Abstract
This dissertation critically examines four selected versions of the German Snow White tale for either its naturalisation of artificial forms of womanhood or its neutralisation thereof. Firstly, the Ölenberg manuscript (1810) — containing the inaugural text (1810A) which the Brothers Grimm used in their first publication of the Snow White tale in the Kinder-und-Hausmärchen der Brüder Grimm (1812) — as well as the Brothers Grimm’s 1857 version of the tale are assessed for their contribution to the establishment of limiting patriarchal notions of female beauty and womanhood. Secondly, Tanith Lee’s “Red as Blood” (1979 [2016]) is juxtaposed with Neil Gaiman’s Gothic variant, “Snow, Glass, Apples” (1994 [2013]) for its use of excessiveness in foregrounding the barbarities of patriarchal directives and its shackling of female identities. Lastly, Angela Carter’s “The Snow Child” (1979 [2006]) is examined for its distinctly Female Gothic and Necropolitical rewriting and attempted redefinition of artificial notions of womanhood. Drawing on Anna Pasolini’s theory of female bodily metamorphosis, this dissertation argues that in order for female characters like Snow White and the perceived evil queen to be liberated from patriarchal definitions of femininity, contemporary fairy tale writers need to approach female beauty and female identity as a spectrum of behaviours rather than re-inscribing into their texts rigid binary forms of femininity. Fluid female identities which straddle and oscillate a range of behaviour are more descriptive of women’s lived experiences, rather than static forms of womanhood which are exclusively prescriptive for the female. The Gothic mode, in particular, offers a transgressive narrative which allows for the exploration of what is deemed taboo within traditional fairy tales. Thus, aspects of female identity previously disallowed, and which are deemed as ‘ugly’ in traditional fairy tales, are explored in Gothic variants and it’s breaking of the inherited cultural limitations and the narrative boundaries of the traditional fairy tale is critically examined in this dissertation.