Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Snow Queen": a summary, main characters

The fairy tale "The Snow Queen" is an extraordinary story about a boy Kai and a girl Gerda. They were separated by a shard of a broken mirror. The main theme of Andersen's fairy tale "The Snow Queen" is the struggle between good and evil.

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So, let's start retelling the summary of the "Snow Queen". One day, an evil troll created a mirror, looking into which all goodness decreased and disappeared, while evil, on the contrary, increased. But, unfortunately, the troll's students broke the mirror in a dispute, and all its fragments scattered around the world. And if at least one tiny piece fell into the human heart, then it froze and became a piece of ice. And if he got into the eye, then the person stopped seeing the good, and in any act he felt only malicious intent.

Kai and Gerda

The summary of the "Snow Queen" should be continued with information that friends lived in one small town: a boy and a girl, Kai and Gerda. They were brother and sister to each other, but only until the moment when the fragments got into the boy's eye and heart. After the accident, the boy became embittered, became rude and lost his brotherly feelings for Gerda. In addition, he stopped seeing good. He began to think that no one loves him and everyone wishes him harm.

And then one not very good day, Kai went sledding. He clung to the sleigh passing by him. But they belonged to the Snow Queen. She kissed the boy, thereby making his heart even colder. The queen took him to her ice palace.

Journey of Gerda

Gerda grieved for the boy for the rest of the winter and waited for his return, and, without waiting, went in search of her brother as soon as spring came.

The first on the way Gerda met a woman-sorceress. She put a spell on the girl that deprived her of her memory. But when she saw the roses, Gerda remembered everything and ran away from her.

After that, on her way she met a raven, who told her that a prince very similar to Kai had wooed the princess of his kingdom. But it wasn't him. The princess and the prince turned out to be very kind people, they gave her clothes and a carriage made of gold.

The girl's path lay through a terrible and dark forest, where a gang of robbers attacked her. Among them was a little girl. She turned out to be kind and gave Gerda a deer. On it, the heroine went further and soon, having met pigeons, found out where her named brother was.

On the way she met two more kind women - a Lapland and a Finn. Each helped the girl in search of Kai.

The Snow Queen's Domain

And so, having reached the possessions of the Snow Queen, she gathered the remnants of her strength and went through the strongest snowstorm and the royal army. Gerda prayed all the way, and angels came to her aid. They helped her reach the ice castle.

Kai was there, but the queen was not. The boy was like a statue, all frozen and cold. He did not even pay attention to Gerda and continued to play the puzzle. Then the girl, unable to cope with her emotions, wept bitterly. Tears thawed Kai's heart. He also began to cry, and the shard fell out along with the tear.

The main characters of the fairy tale "The Snow Queen". Gerda

There are many characters in the story, but they are all secondary. There are only three main ones: Gerda, Kai, the queen. But still, the only truly main character of the fairy tale "The Snow Queen" is only one - little Gerda.

Yes, she is very small, but also selfless and brave. In the fairy tale, all her strength is concentrated in a kind heart, which attracts sympathetic people to the girl, without whom she would not have reached the ice castle. It is kindness that helps Gerda defeat the queen and unfreeze her named brother.

Gerda is ready to do anything for the sake of her neighbors and is confident in her decisions. She does not hesitate for a second and helps everyone who needs it, not counting on help. In the fairy tale, the girl shows only the best character traits, and she is the embodiment of justice and kindness.

The image of Kai

Kai is a very ambiguous hero. On the one hand, he is kind and sensitive, but on the other, frivolous and stubborn. Even before the fragments hit the eye and heart. After the incident, Kai is completely under the influence of the Snow Queen and follows her orders without saying a word against. But after Gerda frees him, everything is fine again.

Yes, on the one hand, Kai is a positive character, but his inaction and passivity prevent the reader from falling in love with him.

The image of the Snow Queen

The Snow Queen is the embodiment of winter, cold. Her home is an endless ice space. Just like ice, she is very beautiful in appearance, as well as smart. But her heart does not know feelings. That is why she is the prototype of evil in Andersen's fairy tale.

