By Denise Ryles
California, United States
THE TRUE SNOW WHITE’S DIARY
The True Snow White provides us with what any solid, timeless tale should: a story that requires your full attention, grows with you as you mature, and allows you to question yourself and look at the world with different eyes as you proceed through life’s adventures.
Thus, my current question takes me to the other side of the Stepmother’s mirror: the dark one. What is truly evil? And what does the Dark Count represent in Harald Walter Azmann’s new rendition of the classic Snow White fairytale? As one of his ingenious seven dwarves, Master Fyewyn, tells the young princess:
We’re not saying there’s no evil, and it’s extremely strong, but not eternal, for it can only cause destruction and finally destroys itself and all who are part of it! Their supposed advantage and their joy is only an illusion – for what has evil ever accomplished or created?
One day, man will arrive at his own inner conviction that preferring good over evil, indeed, has never been a question of religion or any special view of God, but personal intelligence . . . and that there simply is no sensible alternative. You see, choosing good isn’t one of many ways to follow. It’s the only way, for everything else leads to ultimate destruction.
If only the Stepmother had been patient and humble enough to seek and accept the dwarves’ help. Instead, she reveled in being a victim of tough circumstances – maybe a daughter of noble birth but poverty-stricken parents, married off way too young and inexperienced to a much older man of wealth but dissolute character, and everything that’s likely to result from such unhappy choices?
And this is where the ruthless energy of the Dark Count entered and began to take over her life. Snow White’s Stepmother simply couldn’t let go of all those injustices and hurts of the past, allowing her painful memories to take control and ultimately send her on a downward spiral towards her own destruction. Which easily could have been the fate of Snow White if she hadn’t found and lived with her magnificent seven friends.
The True Snow White leads me to think that the young princess and her evil Stepmother are nothing but mirror images of each other. But who or what is the Dark Count? The shadow of all we simply cannot get ourselves to forgive and forget? Or even the devil, evil personified?
He is there at the King’s homecoming, there at the Queen’s funeral, beckoning the soon to be Stepmother and pushing her towards the grieving widower, there as she takes over the kingdom. And finally, when all is said and done, he spirits himself away entirely at ease, vanishing right through the iron portcullis crashing down in front of him while the Stepmother faces her ultimate showdown at Snow White’s royal wedding.
Indeed, as the Stepmother so rightly points out in cursing, “What the h—. He’s never there when you really need him!”
I am confident that it is the gift of spiritual release and understanding that saves the Stepmother and Snow White at the end of their remarkable story. For no matter what the Dark Count did or does, the seven dwarves are always there. And Snow White understands and forgives her evil Stepmother in resolving, “She is my mother, too. She also made me who I am today . . .”
The image of the fair, twenty one year old new queen and the haggard Stepmother staring at each other is extremely powerful and compounds the duality of the “mirror image.” They were able to see in each other what could have been if they had made different choices. And it is at this point that the Stepmother is able to let go and accept, with courage, not only her entire life but also the consequences of her disappointing actions, and asks for no forgiveness.
For sure, it can be extremely painful to look at our personal circumstances and accept what is or was and overcome. And I am confident that we can all relate to Snow White’s Stepmother being racked with pain yet blissfully smiling, and completely losing herself while dancing to an imagined, soundless waltz, surrounded by all the beauty and splendor of this world.
The final scenes of The True Snow White are a perfect example of what many have said: forgiveness is mainly for the benefit and wellbeing of ourselves, not for the ones who hurt us.
Oh, may we always see and cherish the beauty of the world that surrounds us instead of living in the past, and bar the Dark Count and his wicked allies from the crystal palace that is our heart, where they’ll never cause anything but complete desolation.
Read Denise Ryles’ comments on
The perfect Stepmother?
The Author
Tell Me Mirror
Christmas In New York
Life Is A Dance
Long Live The Queen!
It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. JK Rowling
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The Dark Side Of The Mirror by Denise Ryles, THE TRUE SNOW WHITE’S DIARY
http://thetruesnowwhitesdiary.wordpress.com/2009/04/20/the-dark-side-of-the-mirror
