This fairytale is perhaps my favorite one of all time. The story of two young children, Kay, a boy, and Gerda, a girl, friends who are "like brother and sister" so close they are to each other. They are poor; their parents live opposite one another in two "garrets" and their grandmother is near them. A hobgoblin's spell interferes with Kay's way of looking at the world. Before too long, Kay is "abducted" by the mysterious and chillingly seductive Snow Queen, who has a heart of ice. When Kay goes missing, Gerda wonders where he might be, and this is the beginning of a quest narrative, with the antagonists being the witch with her garden of "floral voices," the Prince and Princess, and the crow who provide delays, temptations, misleading information and pleasurable but time-wasting distractions along the way.
This tale is not straightforward by any means. Beneath the surface of the text, we have a romance story of cruel seduction in which The Snow Queen seduces Kay, and he goes willingly on a dangerous adventure to end up trapped, isolated and devoid of love or feeling. Kay complements the darkness of The Snow Queen deceptively hidden in the "light" of snow and ice. Kay also represents the shadow side; he may not even be worthy of Gerda who is his willing but passive rescuer in the tale. Although lacking in direction, she represents goodness and loyalty.
Kay, full of adolescent angst, with "ice" in his eye and his heart - splinters from the hobgoblin's mirror which have distorted his vision- shows he has a coldness about him, a way of looking at the world that means he is blinded. When Gerda finally finds him, The Snow Queen has vanished.
The Snow Queen will always be an enigma, but perhaps this tale is a religious allegorical tale of Death, which is a seducer, and the afterlife; the children's return home to the garden as adults, in the warmth of the sunshine. This is their salvation in "heaven."
The recurring motif of the rose represents memory, idealizing and romanticising childhood itself as being at one with nature. Importantly, it is repeated in the religious verse; God's promise is that his love is infinite, and outlasts the flowers, when the blooms have died. Even without the undertext of romance, this beautiful story would still be romantic.
The way in which Andersen describes the snow is enchanting and unforgettable.
The richness of the text means this fairytale can be read by older children and adults.
Suzy Davies, Author of the Fairytale, "The Girl in the Red Cape: A Mystical Sled Ride"
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Not as entertaining as I hoped. It was hard to get interested. There were several pages I had to reread because they weren't making sense. Not a terrible read though.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2020
the books by Hans Christian Andersen were such a delight to read and "see" other worlds that only the ...
Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2018Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2020
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Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2015
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Melissa Williams
Illustrations as advertised arent great.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 6, 2020
