MOTIFS IN THE FOURTH STORY OF THE SNOW QUEEN

Summaries:

"a princess of surpassing cleverness and beauty":

The Princess

The princess is a supplementary character who only appears in one of the chapters of the Snow Queen story - but she is nonetheless an admirable and inspirational female character, whose story hints at a much longer and grander untold narrative.

"In this kingdom in which we are now sitting, lives a Princess, who is so immoderately clever; but then she has read all the newspapers that are in the world, read and forgotten them again, so clever is she. Lately she was sitting on her throne, when she began to sing, and the theme of her song was "Why should I not marry?" "Well there is something in that, she said, and so she determined to get married; but she must have a husband who knew how to answer when spoken to, not one who could only stand there and look grand, for that is too stupid."

What a fantastic introduction to a character! And what a refreshing change from the fairytale standard of princesses being first and foremost beautiful! The Princess decides on her own that she wants to get married, and she then goes on to specify what kind of a husband she is looking for - one who is intelligent, unabashed by royalty, unafraid of her power and one who "feels at home' with her.

The meeting of the princess and her husband-to-be:

"He was gay (merry) and well behaved, but had not come at all to pay court to the Princess, but only to hear how clever she was. He had every reason to be satisfied with her, and she no less so with him."

Again, what a refreshing subversion of the princess trope! The princess' chosen husband is bright-eyed and merry; a poorly dressed "little person" - a wanderer with creaking boots and a knapsack on his back. No dragonslayer he - but one who can match the princess' intellect, rather than impress her with feats of arms.

As well as being clever, the Princess is later shown to be generous and sympathetic, willing to help Gerda into her new golden carriage herself without formality. Though her part is small in the overall story, and she and the Prince go away to "live in foreign places", one feels sure that such a great character must be the heroine of her own legend.

THE SNOW QUEEN STORY SUMMARY

4. The Prince and Princess 

In the kingdom there lived a very clever Princess. The Princess decided she should get married, but she wanted to find someone who wouldn’t just stand around and be boring, or be intimidated by the grand castle. She wanted someone who was clever and cheerful. Many people came for her hand but they all became frightened and tongue-tied when they entered the castle. 

Then a young man came with long hair, intelligent eyes and poor clothes. He strode in to the palace and wasn’t at all shy. He was bright and interested in learning the Princess’ wisdom. They liked each other right away and he became the Prince. 

...into the palace that night...

Shadows along the wall swished past and  it was the dreams of the Prince and Princess. They came to the bedroom and the Prince and Princess were each in a bed that looked like a lily.

...the leaves to peek at the Prince, and seeing his red neck...

...the dreams swept through the room, he woke and turned his head...

The Princess woke and asked what was the matter.

...how kind human beings were!  In the morning the Prince and Princess gave lovely clothes to wear and asked to stay with them. They gave a muff and boots and a coach of gold with coachmen and horsemen. Then they waved goodbye...

...asked her about the Prince and Princess. “They’re traveling in foreign lands,” said the robber girl.

Fascinating female character: a princess who is so clever that “she has read all the newspapers in the whole world, and has forgotten them again.” This princess decides to get married, but explicitly states that her prince will be someone intelligent and articulate, a man “who knew how to give an answer when he was spoken to--not one who looked only as if he were a great personage, for that is so tiresome.” She ends up choosing a suitor who had no intention of marrying her, but merely entered the castle in order to hear the princess’ wisdom. She chooses a husband who admires her brain, someone who, unlike the actual suitors, did not seek to win her but merely to hear her and enjoy her intellect.

Khac Ti Ang Thuyet, June 2014

Thesis on Andersen female characters (Excerpt)

...has supposedly married a clever and beautiful princess...

She (Gerta) is helped by the prince and princess, who give her a carriage and horse and a little pair of boots so that she might drive out again into the wide world...

the princess gives Gerda a pair of boots and a muff, a carriage and a horse, together with a coachman, footman and outrider, facilitating her journey;

...a clever princess who gave her (Gerta) a golden carriage and a horse.

These stories provide

all we need in the way of awesome images of very strong female characters, whether

good or evil: in the Fourth Story, the clever princess. They are very free in their

world. They are determined and strong-willed. They are able to make choices and

decide their own destinies. They can do what they like to make their own dreams

come true.

