Wicked stepmother
The most clever and cruellest women of fairy tales are always stepmothers. This theme shows up in a lot of fairy tales, including the most popular stories. She is always on the scene early in the book, who wants nothing more than to get rid of the protagonist children, especially when they are beautiful maidens. The Stepmother villainess is driven by jealousy and/or greed.
This character has appeared in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. She is a queen that is so vain that she consults a magic mirror. This is what she asks the magic mirror, and it's basically what I remember from reading books:
Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest in all of the land?
Sometimes different versions of the story have her saying: "Magic mirror on the wall, who is fairest of them all?". The magic mirror answers the queen and tells her that she is the fairest of the all. This happens for a long time, until the magic mirror tells the queen that she is no longer the fairest. Snow-White has grown up into a young woman and the magic mirror informs the queen that now Snow White is the fairest. All of this turns the queen into a killer. She sends for a huntsman to take Snow White into the forest, kill her and cut out her heart that must be put into a box. The hunter lets Snow White go and kills an animal, lying to the queen. The magic mirror is able to inform the queen that Sow White lives, and on three occasions, the queen puts on a disguise and visits Snow White who now lives with seven dwarves. The step mother attempts to kill Snow White more than once in this particular fairy story. All because she's fairer than her!
Another well known wicked stepmother is found in the story of Cinderella. This stepmother has two daughters of her own that are filled with unpleasant character traits who bully Cinderella. The stepmother in this version isn't a queen and doesn't try to kill Cinderella, but she keeps Cinderella as a house slave, preventing her from having nice clothes and stopping her from enjoying life. This stepmother is oppressive and cruel in a different way to Snow White's stepmother.
A number of stepmothers in fairy tales are so cruel that they're unlikeable, and it feels almost satisfying when they get their just desserts. This isn't only confined to children's fairy tales. There are wicked stepmothers found in much older tales, and especially found in ancient Greek myths.
To read about the Wicked Stepmother in myths go to Prospect Magazine: Link
More to come soon...
She Wolf Night
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