Summary of "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Andersen

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

For many generations of readers, this fairy tale has been and remains one of the most beloved. The summary of The Snow Queen by the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen can be retold by any child and adult, thanks to numerous stage, cinematic and animated incarnations. But only those who have read the text from beginning to end know that this is not just a children's fairy tale. This is a story about love and devotion, about good and evil. However, like any fairy tale.

Snow Queen Summary

Whatever variations are presented in films or cartoons, the core of the plot remains the same. The main characters are little Gerda and Kai, they are very friendly and happy. So it was until shards of ice pierced Kai's heart and eyes, and the Snow Queen took him with her to her ice palace. And after that begins the story of a brave girl who is not afraid of anything and overcomes many dangers to findyour friend. And she finds him in the far North. But Kai is not happy with her, because his heart has become completely icy, and his eyes do not see anything good and good. But Gerda's tears melt his heart, and now they are not afraid at all - this is how Andersen draws the line - the Snow Queen. The summary of the story is as follows. But this is just a quick retelling of the plot, which actually contains a number of separate stories.

Summary of The Snow Queen in seven stories

In adapted retellings and cartoons for children, the first story is most often omitted, it is also the main one - about an evil troll who owned a magic mirror. It reflected everything only in a distorted light: the beautiful was seen in it as ugly, the good seemed evil. With his mirror, the troll won more and more power over the earth and people. And so he wanted to get to the angels, so that nothing bright would remain in heaven. His minions began to raise the evil mirror higher and higher, but dropped it. It broke into a myriad of fragments that covered the Earth, stuck into human hearts, eyes, hands. They continued to hover in the air and injure people. This is how The Snow Queen begins - a fairy tale, the brief content of which is overgrown with many animate and inanimate characters, and each of them has its own destiny.

In the second story there is an acquaintance with Kai and Gerda, as well as Kai's grandmother, who told the children about the mysterious Snow Queen, looking into the windows. Then she appears herself.

Shards of that same mirror get into Kai's heart and eyes, and he becomes angry and rude: he offends Gerda, mimics his grandmother, tramples on roses - his and his girlfriend's favorite flowers. Finally, the Snow Queen takes him away.

The tale, the brief content of which is further devoted to the search for Kai and a happy ending, contains five more long stories. In each of them, on the way of Gerda, there are amazing characters, but not always good ones. So, the dear old woman, in whose flowering garden she ended up, is not at all so kind: she bewitched Gerda so that she would forget about everything in the world and stay to live with her. Raven and Crow, Prince and Princess feel compassion for her and help her. The little robber girl keeps her captive with the little animals, but her heart softens when she learns the story of Gerda and Kai. She releases a deer to take her to the North, to Lapland, where the Snow Queen lives. Along the way, they are assisted by two more old women - a Lapland and a Finn. And now their path lies straight to the palace, where the boy Kai lives with an icy heart. The summary of The Snow Queen brings the reader to the climax - to the story of the seventh.

In the halls of the Snow Queen

This palace is perfection itself. Here everything sparkles with whiteness, purity and regular lines. But it's quiet and dead here. Kai plays with ice figurines and marvels at their cold beauty. He is alone in a huge hall when Gerda enters. Alas, Kai does not want to see her, evenrepels. But her tears spill onto his chest and melt his heart. He feels pain and heat in his chest. Tears flow from his eyes… and a sharp shard of a magic mirror falls with a ringing sound on the icy floor. Now they are not afraid of the Snow Queen, because they are stronger than her.

"The Snow Queen" by and large is a fairy tale for adults. It is about real feelings: love, betrayal, loy alty, duty. And therefore, more and more masterpieces of cinema and animation are being filmed based on her motives.