The princess is a supplementary character who only appears in one chapter of the

Snow Queen story, yet she is an admirable and inspirational female character. She is

clever and intellectual.

 In this kingdom where we are now, there lives a Princess who is 

very clever. She has read all the newspapers in the world and forgotten them 

again, so clever is she. One day she was sitting on her throne, which is not such 

an amusing thing to do either, they say. And she began humming a tune, which 

happened to be: “Why should I not be married?”[...]. And she made up her mind 

to marry, if she could find a husband who had an answer ready when a question 

was put to him, not one who could only stand there and look grand, for that is too 

stupid. 

 (Andersen, 1997, 226)

This is a refreshingly different way to introduce a character, and we find nothing so

witty, ironic, sophisticated in Grimms’ fairy tales' (18)

emphasis on a fairy-tale princess’ beauty rather than, as here, her intelligence and wit

– though in fact we do not know what this princess looks like. She decides on her own

that she wants to get married, and she then goes on to consider what kind of husband

she is looking for – one who is intelligent, “unabashed of royalty,” and who “feels at

home with her” (Andersen, 1997, 126). The man actually chosen by the princess is not

a prince but a wanderer, one with creaking boots and a knapsack on his back.

However, he is “a picture of good looks and gallantry, and then he had not come with

any idea of wooing the Princess, but simply to hear her wisdom, he admired her just

as much as she admired him” (Andersen, 1997, 129). He does not slay any dragon, but

he can match the princess’s intellect with his own rather than impressing her with

victories. Just as our looks may fade; our wealth and status might also be diminished:

only our intellect and wisdom can last. The princess is not only clever; she is generous

and sympathetic as well. She is willing to help Gerda with her new golden carriage.

At the end of the tale, the princess and her husband go away “to live in foreign

countries”. They are free, totally not bound by the traditional social roles.

(18) This would be true even if we only heard the author, or the Raven, or the princess speaking there, but in fact we hear all three in this complex passage that combines three narrative-discursive levels. 

Just like the princess, the robber girl is a very inspirational and admirable

female character. Her reward is her “complete freedom”.


ROSANA DA SILVA SANTOS, 2014

A história de uma princesa que queria casar-se e para conseguir tal feito os candidatos a noivo deveriam falar bem e agradar-lhe. A princesa gostou de um rapaz.
... agora com bons trajes, botas e uma carruagem que lhe foram presenteados pelo príncipe e pela princesa.

Na quarta história, sobre um príncipe e uma princesa, o ambiente é outro e o tempo passou. Já é inverno. No conto “A rainha da neve”, o espaço físico se altera à medida que a ação se desenvolve. O espaço, além de marcar, geograficamente, o local onde ocorre a ação, vincula-se ao espaço psicológico das protagonistas.
A história de uma princesa que queria casar-se com alguém que, além de boa aparência, soubesse responder quando ela lhe falasse, pois considerava-se muito inteligente.
O noivo escolhido para desposá-la.
No terceiro dia de apresentação dos pretendentes, surgiu um rapaz com a seguinte descrição: “[...] um sujeito miúdo, sem cavalo, nem carro, marchando, audacioso e confiante, até o palácio. Os olhos dele brilhavam. Tinha lindos cabelos compridos, mas vinha pobremente trajado” (HANSSEN, 1981, p. 281). Além disso, trazia às costas uma grande mochila e suas botinas rangiam.
Outro aspecto mencionado relacionava-se à inteligência do candidato.
No caminho para os aposentos reais, passam os sonhos dos nobres. O sonho é outro elemento importante na narrativa.
 Nos aposentos, Gerda encontra o príncipe e a princesa, cada qual em suas camas,
e conta-lhes sua história. O príncipe dá sua cama para a menina descansar. Ela tem seu segundo monólogo interior: “Como são bons os homens e animais!” (HANSSEN, 1981, p. 284).
No dia seguinte, o príncipe e a princesa presenteiam-na com vestido, sapatos e uma bela carruagem com cocheiros e criados.
dando início à quinta história. Esta história, quinta, é sobre a filhinha dos salteadores e inicia-se descrevendo uma estrada escura onde a carruagem brilha como ouro e chama a atenção de salteadores que
matam o cocheiro, os criados...
De trenó, eles partem para a floresta e encontram a filha dos salteadores, que lhes conta que o príncipe e a princesa viajaram para o estrangeiro.
 As personagens secundárias não saem de seu núcleo temático.

