Beauty is in the soul A beautiful heart is better than a beautiful face. The phrase you hear all the time while you’re growing up, especially if you’re a girl. Audrey Hepburn said “The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, but true beauty in a Woman is reflected in her soul. ” That is the theme I see in both “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and “Cinderella”. In both poems the person that had a beautiful heart always prevailed.
These two poems and this theme basically reiterate what people have been saying for years.
Through the use of fairytales and satirical ideas, Sexton demonstrates that beauty is internal not physical. Snow white is beautiful and the stepmother is also beautiful but her stepmother cannot bear someone to be more beautiful than she is “Suddenly, the mirror replied, Queen, you are full fair, ‘tis true, but Snow White is fairer than you…So she condemned Snow White to be hacked to death”.
The queens Jealousy and narcissistic ways drive her to attempt to kill her stepdaughter.
The queen attempts to kill her on several occasions, first asking the hunter to bring her Snow Whites heart so that she could eat it, showing how serious she was. The mirror told her that Snow White was still the prettiest, this time she came to the dwarf house and wrapped her up and left her there, the dwarfs saved her and the mirror told again. Even after the dwarfs warned her that the queen was trying to kill her Snow White still had the heart to open the door for her stepmother, this time she put scorpion in her hair.
The dwarfs saved her and warned her again but Snow White still opened the door, the last time the queen fed her a poisonous apple. But because Snow White had a beautiful heart, when the prince carried the coffin they dropped it and the apple chunk flew out of her mouth and she lived. The queen had a horrible heart and in the end she dies a horrible death and Snow White ends up with the prince. Just like in “Snow White”, In “Cinderella”, Cinderella is beautiful and has a beautiful heart but her Stepsisters, Stepmother and father treat her horribly.
Sexton says “the man took another wife who had two daughters, pretty enough but with hearts like black jacks. Cinderella was their maid. ” When it came time for the Royal Ball and the prince was looking for someone to marry, Cinderella was dying to go. She did everything they asked to do before going and even after completing those tasks the stepmother and stepsisters found a reason she could not go. She had nothing to wear and she couldn’t dance. Cinderella went to the tree at her mother’s grave and cried and begged for her to be able to go to the ball, she received a dress and slippers.
When she arrived at the ball no one recognized her and the prince was in love with her. After dancing all night with the prince and him walking her home, she went back to her old life. Three days later the prince came looking for her, the stepmother cut off her big toe to fit into the slipper. The stepsister cut off her heel to fit into the slipper, the prince was ready to give up but then he found Cinderella, whos foot fit into the slipper, as sexton says “ like a love letter, fit into its envelope. At their wedding the sister came and a dove pecked their eyes out, the prince and Cinderella lived happily ever after. In both poems two beautiful women with beautiful hearts were treated poorly for simply being beautiful. This reflects off of real life because every day there is a girl treated badly simply because she is beautiful. I believe Sexton is showing the real life aspect of these two traditional fairytales. She is also showing the idea that a beautiful face is not nearly worth as much as a beautiful heart and that the person with a beautiful heart will always prevail in the end.
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