Thread: The Individuation of Snow White

THE INDIVIDUATION OF SNOW WHITE

The story describes a state of the immature feminine psyche. Each character represents different aspects of the self. At the start of the story, Snow White, the main character, is the psychological equivalent of an innocent and immature anima who lacks a mother figure—and thus the feminine wisdom is absent. I could put it in a religious context and say that the wisdom of God, which is represented by Sophia in Hellenistic culture and Christian theology—or the Virgin Mary as its incarnation according to the mystic Jacob Boehme—is totally wanting in absentia. Or I could avoid the Biblical rigmarole and stick to the analogous Brothers Grimm fairy tale intimating the archetypes which, as Carl Jung maintained, reside in our collective unconscious and find expression in human behaviour and storytelling.

The aesthetic appeal of the snowy landscape, the blackness of the ebony window or embroidery frame, and the pattern of the blood drops from pricking her finger comprises a graceful image of the objective world captured by a young queen who is about to transition into motherhood at the beginning of this tale. This image of captivating beauty is projected on to the primordial child as a promising future state in imagination. Subsequently, the mother dies in childbirth, and her daughter, Snow White, goes through a process of maturation throughout the story which involves facing the shadow archetype in the form of her evil stepmother. This is a frighteningly dangerous prospect which Snow White faces without any help from her indolent father. Her animus (masculine side) finally becomes idealised—thus she turns into a fully mature woman—at the end when she is saved by her prince.

According to Jungian psychology, progress or growth in the process of individuation is not possible without integrating the shadow archetype—hence why Peter Pan, who didn't have a shadow, never grew up. Because Snow White is missing her mother and lacks a father figure (weak animus), her unconscious inflates a negative feminine shadow in the form of her wicked and wily stepmother. This story reflects a psychological struggle involving parental imagos and mental forces that compete for personal salvation or self-destruction. The Woodman refuses to harm Snow White in the wilderness (avoiding the world of responsibility), a scene which possibly represents the first stage of adult awareness of responsibility and independent development of the animus, but it is still not enough to overcome the negative shadow, and the second attempt to destroy the protagonist via the huntsman also demonstrates a refusal to help the girl any further than pretending she is dead to the evil queen.

The truth about this feminine shadow archetype is that it relies on beauty to mesmerise the husband (male figure) and to mask deeply dark and troubled aspects from which men might recoil. The reflection in the magic mirror which stares back at Snow White's evil stepmother reveals her true nature or real self which should remain hidden from others because it is the ugliness behind the cosmetic face which cannot compete with Snow White's innocent and untainted character. So the raging shadowy aspect attempts to destroy Snow White by means of deceit.

The seven dwarves then come to represent how Snow White sees the common man, who works all day and expects the same from everybody else—the animus here is making some progress towards order and some purpose in the form of chores and responsibility in general for her subsistence. The householders' dwarfism, however, indicate an underdeveloped masculinity that fails to protect Snow White, and in her naive femininity, despite following the instruction to not open the door to anyone, the young woman neglects the logic to also keep the window closed to strangers—because it is something that the dwarves never told her to do. Snow White's adverse shadow threatens to usurp her ego while her animus, which is a work in progress, toils away in her deep unconscious as illustrated by the dwarves uncovering precious stones and minerals underground. In doing so, the female, in her agreeableness to accept the unacceptable, ends up unlocking her potential and discovers that she can face the shadow complex head-on with a resilience that was previously unknown—an inner strength that remained in the dark.

Finally, there is a union between the young princess Snow White and her gallant prince who wakes her from that deep sleep. Her self has been restored to something more mature and balanced as we see a union between the masculine and the feminine (the coniunctio), which marks the termination of maidenhood.