Themes

• According to fairytale scholar: "knowledge and fulfilment"
• Wish fulfilment: all of the themes listed below.
• Knowledge/power of the mind (intelligent princess seeks her intellectual equal, who happens to be a young student or subaltern officer: her social inferior, but as clever and learned as she is), as opposed to the physical one of wealth and appearances.
• Wealth and elegance (the castle/palace setting as a whole, mirrors, silver, gold, chandeliers, glass, courtiers and servants, candied fruit and gingerbread, silks and velvet)
• Optimism / belief in all humankind as good ("How good men/people are [in the wide world] [after all]!"), as opposed to alleged coldness and classism of the higher strata.
• Purity, both sexual/physical (glass ceiling, white lily-bed, pearl on the throne) and mental (the royals remain good, uncorrupted by wealth and power).
• Appearance vs. reality, prejudice, appearance as not all that matters:  L’histoire du prince et de la princesse évoque un autre point de vue sur le problème des apparences : la princesse souhaite épouser non pas un prince élégant ou beau mais un prince aussi intelligent qu’elle. Elle a trop peur de s’ennuyer avec un homme qui ne serait pourvu que de belles manières et de prestance. (Ada Bonora, 2012)
• Goodness directed by knowledge: a value exemplified before by Shakespearean character Cerimon: In the worthy Cerimon, who restored Thaisa to life, we are instructed how goodness directed by knowledge, in bestowing benefits upon mankind, approaches to the nature of the gods. (Mary Lamb, early nineteenth century).

Motifs

• Versaillesque/Baroque royal court: elegant and precious setting, with strict rules and class differences.
• Intelligent princess: at the start: learned lady / bluestocking [owns many books / reads all newspapers in the world / speaks Latin easily]
• [Princess raised as a boy, being heir to the throne]
• [Princess is golden blond / red-haired / dark-haired]
• [Princess is eighteen years old]
• Intelligence isolation / ivory tower / ennui
• "Why shouldn't I marry?": Tired of loneliness / yearning for a companion
• Partner should be both good-looking and as clever and learned as she is [also a good strategist/warrior, not only dashing and clever: "not one like the most, of those who can only wear a uniform, smile, and always say yes to her, but a real prince: dashing, brave, intelligent, able to encourage the arts during peacetime, and to lead the army in case of war: long story short, one like she saw none upon looking at all the thrones on Earth"] (not only look good: that would be tiresome. According to Ada Bonora, she is too afraid of getting bored with a partner only dashing and courteous)
• [Princess does not despair of finding what she wishes: decided as she is not to accept an arranged marriage and to find, in no matter which rank, a spouse worthy of her]
• [Informs her advisors in the throne room, then her whole court in the palace gardens, of her decision]
• Riddle princess/engagement challenge: battle of wits
• Engagement challenge (battle of wits) won by princess's social inferior
• Proclamation with monogramme/initials and border of hearts [border of roses] [in Latin, to every university in three kingdoms]
• Engagement challenge open to every handsome young man in the kingdom [in three kingdoms] [between the ages of twenty and twenty-five], who is free to appear at court and speak to princess, who will give her hand to the most eloquent one [to the one who, according to her, has got the most intellectual and moral qualities]
• Crowds of young men show up at court, but no success on the first or second day
• Royal guards in blue and silver
• Valets in gold brocade
• Halls of mirrors, lighted brilliantly
• Chandeliers
• Diplomats, courtiers, and state councillors used as servants, carrying golden tableware barefoot
• Throne with oversized pearl [completely covered in pearls]
• Courtiers lined up around princess, according to rank: the lower rank, the further from throne and the haughtier look
• [All suitors unlike the last one are learned men: scholars, alchemists, theologians... in their best black robes of academic silk]
• Most suitors can speak well on the street and in a lecture hall, but at court... led by greed/ambition, and/or impressed by their surroundings, they get Stendhal syndrome: can't speak in throne room, and only echo the last words the princess has said: they are rejected and sent away [first impression lets princess know what to expect of them]
• [Once outside the palace, they regain speech, and all of them say at unison what they should have said to princess: chaos ensues, "tower of Babel" scenario]
• [Line of "stupid bourgeois/townsfolk" at the garden gate, waiting for the suitors to leave, laugh at their disappointment]
• Young student/lieutenant, comes on foot wearing faded and worn clothes: modest, immune to Stendhal syndrome, sympathetic to people at court
• [This suitor is dark-haired / fair-haired]
• [This suitor can read / speak more than one language]
• [This suitor is clean shaven]
• This suitor wears boots [shoes] that creak loudly [ink on his fingers]
• Courtiers with dishes: barefoot
• Lowest ranking pages: slippers
• "He had not come to woo, but to hear her cleverness": interested in her mind rather than her beauty or fortune: succeeds.
• [Garden gate fastened with a chain]

