SNOW WHITE
ALTERNATIVE ILLUSTRATIONS

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN/STEPMOTHER

Selected by: Kay E. Vandergrift

This page presents one or more Snow White illustrations copied from various editions used in this educational exercise. To preserve copyright law, only one image [within fair-use doctrine] has been used from any one of the books remaining in U.S. and/or British copyright. Every book image has been identified so that, hopefully, the reader will turn to the original for greater clarification and study. The reader should note that scanning of images does not capture the quality of the originals, nor the exact size, and should recognize this in evaluating the illustrations.

VISUAL IMAGES: QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS

The questions or comments below are simply to encourage the user to think about the illustrations; other questions and comments may come to mind that are equally valid. You are encouraged to compare additional editions of Snow White to see how this incident is portrayed.

  1. Note how rarely the red-hot iron shoes appear in any illustration. Why?
  2. Is there any significance in making the queen "dance" to her death?
  3. Why do you think Burkert only illustrates the iron shoes at the top of the steps.
  4. Note how Beck translates the "dancing." Does this lessen the fright of hot iron shoes?
  5. Note that an alternative for the death of the queen is the interference of nature with a bolt of lightening and a fall into the abyss.
  6. In most variants of this story, Snow White does not take an active part in the demise of the stepmother. Refer to Rimonah of the Flashing Sword, however, to see Rimonah [Snow White] as an agent in that death.

Read Me a Fairy Tale: A Child's Book of Classic Fairy Tales. Retold by Rose Impey. Illus. by Ian Beck. New York: Scholastic, 1992, p. 51.

The full image is 73 K. Please click on this thumbnail to download the complete image. Clicking on the backbutton on the full image page will bring you back to this page.

Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Adapted by Jim Razzi. Illus. by Fernando Guell and Fred Marvin. New York: Disney Press, 1993.

The full image is 83 K. Please click on this thumbnail to download the complete image. Clicking on the backbutton on the full image page will bring you back to this page.

The Candlewick Book of Fairy Tales. Retold by Sarah Hayes. Illus. by P. J. Lynch. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 1993.

The full image is 23 K. Please click on this thumbnail to download the complete image. Clicking on the backbutton on the full image page will bring you back to this page.

Schmoe White and the Seven Dorfs. Mike Thaler. Illus. by Jared Lee. New York: Scholastic, 1997.

The full image is 54K. Please click on this thumbnail to download the complete image. Clicking on the backbutton on the full image page will bring you back to this page.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.Van Gool. London: Twin Books, 1995.

The full image is 61K. Please click on this thumbnail to download the complete image. Clicking on the backbutton on the full image page will bring you back to this page.

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Created January 6, 1997 and is continously revised