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Fairy Tale Justice

© Virginia Marin

The real world is seldom fair. Each day of life shows injustice to our fellow man. We but turn a dial and the bombardment is upon us. We have not long to sit at television before our hearts become heavy with man's injustice to man. It was unjust for Joan of Arc to be burned at the stake. The Holocaust was unjust. Any destruction of life is unjust. Human hurt is unjust - but we are humans, and this is a part of human-ness.

Not so in fairy tales. In fairy tales the good are rewarded exceedingly well, and the wicked are sorely punished. Death is laughed at in fairy tales, and does not hinder a happy ending--for the just.

In Snow White the wicked queen is presented as one who is powerful, possesses harmful magic, and has the ability to change her personality to suit the moment. Her very being exudes evil as she dons black garb. Blood red eyes are nothing compared to her long tapering fingernails as she taps the mirror asking, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" When the mirror responds that it is Snow White who is the fairest of them all, the evil queen, in a jealous rage, concocts the ingredients with which to poison the apple she gives to the lovely Snow White.

"Ah, ha! If I cannot be the fairest in the land, neither will Snow White!" Snow White bites into the shiny apple and falls into a sleep as if in death. In the story, the wicked queen appears to have killed the heroine with the poisoned apple, but when the bite of apple is dislodged from Snow White's mouth, she opens her eyes and stretches. Her metamorphosis is astounding to all around her. She is even more beautiful than before her sleep. The marked change even reaches into her psyche where she communes with the environment to such an extent that the animals of the forest are touched and begin to dance, sing and interact with Snow White and her beloved Seven Dwarfs.

Snow White marries the handsome prince and the wicked queen meets a gruesome fate befitting such an evil one.

Evil in fairy tales is often represented by a hideous witch as she mixes up magic potions in a large black cauldron over an open fire. The intent is always to harm the innocent and the reader knows this.

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