• Garden avenue/promenade, falling leaves [leaves that crunch beneath feet]: autumn (November)
• [Ice sculptures on frozen garden fountains]
• [Bust of Minerva / Athena on stairs]
• Dreams taking the form of big-game hunt / Wild Hunt
• [Dreams taking the form of young lady in coffin, dressed in white and crowned with white roses, surrounded by mourners: dread of princess's death?]
• Dreams identified as such, come to convey the thoughts of courtiers [castle-dwellers] towards pleasure [or sorrow]
• Hall decked in pink satin with artificial flowers [bouquets made of gold and silver]
• Each hall more magnificent than the other [hall of silk tapestries, hall of oversized paintings, hall of mirrors with chequered marble floor] [dazzling splendour]
• Bedchamber [most magnificent room in the palace]
• [Estrade covered in costly tapestries]
• Glass ceiling (costly) shaped like palm leaves [Bed dais shaped like emerald palm leaves]
• Lily-shaped beds on golden stems
• Princess in white lily-bed
• New prince in red / scarlet lily-bed, described as "young and dashing"
• [Both royals together, making love on baroque canopy bed, his face quite hidden in her golden hair]
• Unexpected warmth and kindness of royals : Optimism / belief in all humankind as good ("How good men/people are [in the wide world] [after all]!"), as opposed to alleged coldness and classism of the higher strata. Goodness directed by knowledge ("goodness directed by knowledge, in bestowing benefits upon mankind, approaches to the nature of the gods").
• Silks and velvet
• "Happy life lived" at court (enjoyment, pleasure, all play)

• Golden carriage (will be attacked by robbers in Fifth Story)
• Coat of arms on carriage shines like star on carriage panels [two coats of arms, of prince and princess, shine like stars]
• Sugar pretzels/palmiers, candied fruit, and gingerbread [sweets, candied fruit, and croquignoles] (will be taken by robbers in Fifth Story)
• Coachman, footmen, outriders with golden crowns [coachman and footman à la Daumont] (will be killed by robbers in Fifth Story)
• [Fine tall steel-gray horse, its saddle and bridle trimmed with silver bells, and saddlecloth of pure silk, and its saddle-cloth had the prince and princess's coats of arms, entwined, embroidered on it in silk thread.]
• Best wishes / wishes of success
• "Farewell! Farewell!" [prince and princess both dry up their tears upon leave-taking]

• Throwback in Seventh Story
• Travelling through foreign lands (honeymoon?) [voyage of exploration]

Probable inspirations:

• Solomon (wise, multilingual, wealthy, kindly, reign of peace, romance with favourite wife Bilkis/Sheba, even alleged magical powers, less glorious than "the lilies of the fields" whose attire Lord provides... lilies, like palm leaves and requited love, featured in Song of Songs; ennui featured in Ecclesiastes) and favourite queen Sheba / Bilkis, gender-flipped.
• Maria Theresa of Habsburg/Austria (learned, multilingual, wealthy and powerful, heir and later ruler) and consort Francis Steven of Lorraine (a good man as father and spouse, her social inferior, both spouses enlightened despots).
• In the Trojan Cycle, Helen gets to choose her spouse herself: she chooses Menelaus. She chooses a spouse that is more of a father/authority figure above all others.