Thaddeus WalkerComparison and Contrast EssayMs.
LaCroix24 February, 2012No Heart No LiverFor this paper, I reviewed two fairy tales Grimm??™s??? Little Snow White??? and ??? Gold Tree Silver Tree ??? two different versions of the same fairy tale. I found both stories enjoyable and having a lot of moral values. They both contain key characters that we can relate to in our lives to a certain extent and, just like most fairy tales good triumphs over evil and everyone lives happily ever after. Although they reach the same destination both stories take different paths. I will summarize an express my interpretation of both stories.??? Gold Tree Silver Tree??? is set in Scotland in the 1800??™s. The evil mother, Silver Tree is the queen and thinks she is the fairest and most beautiful woman in the world.
Until one day she goes to the glen and asks the talking fish??? who is the fairest ??? he tells her it was not her but her daughter, Gold Tree. Silver Tree burning with envy refuses to accept the fact that someone is more beautiful than her even her own daughter. Playing on the king??™s emotions the queen tricks the king into thinking she is ill. Once the king returned home and saw the queen was ill he asked what would make her better.
She told the king that if she ate Gold Tree??™s heart and lungs she would be well again. The king refusing to kill his own daughter orders his lads to head to the hunting hills kill a goat and bring back its heart and lungs for the queen. Shortly thereafter, a prince had come from abroad to marry Gold Tree; the king agrees to this and the prince and Gold Tree travel far away and get married. Once the queen found out that Gold Tree was not dead she and a crew of the king??™s men set out to find and kill Gold Tree.
The mother spiteful and cruel made two attempts on Gold Tree??™s life both times coming up short. In the end Silver Tree fell victim to her own trap. ??? Snow White??? does not give us a place for a setting only that it is winter.
Snow White mother dies shortly after giving birth to her. Her father remarried a very beautiful but spiteful woman that wanted to kill Snow White because of her beauty. The stepmother was so envious of Snow White??™s beauty that she hired a huntsman to kill her and to bring back her lungs and liver as a keepsake. Once the huntsman saw how beautiful she was he could not bear to slay the child and ordered her to retreat into the great forest. Running she stumbled onto a cottage in the woods.
The cottage belonged to seven dwarfs that dug in the mountains. The dwarves let Snow White stay as long as she agreed to do their chores for them. When the stepmother found that Snow White was still alive she was furious and set on a journey to kill her once and for all. Snow White being young and naive was tricked by her stepmother several times each time falling victim to the queen??™s evil schemes. Every time the dwarves were there to save her. Finally the queen made a poisonous apple that no one could resist.
She tricked Snow White in to eating it putting her in to a coma. The dwarves came home and found her lifeless body on the floor. They decided that she was too beautiful to put in the ground. So they put her in a glass case so they could admire her beauty. One day the king??™s son came through the forest and stumbled upon the beautiful Snow White looking as if she were sleeping and told the dwarves he would happily give them whatever they desired if he could have Snow White. They agreed and the king??™s servants carried the coffin home.
Luck happened to wake Snow White from her coma and the prince happily married her. The stepmother very upset to hear Snow White is alive decides to attend the wedding and this is where the evil queen dances her last dance literally. Within the two tales lie many similarities.
Both mothers are jealous of their daughter??™s beauty even though the queens are beautiful outside their envious and deceitful ways make them unsightly. There is an element of nature playing a key role in both stories. In ??? Snow White??? the daughter escapes into the wild and stumbles upon the dwarves??™ house. In ??? Gold Tree Silver Tree??? the daughter flees into the forest where the young prince discovers her and takes her back to his castle. The plots to kill both Snow White and Gold Tree were unsuccessful; ultimately the only people affected were the queens falling victim to their own evil plots.
Also there is an equally inherent good triumphs over evil in the two tales. The queens??™, filled with hatred and malice, go great lengths to kill the beautiful princesses but to no avail. The princesses so young and gullible clearly have some sort of divine help watching over their every move guiding them to their happy ending. There were many differences in the tales, many were minor parts of the story others made more vital contributions and made the storylines more interesting.
Such as in ??? Gold Tree Silver Tree??? Silver Tree is Gold Tree??™s biological mother. This is a major point of emphasis in the story because it shows how vain and self- absorbed she must be to want to take her own child??™s life simply because of her looks. Luckily Gold Tree??™s Father comes to her rescue and prevents Silver Tree from harming the innocent princess. The King evades Silver Tree??™s wrath and saves his daughter at the same time do to some clever maneuvering and the timely arrival of a passionate prince ready to take Gold Tree away and marry her. In ??? Snow White??™??™ her biological mother died giving birth to her, the queen in the story is Snow White??™s stepmother. The manipulative and vindictive queen makes several attempts on Snow White??™s life.
Traveling great distances using the king??™s man power and resources only to return unsuccessful; each time become more infuriated and more determined to kill the princess, until her bold and haphazard tricks led to her own demise.??? Snow White and ??? Gold Tree Silver Tree??? are great fairy tales that have brought happiness and enjoyment for many decades. The tales have been distorted and revised so as to appeal a younger crowd. Often lost in the revision of anything is the true essence of the story the morals.
Trust, honesty, integrity these are the things we should be holding on to and reinforcing. If a child understands even one of these concepts, then the purchase of the book, movie ticket or video was well spent.