History of creation

It's time to tell the story of the creation of Andersen's fairy tale "The Snow Queen". It was first published in 1844. The tale is the longest in the author's bibliography, and Andersen claimed that it was connected with the story of his life.

Andersen said that the "Snow Queen", a summary of which is contained in the article, appeared in his head even when he was little and played with his white-headed neighbor friend Lisbeth. To him, she was practically a sister. The girl was always next to Hans, supported in all games and listened to his first fairy tales. Many researchers claim that she became the prototype of Gerda.

But not only Gerda had a prototype. Singer Jenny Lind has become the living embodiment of the Queen. The author was in love with her, but the girl did not share his feelings, and Andersen made her cold heart the embodiment of the beauty and soullessness of the Snow Queen.

In addition, Andersen was fascinated by Scandinavian myths, and there death was called an ice maiden. Before he died, his father said that the maiden had come for him. Perhaps the Snow Queen has the same prototype as the Scandinavian winter and death. She also has no feelings, and the kiss of death can freeze forever.

The image of a girl made of ice attracted the storyteller, and in his legacy there is another tale about the Snow Queen, who stole her lover from his bride.

Andersen wrote the fairy tale in a very difficult time, when religion and science were at odds. Therefore, there is an opinion that the confrontation between Gerda and the queen describes the events that took place.

In the USSR, the tale was remade, since censorship did not allow the mention of Christ and the reading of the Gospel at night.

"The Snow Queen": analysis of the work

Andersen in his fairy tales creates an opposition - the opposition of good and evil, summer and winter, external and internal, death and life.

So, the Snow Queen has become a classic character of folklore. Dark and cold mistress of winter and death. She is opposed to the warm and kind Gerda, the embodiment of life and summer.

According to Schelling's natural philosophy, Kai and Gerda are androgynes, that is, the opposition of death and life, summer and winter. Children are together in summer, but in winter they suffer separation.

The first half of the tale talks about the creation of a magic mirror that can distort good, turning it into evil. A person injured by its fragment acts as an enemy of culture. On the one hand, it is a myth that affects culture and breaks the connection between man and nature. So Kai becomes soulless and rejects the love of summer and the beauty of nature. But he begins to love the creations of the mind with all his heart.

The fragment that ended up in the boy's eye allows him to think rationally, cynically, to show interest in the geometric structure of snowflakes.

In a fairy tale, as you know, there can be no bad ending, so Andersen contrasted Christian values ​​with the world of technology. That is why the children in the fairy tale sing psalms to the rose. Although the rose fades, but the memory of it remains. So memory is a mediator between the world of the living and the dead. This is how Gerda, having got into the garden of the sorceress, forgets Kai, and then her memory returns to her again, and she runs away. It is roses that help her in this.

The scene in the castle with the false prince and princess is very symbolic. At this dark moment, Gerda is helped by ravens, symbolizing the powers of the night and wisdom. Climbing the stairs is a tribute to the Platonic myth of the cave, in which non-existent shadows create a representation of a false reality. Gerda needs a lot of strength in order to distinguish between lies and truth.

The further the fairy tale "The Snow Queen" advances, the summary of which you already know, the more often peasant symbols are found. Gerda, with the help of prayer, copes with the storm and falls into the domain of the queen. The atmosphere of the castle was created by the author himself. It emphasizes all the complexes and failures of the poor writer. According to biographers, the Andresenov family had some mental disorders.

So the powers of the queen can symbolize actions that can drive you crazy. The castle is motionless and cold, crystal.

So Kai's injury leads to his seriousness and intellectual development, and the attitude towards relatives changes dramatically. Soon he is completely alone in the ice halls. These features characterize schizophrenia.

Kai meditates over the ice, showing his loneliness. Gerda's coming to Kai suggests his salvation from the world of the dead, from the world of madness. He returns to the world of love and kindness, eternal summer. The couple is reunited again, and the person gains integrity through a difficult path and overcoming himself.