Web site: The Snow Queen: Eugene Ballet's World Premiere, with Score from Kenji Bunch and Orchestra Next. Alan. Eric. www.klcc.org. 4 April 2017. en. 2019-12-23.
  36. Web site: The Snow Queen. 2017-06-23. Orchestra NEXT. en-US. 2019-12-23.
  37. Web site: The Snow Queen. July 12, 2021. Scottish Ballet.
  38. Web site: No sex in Narnia? How Hans Christian Andersen's "Snow Queen" problematizes C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia.. thefreelibrary.com.
  39. Web site: La Reine des Neiges. gallimard-jeunesse.fr.
  40. News: 'Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy,' by Karen Foxlee. The New York Times. 2014-02-14. Spires. Elizabeth.
  41. "Rudy and the Snow Queen" (episode description). 2021-12-23. Kalamazoo Public Library.
  42. Web site: Subway to Sally - Schneekönigin. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/iY6BOGNHfJk. 2021-12-11. live. xXPayongXx. 21 June 2011. YouTube.