Differences Between Disney’s Snow White and Grimm’s Snow White

As we get older, we all seem to know that the fairy tales we were told and Disney movies we watched greatly differ from the original Grimm’s fairy tales. Grimm’s fairy tales were, in fact, very grim.

Here’s some of the differences in “Snow White.”

In the version that almost everybody knows, the Wicked Queen wants Snow White killed. She sends her out with one of her hunters who is supposed to kill her. He cannot bring himself to kill her, so he lets her go and kills a wild boar. He then brings the heart of the wild boar back to the Wicked Queen.

The Wicked Queen finds out that Snow White is still alive because she talks to her magic mirror. We all seem to know that phrase, “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” That’s the magic mirror. Of course it answers, “Snow White.” The Wicked Queen is not pleased.

Snow White finds her way to the seven dwarfs. She lives with them.

One day, an old lady shows up at the door with an apple. Of course, this is really the Wicked Queen with a poison apple. However, Snow White does not know that it is the Wicked Queen, so she takes a bite. Even though the dwarfs chase the Wicked Queen and make her fall to her death, Snow White still dies.

However, a handsome prince comes and kisses her which brings Snow White back to life.

In Grimm’s fairy tale, the Wicked Queen does not want Snow White’s heart. She wants Snow White’s lungs and liver. When the boar’s insides are brought to her, she boils them and eats them, thinking that they are Snow White’s.

In Grimm’s fairy tale, it takes three attempts to kill Snow White. Each time, the Wicked Queen uses the same disguise, so Snow White must not be too smart.

In Grimm’s fairy tale, there are dwarfs and they do put Snow White into a glass coffin. However, a prince does not come and kiss her. A prince comes and he thinks that the body is beautiful, so he wants it. It is only when servants drop the coffin that the piece of poison apple dislodges from Snow White’s throat and she is brought back to life.

Also, in Grimm’s fairy tale, the Wicked Queen does not get chased off of a cliff. Instead, she makes it back to her castle. She is then invited to Snow White’s wedding. When she gets there, she is forced to wear a pair of red-hot iron shoes. She is forced to dance in these shoes until she drops dead.